“Crystal Carnival” is a winter festival held the first weekend in March in Leadville, Colorado. The Carnival has been held since 1896 and includes many fun activities for the whole family. There is a children’s parade, dog sled races, snowshoe races, a winter mountain bike race and more. One very popular and wild event is called Ski Joring. In this sport, a horse and rider pull the skiers over a course of jumps down main street.  If the skier stays on the skis, he’s doing well, but he also needs to be agile enough to spear rings along the course and do it all in the fastest time possible. As you might imagine, this event is the highlight of the Winter Carnival and people love to cheer the competitors along. The popular Ski Joring event has been going on since 1949 in Leadville. This year it will be held March 6-7, 2010.

History of Ski Joring

Hundreds of years ago, Laplanders who were used to traveling long distances on Nordic skis, found that they got there a whole lot faster if they held the reins attached to a reindeer. When the activity came to North America, ranchers did a similar thing with a rope attached to the saddle horn of a horse – speeding down a straight course. In the town of Steamboat Springs, you’ll see that sport demonstrated in their Winter Carnival. In Ski Joring, however, there is a higher level of competition due to the jumps, gates and spear rings. Competitive ski teams of many levels and abilities sign up to compete in these events. There are areas of the world which use the same idea, and substitute dogs, mules, or snowmobiles to pull the racer along.

Ski Joring Classes

• The Sport Class, for beginners
• The Open Class, for experienced competitive teams
• The Legends Class, for experienced teams who are more senior aged
• Teams must pre-qualify the day of the event to compete in the Open Class.

Crystal Carnival and Ski Joring Image Gallery

How Do I Get to Leadville?

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