Alaska Glacier Ice Mountain
Courtesy | Pexels
Students in the Hillsdale Ski Club say they are excited for ski mountaineering to debut at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy, Feb. 19 and 21. Other students however, are unfamiliar with ski mountaineering, also known as skimo, despite the sport dating back 5,000 years and gaining recent popularity.
Olympic Skiing— what to look out for
The Olympics will feature three skimo events: men’s sprint, women’s sprint, and mixed gender relay. Thirty-six athletes will compete, with Americans Anna Gibson and Cam Smith qualifying in the mixed gender relay.
“I don’t know people who are good at ski mountaineering, but I’m excited for it to start so people can compete,” Marcelle Little, a sophomore on the Hillsdale Ski Club, said. “I am curious to see how interesting it will be to watch, because I’ve not watched professionals do it, but growing up and traveling in Colorado and California, I have seen people practice ski mountaineering.”
The sprint events will cover around 70 meters of elevation and take athletes a maximum of three minutes to complete. Athletes will begin the race course climbing up the mountain, using rubber membranes, also known as skins, on the bottom of their skis to prevent them from sliding backwards. When competitors enter the on-foot portion of the ascent, they will remove their skis and attach them to their backpack. A little ways away from the top, competitors will place their skis back on. At the top, competitors will remove their skins from their skis and race down the mountain.
The mixed-relay is raced the same way as the sprint event, but has a longer course and is a total of four laps. Partners alternate racing a lap, with the woman being the first to go. At the Olympics, the mixed-relay will cover around 140 meters of elevation and take roughly 30 minutes.
The skimo sprints will be held Feb. 19, and the mixed-relay will be held Feb. 21.
Sophomore and vice president of the Hillsdale Ski Club Peter Kaiser said he has never tried skimo, but he thinks it would be harder than regular skiing because there is no ski lift to bring you up the mountain.
“It would require a lot more skill and physical training, because you have to have good endurance,” Kaiser said. “I mean, climbing up a snowy peak is not easy — you have to have balance and not slip or anything.”
New to the Olympics but an ancient practice
Before skimo became a sport, it was a necessity. Ancient Nordic populations invented skis as a means of transportation during the winter season. Later on, different cultures adopted skimo to hunt, trade, and transport soldiers through rugged terrain because skimo’s climbing element makes it different from regular skiing.
During the late 19th century, English tourists visiting the Alps took up skimo to reach peaks that ski lifts and roads could not reach. Skimo transformed into a fun and competitive activity, with the use of skis and mountaineering skills appearing in the Olympics in Military Patrol, a demonstration sport that evolved into the modern biathlon.
The first ski mountaineering competition, Mezzalama Trophy, was held in 1933 in Italy, and was organized by the friends of Ottorino Mezzalama, a pioneer of Italian skimo who died in an avalanche accident. The Mezzalama Trophy helped establish skimo as a sport in the world of skiing, allowing skimo to return to Italy less than a hundred years later as a sport in the 2026 Olympics
Little said she didn’t know much about skimo or had done it herself, but was glad to know it had been added to the Olympics.
“I definitely think it’s a great thing that they are widening the palette of snow sports in the Olympics,” Little said. “It will draw more attention to the different types of ski sports that there are, and open more opportunities for people who are good at those sports.”
Similarly to Little, Kaiser is also in favor of skimo being added to the 2026 Olympics, because the mixed-relay event adds a level of competitiveness that the audience, himself included, will find entertaining.
“The fact that they are adding this, which seems like a very fun, more high adrenaline sport because it is a tag-team relay as well, you can actually root for these people in a race instead of just judging them on technique,” Kaiser said.
Students React
Little and Kaiser said they feel the Winter Olympics is less popular than the Summer Olympics, adding they hope if the Winter Olympics continues to expand its program, winter sports will gain more traction and people will be more inclined to give winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding a chance.
“It’s an incredible way to enjoy the natural beauty of the world and spend time with friends,” sophomore and president of the Hillsdale Ski Club, Connor O’ Donohue, said.
Little said simply the act of skiing is wonderful.
“I love how freeing it is,” Little said. “I love the feeling of flying down a mountain as fast as I can, or just challenging myself on mobiles.”
Kaiser said he predicts skimo’s debut at the Olympics will be received well by winter athletes and by people watching from home.
“It’s definitely going to deliver a unique challenge for people to train toward and I could see it being a huge staple for the Olympics to come because you can see it on the faces of the people competing in it,” Kaiser said. “They are enjoying it, they really get into the thrill of the chase, of the racing, of the head-to-head.”
