{"id":13072,"date":"2026-03-05T00:43:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T07:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-firefighter-seriously-injured-in-skijoring-accident-in-grand-lake\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:35:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:35:21","slug":"cortez-firefighter-seriously-injured-in-skijoring-accident-in-grand-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-firefighter-seriously-injured-in-skijoring-accident-in-grand-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez firefighter seriously injured in skijoring accident in Grand Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cortez
Cortez firefighter Noah Gregory shattered his pelvis competing at a skijoring competition in Grand Lake. \u201cThe left side of my pelvis was just like shattered glass on a stone floor,\u201d Gregory said. (Photo courtesy of Noah Gregory)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Cortez firefighter and longtime skijoring competitor Noah Gregory is receiving treatment at a Denver hospital after he and his horse tangled in a fall at the Grand Lake skijoring competition on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n

Gregory, who competes riding horses with a skier in tow, shattered his pelvis and broke a vertebra after his horse stumbled in competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe horse did a front flip with me in the saddle,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cHis body of 1,300 pounds came and landed directly on my pelvis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gregory runs Telluride Wranglers, which advertises guided trail rides, and has worked as a firefighter for the Cortez Fire Protection District for the past three years. With an estimated recovery time of nine months, it will be a long road back to the saddle \u2013 and to the fire station.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no discharge dates for me right now at all. There\u2019s certain milestones that I have to hit, and I\u2019m not really close to those milestones yet,\u201d Gregory said.<\/p>\n

After his eventual discharge, Gregory faces up to three weeks of physical therapy. He\u2019ll then be confined to a wheelchair for eight to 12 weeks, followed by a transition to using a walker or a cane before fully recovering.<\/p>\n

Shortly after his air transport to Denver for emergency surgery, a friend began a GoFundMe campaign<\/a> to support his hospital bills and his family. Friends and skijoring fanatics donated over $40,000 of the $55,000 requested.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really brought tears to me and my wife\u2019s face to see the support of everybody that\u2019s come out of the woodwork,\u201d Gregory said.<\/p>\n

However, Gregory, who began his skijoring career at a 2018 Silverton competition, won\u2019t compete for the rest of the season \u2013 a fact he\u2019s not too happy about.<\/p>\n

\u201cI specifically asked, \u2018when can I be back in the saddle?\u2019\u201d Gregory said of his conversation with his doctors after surgery.<\/p>\n

\"Skiers
Skiers and horseriders collaborate at the Silverton Skijoring event in February. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Dedicated fans and daunting risks<\/strong><\/div>\n

Skijoring, with origins in Europe, Scandinavia and Asia, became popular among Coloradans after Steamboat\u2019s first Winter Carnival in 1914. The sport\u2019s followers enjoy the blend of cowboy and skiing culture as skiers attached to horses and guided by riders weave through obstacles at high speeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou as a skier are doing something completely different than you would on a mountain,\u201d said Loren Zhimanskova, the president and founder of Skijor USA, a national alliance that supports skijoring events and education. \u201cIt appeals to people who have a need for speed, competition spirit and love an adrenaline rush.\u201d<\/p>\n

Injuries are more common among skiers, according to Zhimanskova, who said well over 3,000 skijoring teams have competed so far this year. While less common, horsemen like Gregory can see pelvis, collarbone and back injuries if thrown off.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeldom do we have people that are airlifted to a major hospital,\u201d Zhimanskova said. \u201cWe have an excellent track record when it comes to safety when you think of the thousands of people competing every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zhimanskova, who saw a video of Gregory\u2019s accident, sympathized with the financial and emotional loss of missing a competition season. However, she said the risks of skijoring are not unique to the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s increased risk in any sport that you\u2019re engaged in especially if it involves speed or slippery surfaces,\u201d Zhimanskova said, noting the 1,000\u2011pound animal in the mix of it all. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the fabric of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gregory, despite the skijoring event that\u2019s turned his life around, agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cInjuries happen on the NFL football fields. Injuries happen in all sports,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cThe type of accident that I sustained in skijoring is very, very rare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skijoring\u2019s uncertain future<\/strong><\/div>\n

Event organizers in Grand Lake canceled the next day of competition after Gregory\u2019s accident, as warm weather created suboptimal conditions on the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cOvernight, the temperatures never froze or got cold enough for the track to reset,\u201d Zhimanskova said.<\/p>\n

Meeker, a small mountain town in northwestern Colorado, canceled its January competition that was meant to kick off the season. Zhimanskova said organizers now use more artificial snow, with some events opting to reduce the amount of snow by only covering enough track for the skiers and not the horses.<\/p>\n

She added that skijoring communities are developing in more northern areas with higher elevations as global warming makes for milder winters.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs new regions start to develop, they\u2019ll have their own style,\u201d Zhimanskova said.<\/p>\n

But the Western flair of Colorado\u2019s skijoring competitions will remain a personal touch. The Leadville skijoring event, the last of Colorado\u2019s for the season, begins Saturday.<\/p>\n

While he can\u2019t attend because of the accident, Gregory\u2019s humor remains unaffected. He compared his broken body to Humpty Dumpty\u2019s. After falling off the ledge, he\u2019s shattered, but all the king\u2019s horses, all the king\u2019s men and donations from the skijoring community are piecing him back together again.<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the\u2011journal.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

cowboys, skiers and horses risk bad falls, the sport remains beloved among Colorado fans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13072"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18798,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13072\/revisions\/18798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13072"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}