What do you get when you combine the love of navigating climbs and descents and snow? Ski mountaineering of course.
This winter sport, also called ‘skimo’, will make its debut at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, which start on February 6. The program includes sprint races and mixed relays.
The sport has a rich history, steeped in practical mountain treks and military patrol competitions.
However, skimo was not recognized by the International Olympic Committee until almost 100 years after other winter sports such as speed skating and ski jumping.
The sport combines elements of cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and mountain climbing.
What is skimo?
Athletes sprint uphill with fabric strips called “skins” on the bottom of their skis, which grip the snow. They then attach their skis to a special backpack, walk part of the course in boots, and then put their boots in downhill mode to race downhill.
In a few minutes the sprint races will be over.
How did two Australians – Phil Bellingham, 34, and Lara Hamilton, 27 – end up competing in Skimo’s first Olympic events?
This will be Bellingham’s fourth Winter Olympics, having competed in cross-country skiing at Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022.
Hamilton, from Sydney’s north shore, is making her Winter Olympics debut. Her background is in cross-country skiing and trail running, but last year she made skimo her focus and qualified for the Australian team at this year’s Games.
Hamilton told SBS News that the speeds at which athletes sprint uphill produce a huge amount of lactic acid, but she finds the descent after the climb in ski mountaineering to be the biggest challenge.
“My legs are shaking, I feel delirious and I am expected to do these precise movements as quickly as possible,” she said.
“It’s like suddenly stopping and having to manipulate the equipment. So I think learning to calm down to be able to do that after an all-out effort has been my biggest challenge.”
Bellingham, who is from Victoria’s High Country, said TV viewers should be aware of how steep the drop is.
“It looks a bit like people are walking very slowly on skis, but it is actually a very steep ski slope,” he told SBS News.
From cross-country skiing to ski mountaineering
Bellingham almost hung up his skis after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, but Finn Marsland, cross-country skiing program director, encouraged him to give skimo a try.
He said he was always interested in the sport.
“I had always done a lot of backcountry skiing and downhill skiing, so I decided to give it a try in the 2023 season… it was a bit of a rough start, but it turned out well and I enjoyed doing it.”
Hamilton, who grew up skiing and running, focused on running after high school after receiving a cross-country scholarship in the United States.
But during her winter vacations at college, she continued to ski the slopes of Colorado until she saw some people skiing in the mountains and thought she’d give it a try.
“I was backcountry skiing, but on a super heavy setup, not the setup we know for skimo,” she said.
“I had some friends in Colorado who played similar sports, so they gave me some advice on what to buy… so I bought my first rig second hand, super crappy and just started doing it [skimo] around the resort in the evening.”
Hamilton officially moved to Colorado in 2022, where she competed in her first races, and followed the American circuit and competed in her first World Cup in 2024.
“I learned (by) trial by fire, but it was a really good journey.”
‘You have to make a lot of sacrifices’
After purchasing her first setup on the Facebook marketplace, Hamilton quickly realized she needed a better one.
“I thought, ‘How the hell am I going to pay for this?'”
She contacted a ski manufacturer and offered her marketing skills in exchange for skimo equipment.
“I made that last two years before I broke it. But in saying that, it’s a reflection of the fact that it’s not that accessible just because of how expensive the equipment is,” she said.
The high cost largely stems from the fact that the best equipment is made of carbon fiber, which keeps it extremely light for athletes to climb, ski and store in their backpacks.
A full skimo setup includes skis, boots, crampons, climbing skins, gloves, poles, helmet, backpack and avalanche gear and can cost up to about $10,000 for elite racers.
“You have to make a lot of sacrifices, I think, especially as an Australian coming into a very Eurocentric sport. It’s a lot of travel, a lot of equipment, things break easily, race suits, entry fees, coaching, everything,” Hamilton said.
Bellingham had a similar experience and also noted how expensive the sport is.
“It was definitely not easy, just because boots cost about $3,000,” he told SBS.
“I had a ski supplier who gave me cross-country skis when I was racing… and I told them I was going to try to go to the Olympics for this other sport, ski mountaineering, and they helped me with my first pair of skis.”
Olympians receive $5,000 once they qualify for each Games, and medalists are paid up to $20,000 if they win gold. Athletes may be able to access other funds and have sponsors supply them with equipment, but Hamilton is not the first Australian Winter Olympian to point out the high costs she has had to cover herself.
All set and ready to take off… and descend
Bellingham spends his time chasing winters, spending time at Falls Creek in Australia and training abroad. Hamilton spends her summer competing on World Cup trail running circuits, and spends her Northern Hemisphere winters in Europe or America.
Both are now in Italy ready for the ski mountaineering competition, which will be held at the Stelvio Ski Center in Bormio from February 19-21.
“It’s really intense, which is great for the crowd and a real challenge for athletes,” Hamilton said.
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