The wacky sport of skijoring, where skiing meets rodeo, comes to the Front Range this weekend with an event at the Estes Park fairgrounds.
Skijoring, involving skiers being towed by horses while negotiating a number of jumps and gates, has long been a popular event in Leadville, Steamboat Springs, Silverton and other highcountry communities. This time it will unfold beneath the magestic backdrop of Longs Peak, less than an hour and a half from Denver with no high mountain passes to cross. Competition begins at 11:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Other attractions include a warming-hut expo and a family fun zone.
Event organizer Kevin Benes expects 5,000 to 6,000 spectators to turn out over two days, based on advance ticket sales. The race course was built this week with plenty of snow available.
“We’re building the track of our dreams,” Benes said Wednesday. “I think we’re going to show people a really great time and something they’ve never seen before. That’s the hope.”
Seven Colorado highcountry towns have hosted or will host skijoring events this winter, sanctioned by Skijor USA. Skijoring has been part of the Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival since the early 1900s. Inspired by the Steamboat event, Leadville began staging skijoring events in 1949.
Estes Park has a rich history of rodeo dating back to 1908, predating the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park, so organizers thought it was a natural to host skijoring. The annual Rooftop Rodeo (so named for its 7,500 foot elevation) is held in July.
Estes Park resident Michelle Hurni will be pulling skiers in the skijoring event on one of her two mustangs. She also is an avid telemark skier who frequents the slopes of the defunct Hidden Valley ski area in Rocky Mountain National Park.
“It probably sees more skier days now than it did when it was an area that was actually operating, because so many people are into backcountry skiing now,” Hurni said. “So for us to have the combo event here, skijoring, it’s cool to have. The rodeo is huge.”
Holly Spreitzer, the 2016 Rooftop Rodeo Queen, will compete in the skijoring event and sing the National Anthem both days. She is the coordinator for Rooftop Rodeo Royalty, a group which consists of queens, attendants, princesses and wranglers who serve as ambassadors for the rodeo. They are helping to promote the skijoring event as well.
“The big thing is cultivating that environment for our royalty to support rodeo and the importance it brings to our western heritage,” Spreitzer said. “They’re like our feet on the ground, essentially to be public information officers. They interact with the crowd, they interact with people on the street, invite them to our rodeo. Our queen and attendant do public events all over Colorado and up into Wyoming.”
It’s all about promoting the western heritage of a modern tourist town better known for serving visitors to the nation’s fifth-busiest national park.
“A one point, Estes Park had more horses per capita than anywhere else in the state,” Hurni said. “That’s a part of the Rooftop Rodeo history, right when the Rooftop Rodeo started. That’s just such a cool thing. We used to have more horses than anybody, and yet this is the first time this event is coming here.”
