Saddle Up for Skijoring, Alberta’s Ultimate Winter Sport
Skijoring cowboy–style in the Foothills is part snow rodeo, part extreme ski competition and the wildest spectator sport around. Ski–haw!
Under a blue sky as dazzling as you’ll ever find in southern Alberta, 11 men in Bavarian–style tunics stand in a snow–covered arena, yodelling the national anthem. As the final words of “O Canada” echo out over the packed grandstand, a horse comes charging from behind the Wildrose Yodel Club, steered by a trick rider standing tall in her stirrups. Pulled behind them is a man on skis, dressed in head–to–toe denim. The skier veers toward a large jump in the middle of the infield, releases the rope, then soars high into the air, back–flipping for an awestruck crowd – all the while clutching a flag with the words “Skijor Canada” emblazoned across it.
Sam Mitchell (riding Spencer), founder of Skijor Canada and Skijordue, lives just 10 minutes from the Millarville Racetrack. “I’m a Foothills girl – I like the open spaces.”
The rolling landscape of the Foothills, 45 minutes southwest of downtown Calgary, is the setting for Skijordue.
Skiers and boarders swap snow pants for chaps at Skijordue.
The Millarville Racetrack, nestled in Foothills County, 45 minutes southwest of downtown Calgary where the prairie gives way to rolling hills before cresting into Rocky Mountain peaks, is the site of an event so quintessentially Albertan, you’d think it was invented here. But skijoring – pulling a skier over snow with dogs, horses or trucks – dates back thousands of years, first recorded in the Altai Mountains of Central Asia. “Skijoring” comes from the Norwegian word skikjøring (kjøring means “driving”), as Laplanders have long strapped on skis and hitched rides with reindeer to traverse snowy stretches. In the early 20th century, organized skijoring events took off, making appearances at the Nordic Games in Stockholm and the 1928 Olympic Games in St. Moritz. Here in Alberta’s ranch country, competitive skijoring is just catching on – and it’s done on horseback, “cowboy–style.”
Brad Karl and his palomino Ace propel skier Jean-Louis Frank through the Circuit course.
Judges survey the crowd throughout the day to award style prizes in three categories: Wild West, Euro Trash and Fusion.
Safety is the top priority, especially with horses reaching speeds of 65 kilometres an hour while racing abreast in the Sprint and Relay events. It’s why the ropes are dallied (wrapped) around the saddle horn, rather than clipped or tied on hard: “If anything goes wrong, the rider lets go of the rope, the skier lets go of the rope and there are no tangles,” says Mitchell.
Sam Mitchell is unmissable at the racetrack in a calf–length coat trimmed with fur and covered in vintage patches, blond hair cascading from under a felt cowboy hat. She’s a horse trainer and coach, and the founder of Skijor Canada and its pre–eminent event, Skijordue. A lifelong rider and skier, Mitchell combined the fashion and après–ski scene of the Alps (where she spent seven winters), the cowboy spirit of the Foothills and the ski and snowboarding culture of the Rockies to create Skijordue. “It’s the best of Alberta, with a little Euro thrown in,” she says. The annual one–day charity event, which began in 2016 when a dozen friends got together to horse around and eat cheese, sees riders and sliders face off in four competitive events (Circuit, Sprint, Relay and Long Jump) with horses reaching speeds of up to 65 kilometres an hour. It goes down in front of a crowd wearing flamboyant western–meets–Euro ski getups, resulting in a technicolour sea of snowsuits, chaps, cowboy hats and fur – all fuelled by fondue, bratwurst and beer.
Participants, spectators and organizers alike go all out with their getups.
The Wildrose Yodel Club sets the tone for a day of Alps-meets-Alberta culture.
Skijordue’s course designer Mike Perks is a snow specialist – he oversees the snowmaking and grooming for the opening of Lake Louise Ski Resort. “Skijor courses are similar to ski cross courses, only we’re not dealing with gravity – the horse is your engine,” he says.
Claire Perks helps her husband with the course design, but also competes as a rider: “I’m the horse girl who races, and he’s the snow expert; we’re the skijor couple.”
