The 5th Annual Best In The West Skijoring Competition

🎥 @patrickconroy42069
The Best Skijoring Teams In North America Battled It Out Through Fire & Ice To Win Their Piece Of The $15K Cash Purse & A Place In Skijoring History.
This year’s Showdown course combined creative terrain park design and elements of bank slalom with huge fire features, hot tub gap jumps and more to create the most entertaining and progressive course in the country. Spectators were enthralled as each team of horse, rider and skier/snowboarder galloped, carved and aired through towering pillars of fire and over fan filled hot tubs enjoying their après fun before pulling up the slack and racing to the finish.
The highlight of the Showdown culminated with Cook’s team collaborating with the Keith Sayers FMX team to perform the world’s first ever snowmobile backflip over a live skijoring race. In their final run in the open division the team of Colin Cook (skier), Richard Webber III (rider) and Serge To Paradise (horse) put together a smooth clean run through the berms, jumps and flames just in time for pro freestyle snowmobiler and Winter X Games champion Willie Elam to hit the throttle and lay out a huge backflip over the team as they dashed through the finish line.
“What we are doing with the Showdown, it’s a special place in time for skijoring,” said Colin Cook, 2 time national skijoring champion and head course designer. “We are reimagining what is possible. I’m thankful to have the opportunity to bring these ideas to life and put my signature on each course we make.”
“This event was soo much cooler than I ever imagined,” said Willie Elam. “From the hot tub party gap jump, fire tower features to the teams of horses and skiers rallying through the course… I’ve never seen anything like it. I still can’t believe everything came together to flip over the race. We only had one shot and the timing of the skijoring team and the takeoff had to be perfect. We nailed it!”
Keith Sayers, freestyle snowmobile legend and owner of Keith Sayers FMX, was onsite with his team and family for the occasion. After working with Cook and his team to fine tune the takeoff and landing, Elam and Poirier warmed up with a few practice jumps before it was showtime.
“I’ve been around FMX a long time and can say this is definitely a first,” said Sayers. “No one has ever paired these two sports or backflipped over a live skijoring race. My phone has been blowing up with everyone sending me viral videos of skijoring and the jump. Collaborating with this skijoring team, our friends at the Big Sky Ski Education Foundation and working to create something like this that no one has ever seen before... That is what it’s all about. Myself and the team are proud to have been part of this and thankful to have the opportunity to do it with my family and friends back here in my home state. I love this place!”
This year’s Showdown gave me goosebumps, said Justa Adams, Executive Director of Big Sky Skijoring Association. “With it’s explosive combination of lightning- fast horses and daredevil-skiing and snowmobiling taken right to the edge. All held together by rope, guts and grit. Combine that with this amazing Big Sky venue and support of this community… We’ve got something truly unique. These elements all came together to inspire and thrill in a way I’ve never experienced.”
This year the Best In The West Showdown attracted over 150 teams with 4000 spectators cheering them on as they raced through the course on the south east end of Big Sky Town Center. The Showdown has made a name for itself due to its combination of progressive course design and style.
There is nothing standard about The Showdown’s course because… Well, there is nothing standard about its course designer. Colin Cook clicked into his first pair of skis when he was 2 years old at the Missoula Snowbowl and never looked back. He quickly took to ski racing and rose through the ranks to compete at the highest level of the Junior Olympics. Many would consider this to be a full ski racing career and one to be proud of. For Cook it was just the beginning.
“I kind of caught my second wind with skijoring,” said Colin Cook. “The past 7 years of skijoring professionally has led to 2 national championships, a pile of prize earnings, a new found love of course design, and now a world’s first for the skijoring/FMX jump. What we are doing with the Showdown… This is just the beginning. I’m thankful for the support of my team and this community that has embraced Big Sky Skijoring as its own.”
The culture of this event is something special, said Erik Morrison, CEO of Second Season and one of the producers of Big Sky Skijoring. “It's the inclusivity of it all. You have die hard dirtbag skiers/riders, cowboys, celebrities, tourists, and everyone in between enjoying the show together. Every one is a VIP. The best seats in the house are anywhere with a great view of the course, a cozy fire pit and sharing a drink with some colorful company. That's the Big Sky vibe.”

[@intherabbithole5850]

I'd love to try this ~~ at a gentle trot 😄

[@resinfingers3896]

Acid rain, is a dope song

[@sebaseba6710]

This is some ESPN the ocho shit right here

[@greenrainier732]

This is the best thing ever lol