STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

After serving as the backdrop for the 2025 World Cup Audi FIS Finals the past few days, Sun Valley’s Bald Mountain served as the backdrop to Wild West Skijoring.

Hundreds of people—many of them visitors from France and other European countries--lined the field along Sun Valley Road to watch skiers pulled by horses circumnavigate turns, spear rings hanging on poles and jump across chasms in snow.

Ketchum Mayor Neil Bradshaw and Sun Valley Mayor Peter Hendricks even took their behind horses, although at a decidedly slower pace and without the jumps, as they competed for the Mayor’s Cup.

“We had a case of the nerves, dry mouth…but by the end we were raring to do it again,” said Hendricks.

“People were asking them, ‘Why would you do this?’ Why would you not?!” added Hendricks’ wife Lisa-Marie Allen.

The City of Sun Valley put on the skijoring races thinking it would give European visitors, who are known for their interest in America’s West, a thrill. And so many people were walking up and down Sun Valley Road throughout the afternoon as they headed to autograph sessions with Marco Odermatt, Mikaela Shiffrin and other athletes that it looked like a busy Wagon Days weekend. Only, surprisingly, with more cowboy hats.

Ski fans and ski racers apparently like to wear cowboy hats when they’re not wearing ski helmets!

Once word got out about the skijoring event, organizer Josh Glick was besieged by professional skijorers who wanted to take part.

One of those was Scott Long, a cowboy from Heber City, Utah. He, his little brother and cousin  gladly came because it extended the skijoring season.

“It’s addictive,” said Long. “Twenty seconds of running 35 miles an hour on a horse—lights out. Pure adrenaline that you don’t get anywhere else.”

“We’ve been to a bunch of skijoring competitions, but the Wood River Extreme Skijoring competition in this valley is our favorite,” said his cousin Matt Nilson. “It’s all about the cowboys, the horses, the people. It’s not political like some of them.”

The “redneck entertainment,” as it was billed, was preceded by a moment of silence for Gary Farrington, a Bellevue rancher who passed away a few weeks ago. The father of Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington, he was known as “the skiing cowboy,” said Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation snowboard coach Andy Gilbert.

“I can’t think of a better way to honor him—he loved his horses, he loved his skiing. And he was always there for his friends and neighbors… the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation,” Gilbert said.

“You’ve been tall in the saddle and rode so well,” intoned a cowboy poet as a riderless horse was led along the track. “You’re a true cowboy as anyone can tell….Saddle up, cowboy, it’s time for your final ride.”