What goes up must come down, and that, as much as anything, best sums up the newest addition to the Winter Olympics program. Ski mountaineering sounds like a combination of cross-country skiing and cattle herding, and while that would be awesome, the sport is actually as basic as anything this side of the downhill: First you climb a mountain, then you ski down it.
“Skiing without chairlifts,” says Team USA’s Cam Smith. “Skiing existed for centuries before we had chairlifts. This is how people got around. This is a sport with a lot of history, practicality and participation.”
