Skijoring in the Wild West
So many people come through Jackson Hole every year to experience “the wild west.” A now famous sign greets you as you leave the airport “Yonder is Jackson Hole, the last of the old west.”
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For me, that meant promises of remote mountain peaks to climb and ski down. To others, it meant open fields and canyons to roam on horseback.
Jackson Hole has a unique blend of ski culture, and ranch culture. Most of the extent that those cultures intermix is at the weekly bluegrass dance night at The Wort or shooting pool at The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.
I always thought of the two scenes as pretty distinct, that is until I met Faith Hamlin and heard of the incredibly niche and rugged sport of Skijoring.
Photo by Izzy Lidsky
Faith grew up in Jackson, and she spent her youth learning to shred on the Jackson Hole Freeride Program (a program I was lucky enough to coach for when I first moved to Jackson 10 years ago). But after Faith’s family bought a Wyoming ranch in 2017, she wholeheartedly jumped into the cowgirl lifestyle. Now she co-owns/manages/operates Little Jennie Ranch. In her own words “skiing was the roots for me, and now I’m all rancher.”
So Faith is in a unique position to bring her two worlds together, through the amazing sport of Skijoring.
If you don’t know what skijoring is, watch this video. It’s hard to put into words how rogue it is. You’re on skis hanging onto a rope which is tied to the back of a saddle on a horse who is sprinting as fast as it can through the snow. Oh, and you have to go through a slalom course with jumps and banks built into it, and don’t forget to capture all the rings along the way.
It’s wild, it’s rowdy, and it is FUN.
For competitors though, skijoring isn’t just a silly way to spend a day. It is a high performance sport and the top dogs take it seriously. There’s a competition circuit that goes all around the western ski towns and there is some real money to be made if you can make it onto the podium: 1st prize can be up to $5,000 at some events.
Walking through the event at Little Jennie Ranch, it’s everything you would expect. The viewing stands are stacked hay bales and the ground is so muddy that the only thing to do is immediately accept you’ll be covered in it. You can pick up a burger to go eat on the haystacks and chances are the person next to you will offer you a swig of whiskey straight from the bottle.
The crowd goes equally as wild for the good runs as it does for the sensational crashes (don’t worry only the skiers crash, not the horses). The announcer has the most impressive handlebar mustache you’ve ever seen and his voice running quickly in the background makes it sound like a cattle auction. The cowgirls and cowboys are dressed like it’s a western fashion show: you see cowboy hats in every color you can imagine, every pair of cowboy boots is completely unique and looks like it was handmade just for that person, and you’ve never wanted so badly to own a pair of suede leather chaps.
Photo by Izzy Lidsky
The skiing was tough for me. I wasn’t able to keep up with the ex racers who take skijoring religiously, I would drop the rope, slick with mud and melted snow, and I couldn’t even manage to keep the rings that I did catch on my arm through the finish line.
I don’t know if there was any deep learning lesson that I had from this weekend, but I do know that I had a damn good time, and I came away with a strong urge to learn how to ride a horse.
