Winter Sports

Skimo is the newest Winter Olympic sport, and now it's taking the military by storm

What is Skimo and why is this sport taking the military by storm?

It's one of the newest sports at the Olympic Winter Games and it's now ready to take the military by storm.

But why is Skimo the next big thing?

"The beauty of it really is that it combines endurance with technical skill," said British Army Skimo's technical director, Lieutenant Colonel Pete Davis.

"Those technical skills involve some basic mountaineering skills, being able to move along a narrow alpine ridge with skis on your pack, perhaps with crampons on your feet as well."

Imagine climbing up a mountain on skis (or carrying them) before descending down all under race conditions. That's what Ski Mountaineering is all about.

Competitors use specialised skis, climbing skins, bindings, and boots for both ascents and descents. Last year, it became an official British Army sport.

A number of top Skimo stars at this year's Winter Olympics are involved in their country's military (Picture: British Army Skimo)

Lt Col Davis said: "We've started off with the inaugural Army championships this winter, held alongside Exercise Lions Challenge, which is the Army alpine ski championships. And we hope that will grow.

"This year, we had participants from the Royal Navy and from the Royal Marines. Already, there's a small group forming up within the Royal Air Force as well.

"Whether we then have an Inter Services championship at Meribel in the future remains to be seen for the moment, but it's certainly an aspiration for us."

For the first time in its 102-year history, the Olympic Winter Games is featuring the sport in Milano-Cortina.

The sport's roots go back to the 1800s in the French Alps because back then, there were no cable cars and skiing down a mountain was inevitably preceded by walking up one.

In the 1924 Olympic Winter Games, the sport of military patrol was on show, which included the fundamentals of Ski Mountaineering. The practice was also said to have been used by military patrols in snowy conditions in the Second World War.

The military's impact on the sport is still there today, as some of the countries competing this year are sponsored by their military organisations.