Ski mountaineering enters the Winter Olympic spotlight

The next Winter Olympics will feature a sport dominated by Colorado athletes.

Ski mountaineering will join the 2026 Games in Cortina, Italy. Nine of the 10 men and women on the national teams hail from Colorado.

• "Colorado and Utah are really the hotbeds," says Ram Mikulas, the U.S. Ski Mountaineering Association president, who lives in Summit County.
• The next sanctioned race in the U.S. is April 3 at Breckenridge Ski Resort.

State of play: The niche sport is increasing in popularity with explosive growth in backcountry skiing in recent years.

How it works: In skimo, competitors ascend the mountain with skins on the bottom of their skis for grip. They take them off to zip down, and repeat, completing multiple routes.