STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Idaho’s first youth ski mountaineering team will have its season kickoff from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 9, at Backwoods Mountain Sports.

The evening, which will provide information about the sport and more, is open to the community.

Longtime ski racer and coach Jackson Long is starting the “skimo” program, which is geared towards building fitness and skills for light, fast ski touring and racing. It’s open to skiers ages 13 through 19 who have a background in downhill skiing.

The event will make its Olympic debut in the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Games.

USA Skimo is working to put U.S. ski mountaineering athletes on the podium at World Cup and World Championships races. So far, the national team has athletes from Bozeman, Mont; Park City, Utah; Durango, Colo., and other towns in Utah and Colorado, but no representatives from Idaho.

The human-powered endurance competition involves climbing mountains on skis and passing through various types of terrain before descending to the finish line. Athletes will learn about avalanche safety and other skills necessary to be successful at the sport.

Long will describe what the program entails, show off the gear, introduce coaches and offer his vision for the program during the event. Long, an endurance athlete, has competed in multiple skimo national championships, and other major races. He for them by challenging himself to do such things as skiing across the ridgetops of the Boulder Mountains near Galena Lodge.

He hopes to offer a three-week casual evening race series for the community at Rotarun beginning Feb. 26.

“The Wood River Valley has world-class backcountry ski access and is the perfect training environment  for skimo training and racing,” he said. “With professional education and training in endurance coaching, sports nutrition and years of experience as a high-level endurance athlete myself, I hope to help build the next generation of winter mountain athletes to foster a shared love for moving quickly in the mountains.”

Learn more at https://sunvalleyskimo.org.