Your favorite sport you've never heard of
Nascar meets the west
Horse girls (and boys), adrenaline seekers, racers, gather around, we’ve got a new one for you. I’m about to introduce you to your new favorite sport. While the West is known for its world-class skiing, beautiful landscapes, and ranches, their small towns are rich in mining history and tradition not many know about. Let me introduce you to skijoring—part rodeo, part ski racing.
What is Skijoring?
Well, it depends who you ask. In the U.S., at the most basic level, skijoring is the act of being pulled behind an animal or vehicle on skis (usually a horse). The rider pulls a skier behind them from a rope attached to the horse’s saddle. The course is a combination of skier cross, a slalom course, and obstacle course with turns and jumps. The goal is to get through the course as fast as possible without missing gates, jumps, or missing or dropping the baton or any of the rings. Miss any of these and you’ll get a 5 second penalty added to your time.
Races can use whatever divisions they choose but typically there is Open/Pro, Sport, Novice, Youth, Century, Snowboard, Women’s and Switcheroo (according to the Skijor USA website).
A Very Short History of Skijoring
Skijoring comes from the Norwegian skikjøring which translates to ski driving. The sport gained recognition in the 1800s in places like Switzerland and France before appearing in the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz as a demonstration event.
In Norway, the Sámi and other peoples used this as a form of transportation, often with a sled towed behind a reindeer or horse for travel through snowy Nordic regions. In the early 19th century, Scandinavian immigrants brought the idea to North American and incorporated influences from dogsledding. Since then, the activity has evolved making it the sport it is today.
While not a ton is written on the history of the sport or how it officially came to the U.S., the popular story is that Tom Schroeder and Mugs Ossman are the two men behind the sport.
In 1949 the two men were discussing the event list for the upcoming winter festivities in Leadville, CO. Their task was to come up with something new to add to the list, so seeking inspiration they went to the Steamboat Springs winter carnival. It was there that they first witnessed the sport and what inspired their version.
If you want to learn more about the different variations and history of skijoring you can read more here.
Ever since I learned about skijoring a few years ago I’ve wanted to see it. Lucky me when I heard Telluride might have an exhibition showing for the first time this year. When they approved it, I was over the moon. Being able to see the work that goes into setting up an event like this was so cool. From carting snow in to laying the track, it’s a multi-day setup.
I missed the novice and youth groups but made it in time for the pros. It felt like a scene out of a western. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the street was crowded, and the wind swept dirt into everyone’s faces. It was perfect.
I’ve seen a decent number of skijoring videos on instagram, (some accounts to check out Jim Ryan, Madison Ostergren, proskijor, and Saddlesandskis) none truly capture just how fast these riders and skiers are going. Since this was a demonstration, the track was a bit shorter and had fewer obstacles. So instead of a roughly 15 second run it was cut down to 6 seconds. Those 6 seconds may have been some of the most exhilarating in my life. I was standing towards the end of the track so really only got to see the final jump which only a few skiers completed. But when they did…it was epic.
I’m not sure how true this is for all courses, but in the case of Telluride, they created a separate track for the horses laying down some sort of rubber and dirt. The skier’s track stops about 50ft before the horses, while the horse track continues a bit longer for them to run off.
I don’t think people realize the skill it takes to compete in this sport. Not only do you need to be a decent skier, you also need to have good coordination to maneuver around the obstacles and know when to drop the rope, all while going 30+mph.
If you want to see more content from the weekend, check out my post in the NP app. If I’ve sparked some interest and you want to see this for yourself next season, follow the schedule here.