Skijoring may be relatively new as a spectator sport in the Foothills, but horse folks in these parts have been doing it all along. Kirk “Gongshow” Prescott lives in De Winton, just 20 minutes away. “From a young age we used to tow each other around on sleds and skis, but in the last five years, skijoring has taken off and become more of a sport.” As an ambassador for Skijor Canada, he’s part of the tight–knit volunteer organization led by Mitchell that’s pushing it forward, working to standardize competition and safety and help other communities organize events. They’ve received calls from skijor groups from as far away as China with questions about how to pull off races like theirs.
Roman rider Noémy Coeurjoly and her team Mathis and Frosty wow the crowd in between events.
Trick rider Alanna Nolan and high-flying stunt skier Phil Hudec kick off Skijordue 2020 – and show spectators in the grandstand what they’re in for.
Three skiers fly over the Long Jump back-to-back.
At Skijordue 2020, Susan Oakes, the world record holder for sidesaddle high jumping, and her childhood friend Barry O’Brien Lynch travelled from Ireland to compete. When Oakes shared news of their participation on her Facebook page, the duo was interviewed by their local radio station in Meath County, which caught the attention of the national papers – landing Alberta’s distinct style of skijoring a spot on the front page of the Irish Examiner. “People from all over instantly knew about this crazy sport and that we’re here,” says Oakes. “All of Ireland is behind us.”
Falon Manywounds, the 2020 Calgary Stampede First Nations Princess, takes in the festivities at Skijordue.
Barry O’Brien Lynch (in green) trained at home in Ireland by getting pulled behind a tractor on a kids’ sled over a roll of carpet. It worked: He
and Susan Oakes took first in the Sprint event.
and Susan Oakes took first in the Sprint event.
Ryan Kennedy saddles up ahead of the competition, where she’ll pull her dad on skis. “It’s fun to do something horsey with my dad. He’s been so supportive of my riding since I was little.”
Keep your heels down and hang on.
The timed Circuit event plays out on a curved track, with skiers and snowboarders navigating a series of obstacles: weaving between hay bales, careening around berms and – for bonus points – ringing a large cowbell hanging in an adjacent tree. As a horse and rider race to get their skier across the finish line, the announcer surveys the crowd: “How many of you are at a skijor event for the first time ever?” Cheers and hollers erupt from the already boisterous bleachers. At the first official Skijordue in 2017, attendance was 800; now it’s 4,000, with 150 competitors. “I don’t think a lot of people who don’t ride would go see horse shows, and who don’t ski would go to ski races,” Mitchell says. “But they will come to see this.”
The Events
Circuit
In this individual timed event, horses and riders run on the inside of the curved track, while sliders (skiers and snowboarders) navigate obstacles on the perimeter.
Long Jump
Horses and riders propel sliders over a two–metre jump (one at a time). One winner is declared for farthest distance travelled, and one winner for style.
Relay
Three horses and riders race abreast, towing slider A for 90 metres, who then hands the rope to slider B for the 90–metre dash back to the finish line.
Sprint
Four horses and riders race abreast, towing sliders down a straight 200–metre track.
When You Go
Foothills County, Alberta
Photo: Emily Exon Photography
Azuridge Estate Hotel
Tucked away in the northwest corner of Foothills County, this hidden–gem resort is themed around precious stones (the owners are geologists). Each of the 13 guest rooms is named after a mineral, while the new–in–2020 Flourish LIV Well Spa uses stones and crystals in treatments.
Photo: The Westwood
The Westwood
Stop in for the Australia–meets–Alberta “Sunday Brekkie” – avocado toast and farm eggs with thick–cut bacon – at this laid–back eatery in Black Diamond. Co–owner and chef Erin Kendrick, an Aussie transplant, also serves up fresh glazed and filled doughnuts on Saturdays.
Photo: Jolene Friesen
Bertie’s General Store
Housed in Black Diamond’s first store, Bertie’s is run by friends Isis Velkova and Jolene Friesen. Half of it is vintage clothing curated by Friesen, and the other half is an apothecary, featuring Velkova’s Tender Living Farm teas, bath soaks and salves, made with local ingredients.
Photo: Amanda MacKay
Leighton Art Centre
Come for the best view in the Foothills – a Sound of Music–esque vista as far as the eye can see – and stay for the local art exhibits, a shop filled with handmade gifts and to learn about the legacy of Alberta artists A.C. and Barbara Leighton, who lived in the Arts and Crafts–style house and painted the surrounding landscapes.
