Article by Leslie Vreeland, Telluride Daily Planet Contributing Editor
Rider Jed Moore pulls skier (and Telluride local) Sherwood Smith. (Photo by Denise Jones)
A galloping horse with a rider astride, urging her steed faster, and faster still, across a track of slippery snow.
It would be exciting enough to watch in winter: For rodeo aficionados, the sheer speed, physical exertion and partnership between horse-and-rider even resembles barrel racing (minus the barrels). But there is one additional dimension to this “extreme winter sport” that sets it apart: the horse and rider are pulling a skier behind them over berms and bumps, and, in the case of the Skijoring event in Leadville, down main street, before a crowd of thousands cheering all of them on.
The fastest team — horse, rider and skier — to complete the course wins. It’s that simple and that intense.
“This sport’s crazy,” said Telluride local Josh King, who’ll be competing in the San Juan Skijoring event this weekend at Ouray County's fairgrounds outside Ridgway.
“A lot of people think we’re disorganized hippies and cowboys, but these are seriously big pots" of cash "that skiers and riders are competing for. People come into Ridgway who’ve been practicing for years.” And just like professional rodeo bronc riders and bull riders, “they’re here to earn money.”
King reckons a rider-skier team who wins big this weekend can easily take away $5,000. Richard Webber, the Ridgway event’s co-founder along with his sister and brother-in-law, Sarah and Tyler Smedsrud, likened it to winning “the slots in Vegas.”
The real winners will likely be audience members, who will be treated to an extravaganza unlike what you're likely to see at any other skijoring event.
For one thing, course conditions here are guaranteed: organizers bring in, and meticulously sculpt, their own snow, fashioning every testing curve and berm and jump to their liking on what Webber calls a “wide-open J-hook track” in the rodeo’s arena. (The winter circuit’s first skijoring event, in Meeker, was cancelled due to a lack of snow).
Local rider Piper Crabtree pulls skier Roc Repolla, who lives in Telluride. (Photo by Denise Jones)
“Skijoring here is bigger and better than any other race in the country,” Webber said flatly. “Everything is thought-out for months ahead of time. We strive to execute at the highest level possible.”
Indeed, Webber has brought in a “high-level production team from Utah with a dozen guys, two Jumbotrons and a drone” for up-close, instant replays of the racing action.
“It’s the difference between high-school football and the Super Bowl,” Webber said. “You cannot compare this to any other Skijoring event. There are hundreds of moving parts.” Webber compared it in professionalism to the National Finals Rodeo.
The stakes are higher too: Ridgway offers the richest “pot” in all of skijoring, Webber and King agreed. Many of the equine athletes are retired racehorses, who will arrive from all over the West to compete in this event. As for the human athletes, they’re accomplished skiers (watch the 50-minute film “Ice Cowboys” on Amazon to get a taste of the sport’s history, and appeal).
The renowned alpinist and Ridgway native, Michael Gardner, who lost his life in September on a climbing expedition, also competed in skijoring. He returned every year to compete in the San Juans event. Gardner will be commemorated Saturday afternoon.
“You cannot liken Ridgway to any other skijoring event” on the circuit, Webber said, when it comes to drama, or payouts, or (frankly) up-close glimpses of spectacle.
Stop by the party tent on Saturday, where there’ll be live music from husband-and-wife duo Sawyer and Kenzi, “and after that, David Nunn and his Bar Nunn band will play,” Webber said. For those who might like a slight feel of the excitement, a mechanical bull awaits “for just $5 per ride,” said Webber, who’ll be competing himself this weekend on his horses Serge and “my very well-known Paint horse Franks & Beans, who is known all over the Skijoring circuit. Everybody loves Frank.”
“We want the public to come and hang out and have a ball” and, perhaps, a beer or two, afterward in the 4H Event Center, where prizes will be awarded, Webber said.
“I’ll be racing along with my brother and sister-in-law,” Webber said. “We get nothing from putting this on. The glory comes from getting a chance to compete in the Open Division with other top competitors from around the country.”
“It’s electric,” King said. “I picked up another job this summer to help pay for skijoring. Once you get a taste and feel the adrenaline on the Ridgway track,” there’s no turning back. “For the most part, there’s also no practicing” beforehand, King added. “You show up, they put a rope in your hands, and you do the best you can.”
For more information please visit SanJuanSkijoring.com.
To see the full article from the Telluride Daily Planet please click this link.
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