{"id":35685,"date":"2023-02-18T23:04:09","date_gmt":"2023-02-19T06:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/14th-annual-silverton-skijoring-competition-takes-over-town\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:26:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:26:26","slug":"14th-annual-silverton-skijoring-competition-takes-over-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/14th-annual-silverton-skijoring-competition-takes-over-town\/","title":{"rendered":"14th annual Silverton Skijoring competition takes over town"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A rider pulls a skier down the Silverton Skijoring course Saturday in Silverton. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

SILVERTON \u2013 By 11 a.m. Saturday, Silverton appeared, in part, to have regressed a century. Wrangler-clad riders on horseback rode up and down the streets of the historic mining town. At the south end of Blair Street, temporary corrals filled the parking spots generally occupied by Subarus and pickup trucks. Cowboy-hat wearing horse handlers sipped beer while puffy-jacket-bundled skiers took hits of joints.<\/p>\n

To the north, a team of volunteers scrupulously checked the condition of a series of jumps and hung rings from makeshift stands.<\/p>\n

\"Runs
Runs are timed, and the fastest skiers to complete the course are crowned champion during Silverton Skijoring on Saturday in Silverton. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

And just after noon, the first horse set off down the street with a skier in tow.<\/p>\n

Silverton Skijoring \u2013 the event for which cowboys, skiers and spectators descended upon the small mountain town \u2013 is a raucous affair.<\/p>\n

Riders on galloping horseback tow skiers behind them at exhilarating speeds down the snowy groomed street, while the skier navigates a series of gates and jumps while attempting to grab dangling rings. Runs are timed, and the fastest skiers to complete the course are crowned champion.<\/p>\n

Skiers are penalized for missed gates or failing to carry rings across the finish line.<\/p>\n

\"The
The sidewalks were full in Silverton on Saturday for the Silverton Skijoring competition. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Rider-skier pairings self-select either the novice, sport and open class, each indicating a more advanced level of skill than the last.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a wild ride,\u201d said Kevin Wilder of Telluride and Silverton\u2019s 2022 sport class champion. \u201cIt\u2019s fast. It\u2019s somewhat of a horse race on this straight track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilder is competing in the open class, and said he put his chances of winning between 60% and 70%.<\/p>\n

\"A
A rider pulls a skier down the Silverton Skijoring course Saturday in Silverton. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Participants and spectators come from all over the state for the event. Throngs of people line the 2.5-block course, crowding over barricades to watch, although not all Silverton residents appear thrilled with the affair, given the small number of \u201cNo trespassing\u201d signs that proliferate a handful of yards along Blair Street.<\/p>\n

For the fourth year in a row, J.W. Kinder, a professional rodeo announcer, made the trip from Casper, Wyoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s unique about this event is the community,\u201d Kinder said in an interview with The<\/em> Durango Herald<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s very community minded. I love that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The sidewalks were full in Silverton on Saturday for the Silverton Skijoring competition. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Some participants take the event more seriously than others. Skiers hoot and holler as they cross the finish line; one doubles over in disappointment after the horse got between him and a stand of rings, costing him six points. After all, about $26,000 of prize money is on the line between the three categories.<\/p>\n

Prize money aside, the event is a boon for Silverton\u2019s winter economy. The Coffee Bear, Silverton\u2019s spacious coffee shop, was abuzz with visitors by early morning. Vendors lined 12th Street to hawk anything from disposable cameras to marijuana.<\/p>\n

The skiers and cowboys are a cocky bunch \u2013 an element that seems almost critical to the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only really big nerve would be winning the division and going to the \u2018open\u2019 division,\u201d said first-time skijorer Kellan Wehner of Durango, who chose to compete in the mid-tier sport division for his first competition. \u201cThat would definitely be the biggest nerve \u2013 if we outdo ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two hours later, Wehner came skidding across the finish line. He took 28.41 seconds to complete the course and dropped only one ring.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was sick, I love you!\u201d shouted his rider from atop her horse in an expletive-laden cry of joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo fun!\u201d Wehner said. \u201cI\u2019m hooked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skijoring attracts those who identify as what skier Andrew Barlow called \u201chippie cowboys.\u201d It requires partnership between people who can both ski and ride at a high level. Some riders and skiers operate as a partnered pair, while others meet the day of the competition.<\/p>\n

\"A
A rider pulls a skier down the Silverton Skijoring course on Saturday in Silverton. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As Jasmine Johnson waited for her turn to ride while sitting on her horse, Kid Around Joe Blue, she said she began skijoring nine years ago after discovering that the culture was far more fun than rodeo competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkijoring is super cool because you have two totally different groups people: You have cowboys and skiers, who are pretty much on opposite sides of the fence in every part of the world, and they team up and have way more fun than you ever would at a rodeo,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re adrenaline junkies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kinder, the announcer, likens the sport to NASCAR.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re gonna see some crashes. You\u2019re gonna see a guy lose a ski and stay up, you\u2019re going to see an array of things,\u201d he said. \u201c \u2026 We want to see a wreck but we don\u2019t want to see anybody hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"A
A skier heads for the last set of rings that he needs to collect on Saturday during Silverton Skijoring. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A skier drops the last set of rings that he tried to collect on Saturday during Silverton Skijoring. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

pull skiers, \u2018it\u2019s a wild ride\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[568,1315,28,1300,327],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-35685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-events","tag-freestyle-skiing","tag-headlines","tag-horseback-riding","tag-silverton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35685","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=35685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83071,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35685\/revisions\/83071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35685"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}