Uphill battles and downhill triumphs – reflections on GB Skimo’s first season 2024/5

Introducing GB Skimo

Skimo is, in simplest terms, competitive ski mountaineering; a fast, Lycra clad version of what many of us enjoy in the mountains of Scotland each winter. It has, for well over a decade now, been a feature of the British snowsports season. Since 2012, competitors have been taking to the slopes to pit themselves against the Scottish conditions, in the popular Skimo Scotland race series run by Di Gilbert. Concurrently, the more ambitious British athletes have dipped in and out of the European racing circuit. Whilst the scene has thrived, it has remained relatively small - what has always been lacking is a framework for development of the sport and its athletes. Unlike in the European Alps, where Skimo is a well-resourced pursuit with formed competitive teams, the British setup has always been entirely amateur. Those who have raced internationally have done so independently, with the British Mountaineering Council loosely acting as the representative body. It was widely acknowledged that, for the sport to develop, more structure was required.

The journey to developing Skimo on a national level began back in 2013, but gained little traction, despite best efforts from Di, Sport Scotland and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (as it was back then). It wasn’t until 2023 that a chance meeting between Di and Andy Syme (President of the BMC at the time), in the CIC Hut, led to a rekindling of effort. Catalysed by the announcement that Skimo was to be trialed as an Olympic event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, the BMC offered to do more, and Di set about finding athletes and supporters who might want to get involved. The BMC Skimo Steering Group was born! Formed by a handful of willing volunteers, the Steering Group set about building a national team structure from the ground up, putting governance in place, seeking funding, and developing a plan to form a team.

Building a National Team from scratch

Before we knew it, Autumn 2024 arrived, and we were inviting applications for the first ever GB Skimo squad. We faced a huge number of challenges: having no idea how many would apply (we were equally worried that we’d have a deluge or that we’d have no interest at all); trying to determine selection criteria, without the data to determine what ‘national team level’ might be; and working out how best to enable promising athletes with fairly minimal funding. Thankfully, we muddled through, eventually selecting a team of twenty-one men and women, who could proudly call themselves GB athletes.

A breakthrough first season on the European stage

Since then, the GB Skimo team has been working its way round Europe, competing on the World Cup circuit, at the World Championships in Morgins, Switzerland, and in longer, more classic Grande Course races.

Despite very limited support, it has been hugely impressive to watch a group of individuals, who had never before been part of a national setup, come together into a cohesive, competitive squad. As anyone who has been involved in high level sport will know, a huge amount of sacrifice is required, in terms of money, training and time. Despite that, our team has given it their all over the past season.

We did set a stretch goal of qualifying for places at the Winter Olympics next year and, whilst that now looks unlikely, we have much to be proud of as the team approaches its first birthday. Given relatively limited experience and a very tight budget, our GB athletes have surpassed all expectations, competing with the very best in the world, and outperforming teams with much greater funding, much higher pedigree, and ready access to alpine training.

Evolving and planning for 2030

As a national team setup, we didn’t get everything quite right first-time round, but with every mistake has come vital learning, and a hope that we can do it better in the coming years. We’ve done our best to consult widely on how we take the sport forward and, as we approach the beginning of our second season, I’m genuinely excited to see what we can achieve.

Having just revised our selection policy and picked our team for the upcoming 25-26 season, we’re already doing things slightly differently, and are beginning to think about how we build a pathway to the 2030 Winter Olympics in France. Given how well we did in our maiden year, coupled with that hard earned experience of things that worked, and (lots of) things that didn’t, I have no doubt that with the right support the team will go from strength to strength.

Join the Skimo journey

If you’re interested in getting involved in that journey, either as an athlete or in a supporting role, please head to the GB Skimo page or email skimo@thebmc.co.uk. We’re always on the lookout for talent, whether that be experienced Skimo racers, or elite athletes in other sports who might be suitable for talent transfer.

Acknowledgement and thanks

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who’s been involved in GB Skimo so far, including athletes, team management, the BMC, and the Steering Group members. I’m particularly grateful for the support of Stuart Younie of Mountaineering Scotland, and Kevin McHugh of Sport Scotland, who have both sat on the Steering Group since its inception, always offering sage advice to us amateurs!

Andy Bryce

Chair GB Skimo