Steve Gray

Slim Shady highsteps once with rider Marquise Young on his back, then leaps into a run. In three strides, the former racehorse reaches top speed – 40 miles an hour, accelerating faster than a snowmobile.

Attached to Slim Shady’s saddle is a 50-foot chunky cotton rope. At the other end, Scott Hoover holds on with a death grip as he carves his skis and lines up for the first of four jumps. He’ll only have to hold on for 14 seconds – but at the end of the bullwhip, that feels like an eternity.

This is skijoring in Utah: part rodeo, part ski racing and 100 percent wild west spectacle.

For skier Hoover, nothing beats the adrenaline of skijoring, whether he falls or finishes. 

“Once that horse takes off and you feel that tension on the rope, it’s just pshh, gametime. You’re in the zone, flying,” he said.

Now in its seventh year, Heber City’s Skijoring Utah has become one of the premier skijoring races in the West. With a total cash purse of $25,000 dollars split between skiers, riders and horses, this event drawn competitors from all over the West. 

Hoover, a Midway local, didn’t have far to come for the competition, which keeps him busy on the two-day mid-February race weekend. He races on seven teams in different divisions which gives athletes more chances at the money and championship buckles.

Wearing chaps and a flannel with the words “I Could Do This All Day,” Hoover is all-in on skijoring, even to the extent of making it a family sport. While dashing around for his own races, he coaches three of his children – 7, 8, and 10 – to compete in the Lil’ Buckaroo Division.

Built on the rodeo grounds of Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber City, the racecourse is a 600-foot drag strip, curving slightly to the left, consisting of four large jumps made of piled snow and ankle-high slalom gates. The fastest combined times of a run Friday night and a run Saturday win each of nine divisions, ranging from Novice to Professional.

Missing gates or jumps results in time penalties, while crashing or dropping a rope knocks teams out of the running. The final gate is the hardest part of the course and is a must-hit, or risk disqualification. The finish comes on the heels of landing a jump, followed by an immediate right slalom turn and then an immediate left – all happening within the final second. Even the best runs finish with the skier wildly off balance across the finish.

Stadium lights illuminate the course, and snow dumps from the heavens on Friday night. Country music blares through speakers, interrupted by an announcer’s voice hyping the audience in the stands into a frenzy.

The crowd represents a blend of cultures: a Western cowboy aesthetic of fringed leather chaps, gleaming giant belt buckles and dirty felt Stetsons, a mountain town ski look of Gore-Tex and mirrored goggles, and an odd mix of floor-length fur coats, pink bedazzled cowboy hats and brightly colored costumes. Somehow this blend of cultures – this vibe – works in Utah.

Saturday morning dawns bright and brilliant, a chilly 14-degrees. Race officials groomed the course overnight into perfect corduroy. Saturday’s racers will be fast.

 

Colin Clancy


“There’s a lot more to think about,” she said. “The rope, the horse, the jumps, just staying on your feet. All the while, you’re just trying to manage the rope.”

When it’s Marno and MacDonald’s turn, they fly by, ultimately finishing the weekend second in the Novice and Women’s divisions.

The pros come next. Some of the fastest pro skiers don’t appear to be skiing at all – more hanging on and struggling to stay upright. As they barrel down the course, many work their way up the rope, hand over hand, toward the horse – shaving fractions of a second off their time and receiving a spray of snow mere feet from the horses’ flying hooves.

The crowd of 5,000 people hoots and howls with every Pro run. They hoist beers and ring cowbells. These two distinct crowds somehow meld perfectly, encapsulating Skijoring Utah’s mission of merging the state’s ski heritage with its cowboy roots.

Hoover and his teammate, Young, have another run. It’s one of the fastest of the day but not fast enough to win. They place third in this race, a mere fraction of a second behind first place.

Hoover is happy – there’s no time to dwell on it. He hurries back to the starting line with another race to run, and Lil’ Buckaroos to coach.


Amanda Dilworth