Ride ‘Em Cowgirl – Skijoring in Mt Buller

Mountainwatch | Video

“Like all the best ideas this one started with “I wonder if we could…” and it snowballed from there! We rode the Victorian High Country like never before! For the first time in Australia, Cowgirl Surf Club teamed up with Mt Buller to take riding to the next level with skijoring. Watch as we bring together the worlds of Western and snow, with our fearless cowgirls and pro skiers and snowboarders in an insane, first-of-its-kind adventure” – Cowgirl Surf Club

One of the coolest videos to come out of this winter was Skijoring Down Under, a collab between Mt Buller and Cowgirl Surf Club, a group founded by Kristin Donohue, “a coastal cowgirl creative”. As the name suggests the club is about horses and the ocean: “Cowgirl Surf Club isn’t just a brand it’s for anyone who loves the country western and coast lifestyle, who believe in pushing limits, having each other’s backs, and living life wide open.”

So how did the club end up in Mt Buller for a skijoring activation, bringing together the worlds of Western and snow? Mt Buller’s communication director, Rhylla Morgan, gives the lowdown on this unique event came about.

Firstly Rhylla, what is skijoring?

Skijoring is a sport where someone is pulled on skis, usually behind a horse but it can also be done with dogs or even a car or skidoo. So, think water skiing, but on snow. It’s very popular in rural areas of the US like Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado and Montana where there is a rich western culture, plenty of snow and ranchers looking for something fun to do in winter. Banff in Canada has an incredible skijoring event in the main street during the SnowDays Festival.

OK, we can understand how the western culture and its heritage plays a big part in North America, but how did the Buller event come about?

Kristin and Nikia from the Cowgirl Surf Club went viral with a clip of themselves ‘horse surfing’ on the Gold Coast nearly two years ago.  It got Kristin wondering if it would be possible to switch up a surfboard for a snowboard, and she reached out to Mt Buller. Fortunately for her the email came to my inbox – little did she know I’m a mad follower of the skijoring circuit in Wyoming and have been talking with locals here on Buller for years about whether we could do something here. It was meant to be. There is of course plenty of complexity to work through and it took a unique set of people with very specific skills, and over a year of planning, to finally pull it off so smoothly.

These days, horses and ski resorts do not go hand-in-hand. Buller is inside the Alpine National park, how difficult was it get approval?

We put months of work into creating a proposal, working out the course build with our incredible team here on Mt Buller, seeking permission from resort management for the horses to come to the ski area, finding the right combination of horses, riders, skiers, snowboarders and the content creators to pull it all off. Mt Buller has a deep connection to the mountain cattlemen who brought the first skiers up to Mt Buller 101 years ago and our community of passionate local people were excited to create something never seen in Australia – so eventually it all came together to make it happen.

Who were the skiers and boarders involved?

It was a dream team. Snowboarders Celia Petrig and Brendan Coleman are friends with the Cowgirl Surf Club team and local skiers Hannes Grimus and Mietta Passon are Mt Buller locals – so it was a perfect balance. Hannes is not just an elite skier, he’s a talented snowcat groomer and got to work the night before with the team to fine tune and build the course.

It looked awesome and judging from the views on the edit you released, people loved it. Any chance we’ll see it become an annual event? 

There are a lot of elements that need to align to pull something like this off so for now we’ll revel in the first successful event. But maybe? The short film only dropped last night is already blowing up around Australia and getting folks exciting from horse circles and in the snow world… As a demonstration event we can already see there would be hundreds of people who would come and watch this thrilling spectacle firsthand. Maybe it becomes part of the festivities at Mt Buller each spring as the snow starts to melt and people plan their high country adventures on horseback. There are certainly locals who are keen to be involved. I can almost smell the BBQ and hear the country band on the deck at Spurs… who’s keen?

Check out more of the Cowgirl Surf Club on their You Tube channel

Brought to you by: Cowgirl Surf Club | www.cowgirlsurfclub.co  and Mt Buller | ‪@mt_buller‬

Thankyou to our sponsors: Ariat | www.ariat.com.au Ineos Grenadier | ineosgrenadier.com Pit Viper | www.pitviper.au

Team Riders: Steph Dunnachie | @lancefield_bloodstock

Nikia Aleigh | @nikia.aleigh

Brendan Coleman | @brennocoleman Mietta Passon | @miettapasson

Celia Petrig | @celia.petrig

Producer: Kristin Donohue | @kristindonohue_

Mt Buller Team: Rhylla Morgan | PR & Communications Manager

Angeline Robinson | Mt Buller Guest Experience Manager

Clive Dickerson | Filmer | ‪@clivefd‬ Tim Byrne | Filmer

Tony Harrington | Photographer | ‪@HarroArt‬

Tanya Mitchell | 2nd Camera Op | @tm.mediaa