Rip-roaring video about ‘skijoring’ celebrates unlikely melding of rodeo and ski culture

LinkedIn Denver-based hybrid journalist Thomas Peipert captured the rip-roaring sport of skijoring that took readers into a place they may never visit in person. Peipert had wanted to do an all-formats story for years about the extreme sport in the Colorado mountain town of Leadville. The timing worked out this year. While the package highlight was a video featuring GoPro footage from a skier and a horse, Peipert also captured beautiful still photographs of the event and wrote a lively and fun text story. A skijoring team competes in Leadville, Colo., March 2, 2024. Skijoring draws its name from the Norwegian word skikjoring, meaning "ski driving." It started as a practical mode of transportation in Scandinavia and became popular in the Alps around 1900. Today's sport features horses at full gallop towing skiers by rope over jumps and around obstacles as they try to lance suspended hoops with a baton, typically a ski pole that's cut in half. AP PHOTO / THOMAS PEIPERT