North America’s ‘toughest’ skimo race returns to Big Sky March 16

By Mario Carr EBS CONTRIBUTOR

On March 16, the Shedhorn Skimo will challenge athletes and impress spectators for its ninth year at Big Sky Resort. 

In March of 2015, the Shedhorn Skimo was an invite-only ski mountaineering race with only 22 competitors at Big Sky Resort. Averaging between 80-120 competitors the last few years, Noah Ronczkowski of Big Sky Ski Patrol believes it’s earning a reputation as the “toughest” skimo race in North America.

“From the feedback that I’ve gotten, it’s the most challenging race,” Ronczkowski said. He explained that this is mostly due to the extreme nature of the descents. After skinning and bootpacking to the top of Lone Mountain from the base, competitors are forced to hold for one minute before their first descent of the day: the Big Couloir. This hold is necessary, Ronczkowski said, in order to make sure competitors are fully collected before tackling the descent. 

“In years past when the [Big Couloir] has been too icy we’ve put a 600-foot handline down it,” Ronczkowski said.

Ronczkowski helped found the race nearly 10 years ago with the help of other Big Sky patrollers, and explained that it was a dream of his to have a mountaineering race on Lone Mountain. 

“This is the type of mountain where you would spend a day going to, to ski the lines off of this mountain,” Ronczkowski said.

With the help of a friend in the ski mountaineering world, Ronczkowski said that they were able to recruit some of the best American ski mountaineers to participate in the first Shedhorn Skimo race, and that many world-class athletes return year after year.

“We’ve had a lot of male and female participants here that compete in Italy in the big Pierra Menta Races and represent the United States,” Ronczkowski said.

In Big Sky, competitors take off to the top of Lone Mountain from the base of Swift Current at 8 a.m. and have until 4 p.m. to finish the course. The fastest time the Shedhorn Skimo has seen is around 3 hours and 52 minutes.

In recent years, the race has been divided into three categories: the Shedhorn, the Pronghorn and the Shedling. The Shedhorn currently boasts an intimidating 16-plus mile course with 8,000 vertical feet of climbing. In the first two years of the competition, competitors were required to ascend the Kircher Cliffs on a fixed vertical rope, but that element has since been removed to help increase the authenticity and accessibility of the race, according to Ronczkowski.

“The [United States Ski Mountaineering Association] referees had us shorten the race because it was too long and had too much vert’ for their requirements for an individual race,” Ronczkowski said.

After removing the cliff ascension and shortening the course slightly to abide by USSMA guidelines, Ronczkowski said that the general route of the course has remained the same over the years. The ascents have remained constant, while descents are adjusted according to conditions each year—the Big Couloir always being the first descent. All USSMA sanctioned events need to include a category for athletes under 18 years old, hence the addition of the Pronghorn race, which is roughly half the length of the Shedhorn.

With an 8 a.m. start time, this race runs while the resort is open to the public.

“Our number one goal is racer safety, and public safety, and we’ve never had a negative interaction between the racers and the guests,” Ronczkowski said.

 Athletes have until 4 p.m. to get back to the top of Lone Mountain after multiple other ascents and descents, otherwise they will not be allowed to finish the race. Ronczkowski has regularly attended this cut off station and feels bad for the handfuls of competitors he has had to shut down.

Big Sky Ski Patrol puts an immense amount of work into this race with set up, take down, navigation support and even breaking trail so that whoever is in first place is never breaking trail for the rest of the competitors. It takes days to set up most of the course, with a heavy lift setting course markers on the morning-of, due to grooming on the mountain. 

“This mountain has it all… I’ve been told a lot of the top [skimo] competitors are human lungs–but you’ve gotta know how to really ski here,” Ronczkowski said. 

Ronczkowski said that many folks are surprised by not just the intense skiing required in the Shedhorn Skimo, but also the gnarly weather conditions that can make hiking something like Alto Ridge a terrifying venture.

“The energy of the ski patrol is what makes this race so cool as well,” Ronczkowski said, thanking Rachel Efta, Casey Hart, Dave Brown along with all of the pro and volunteer ski patrollers that make the race the welcoming environment that it is. 

Registration for the 2024 Shedhorn Skimo is open to the public until Friday, March 15.