Skijoring on Blair Street!!!!

This weekend is Silverton's 2011 Winter Festival: Snowscape. This morning (Saturday) was what Travis calls "a Chamber of Commerce Day" in the high San Juans---blue sky, crisp temperatures, with sun that warmed as the day progressed.

The exciting event of the morning was the Skijoring! There was a stampede of teams racing up historic Blair Street to the sound of cheering crowds and amplified western music!!

What is skijoring? It combines skiing skills with those of a cowboy. Teams comprised of a horseback rider towing a skier (by rope) run as fast as possible down a 250-yard, snowpacked course. The skier is required to go over various jumps built of snow as well as maneuvering through gates, much like in a slalom, all the while hanging on to the rope that it attached to horse and rider!

People in Leadville have enjoyed the sport for some years. This is Silverton's second skijoring meet and I am hoping it will continue---what a hilarious sport! There were the "horse" people in their boots, hats, and fringed chaps with their beautiful horses, many with elaborate tack. The horses were quite furry, indicating that they came from cold country and have been outside working for the winter. Then there were the skiers---dressed in everything from natty downhill gear (all matching), nice skis, great boots, etc. to some dressed in blue jeans and a sweatshirts! I was glad they all wore helmets!


Yesterday I mosied over to Blair Street to watch the preparation. Our recent 18" of new snow was being modeled into jumps and large banks to identify the course. The street was closed to traffic and workers were installing the posts that identify the gates.

One of the jumps is just north of Ruth Ann's house so she kindly posed by the jump for scale!

(If you enlarge this photo you will get an idea of how high the jumps are---even though I agree that she is not so tall!)

This morning, as I walked over to Blair for the excitement I encountered one contestant having his horse's shoes modified. The farrier was adding spikes to the shoes. Good for snowpack, I guess.

Today the street looked quite different. There were people, horses, and loud music everywhere! It seemed very festive. (Message for Travis: the atmosphere was much like we experienced at the Speed Skiing event.)

Looking down Blair Street to the starting line---here comes a horse, towing a skier who is just about to come off the first jump (skier on the far left of the snow jump). You may need to enlarge your photos to find the skier...

Another team roaring up Blair---cowboy on the left had a huge hat and very fast horse! Skier is about to come off the jump right by the orange flag. This team traveled the 250 yards in

18 seconds---including three large jumps and five gates plus a run-out to the finish.

This is blurry---my shutter speed is too slow---but it will give you an idea of how it looked to have the horse and skier go flying by. Many of the riders were young women. Only one female skier participated.

Here is a skier flying over the jump by Ruth Ann's house---the brown horse head is just visible to the left of the jump if you enlarge the picture.

Skier rounds a gate shortly before the second large jump.

Some skiers wiped out but there was only one fall that looked really uncomfortable. However, the skier gathered up his skis, found his hat and walked off laughing. Finals are tomorrow---today was a elimination round.

Hopefully it will be staged next year---I went up Main Street after the event and there wasn't a parking place anywhere. It looked like mid-summer so I am sure the merchants will be in favor of a repeat. It is exciting to watch---want to come next winter?

Thanks for checking in!

PS The second day best time was 17.04 seconds I believe---and the skier had to collect three rings which were hung on poles along the route!