Skijoring is a sport that feels truly unique to the Mountain West. It's a combination of skiing and rodeo, with the cultural and athletic overlap of both.
Those elements were on display recently in Ridgway, Colo., as held its 9th annual skijoring competition. The 3-day event brings together skiers, snowboarders, and horse riders from around the region.
Skijoring, for the unaware, is a race. A horse and rider attach a long rope to the back of their saddle, and at the end of that rope, a skier or snowboarder hangs on for dear life as the horse runs as fast as it can down the course.
The Ridgway course is a half-lap around the Ouray County Fairgrounds horse race track. It's not flat; it's peppered with jumps, banked turns, and tabletop features sculpted out of snow that make the skiers' and boarders' experience quite thrilling.
Competitors also have to slalom around markers on the ground, keeping to the right of red poles and to the left of blue poles.
Picture slalom water skiing behind a sprinting horse, with jumps sending skiers high enough to easily fly over a truck. One vehicle manufacturer sponsoring the event parked a truck between two jumps on the course.
I attended the first running of the 鈥渙pen鈥� division on one of two afternoons when top riders competed for a purse prize. It was cold Saturday afternoon, with temperatures hovering in the low teens and a persistent snowfall.
A few skiers gathered at the starting pen, and I struck up a conversation with a few of them.
AJ Pastello of Kremmling, Colorado, has been skijoring for about eight years.
"I saw it when I was a kid and said I would never go back to another one unless I was competing," he explained. "I like to ski, and it's been a lot of fun. I've actually run horses, too, so I like doing both sides of it."
I asked Pastello if it takes a "wicked fast horse" to win in skijoring.
"Some courses more than others," he said. "I think this one's going be a little more skier-involved than the fastest horse out there."
According to Hayden Lapointe of Minturn, rope management is what it takes to be a good skier.
"Managing that slack," he said. "Making sure you've got a tight line, you're not getting yanked out of your boots, you know?"
Yes, that can happen. Lapointe has the battle scars to prove it.
"I've separated four ribs 鈥� cracked them," he said a little too casually. "Other than that, no major injuries. Definitely had some really good crashes, but never any crazy injuries."
Skijoring is a lot closer to rodeo than downhill skiing, and the dangers are right up there with rodeo. In just one afternoon, I saw three riders get bucked off their horses in the starting shoot.
At one point, a horse lost its footing in the snow and ended up on its side; the rider rolled off the horse, and the horse, getting up faster than the rider, stepped on the rider in its efforts to stand up. The rider slapped his hat back on and jumped on the horse.
I don't think it was his first rodeo.
Seconds later, the horse, rider, and skier ripped down the track, but the rider's shirt had a big hole where the horse had stepped on it.
Skijoring is not for the faint of heart, but man, is it fun to watch.
Skijoring competitions take place in Pagosa Springs, Estes Park, Craig, Steamboat Springs, Silverton, Leadville, Grand Lake, and other locations all over the Mountain West.
See for the full schedule.
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