At the world championships ski mountaineering, held in the Alps, in the Swiss region around Morgins, Olympic tickets are up for grabs. The sport is on the program at the Olympic Games in Milan next year. What ski mountaineering is about? It’s skiing up the mountain instead of sliding down it. In the shadow of the top spots, which are being reserved for mostly French, Swiss and Italian athletes, two Dutch skiers with an Olympic mission participate in the world championship.
The 24-year-old Environmental, Process and Energy Engineering student Jens van Vliet from the Austrian city of Innsbruck and the 48-year-old veterinarian Nienke Oostra, who lives in the French Haute-Savoie, are the remarkable Dutch duo that is trying to get an Olympic ticket in the ‘new’ sport of ski mountaineering, also known as skimo. Four years ago, they were not yet serious about the sport, now they want to qualify for Milan 2026 in the mixed relay, where they believe the slim chance of qualifying for the Games is the greatest.
The (sports) careers of the two are completely different. Four years ago, Van Vliet was still in southern Germany, where his parents moved to twenty years ago. He is a ski instructor for the youth, but when corona plunges the world into silence and isolation, the snow remains without any ski traces.
The ski lifts are out of order, but Van Vliet still wants to ski the deserted slopes. His father Cees, who is now on the coaching staff of Team NL, is an avid ski mountaineer. Jens takes his equipment from the basement. “A pair of those old telemark skis. I wanted to go up the mountain and then ski down again. The boots were a few sizes too big and the equipment was much too heavy, so I didn’t really like it at all. Still, that’s where it all started and I started looking for opportunities to compete for the Netherlands. It wasn’t until January 2023 that I took part in my first skimo competition.” pulvinar dapibus leo.
Broken vertebra
In those days Nienke Oostra has already had a long and adventurous sporting life. The Italian-born Dutch woman has lived, worked and done sports (mostly endurance sports) in many places when she takes the next turn in her life between two corona lock downs. After recovering from broken vertebrae, she is told that being a sports fanatic at high level in combination with her busy work as a veterinarian is no longer possible. She has to choose. “I chose for myself: I lived in Scotland, packed all my stuff in a van and went to the Alps, to the mountains. I gave myself six months to find work and combine that with life in the mountains.”
She is soon able to continue her work as a veterinarian online with a new company and she discovers ski mountaineering. “I had seen on Instagram that someone could ski up 800 meters in an hour. I wanted to give it try too.” Oostra walks into the mountains, alone, with second-hand gear and much too heavy equipment. On her way she overtakes someone; it turns out to be her neighbor, Yann Gaumont, a very experienced skier. “He told me that I should use much lighter equipment, that he could help me and that I am strong and good enough to participate in World Cup competitions. Given my sports and injury history, I thought that time was over.” Ultimately, the competitive sport beckons again. Neighbor Yann becomes friend Yann and Oostra pursues new sporting dreams despite her back problems.
Military patrol
The student and the veterinarian now form a team in an Olympic sport that is unknown to many. Ski mountaineering was part of the sport Military Patrol at the very first Winter Games in 1924 in Chamonix. A team of four soldiers completed a 30-kilometer march through the mountains, during which they also had to shoot at targets. Biathlon later became an Olympic sport, ski mountaineering disappeared. Due to its popularity in Italy the IOC has now added the sport again.
But in the skimo world, there is a debate about the extent to which the two Olympic variants still have anything to do with the challenging endurance sport. The Olympic sprint is completed in three minutes, with only 60 to 80 vertical meters. A course has been set out where you also have to jump over artificial obstacles and there is a portage, where you walk with the skis tied to your backpack. And in the mixed relay, men and women take turns skiing two laps over a course of just over a kilometer with about 150 vertical meters.
Ski mountaineering has traditionally been a sport fort he thrill seekers, the adventurers. Tour skiers take part in monstrous competitions (such as the infamous Patrouille des Glaciers, a 57.5 kilometer tour with more than 4000 meters of elevation gain) or climb the mountains during off-piste training. “The snow is different there”, says Van Vliet. “Think of it as if you were driving your car on the motorway and then suddenly passing through a bumpy meadow.” The changing surface is not the only danger. The light backpack the athletes carry contains avalanche equipment. “A shovel, a probe, a pager, a blanket. You have to know that the weather can change at any moment and you have to know your surroundings. I have been caught in a whiteout once. I could no longer see the difference between sky, horizon and snow and my visibility was less than five meters. In such circumstances knowledge of the terrain is important, so that you know where you can continue skiing calmly.”
The fearless Oostra regularly goes out on her own. She had to learn from boyfriend Yann to recognize danger. “I’m not a fearful person, so I always just went into the mountains. But when I proudly told him where I had been, he would tell me that some places were far too dangerous. Now I discuss more in advance where I want to go and he gives me tips.”
The fast Olympic variants therefore no longer seem to have anything to do with the core of the sport. Puritans want nothing to do with olympism. But Oostra and Van Vliet praise the combination. “Off course, I also love the sport because of the freedom,” says Oostra.
“To forget the stress of normal life for a while when you feel so insignificant between those mighty mountains. But I also love the competitiveness and going harder and faster. And besides: without the Olympic Games there probably wouldn’t be a Dutch team now.”
The chance that the two will make it to the Games is small. They have to be in a place among the top eighteen in the world (they are just outside it now) and the top countries ahead of them must not start with multiple teams. It seems unlikely. Van Vliet: “Placement is of course the ultimate goal. But we have only been doing this for such a short time. It is especially great to see that we are making enormous steps in technique, tactics and knowledge of the sport.” Or as Oostra puts it: “I do this mainly to help the team and the sport grow. And to show what you can do if you are passionate about the sport. I think it is great when I overtake a 20-year-old French or Italian during a match. They are prepared for top-level sport from a young age. When they are getting a nice massage, I am already back at work! So this story of a young student and a 48-year-old veterinarian, who combine sports and social life, is a great story, isn’t it?”