The Sundarban
This article was produced by Nationwide Geographic Traveller (UK).
When you’ve by no plan heard of ski mountain mountain climbing before, you’re no longer alone. The competitive face of ski touring, this runt-known sport involves mountain climbing up a mountain then gliding down on skis, attempting out both the patience and potential of followers. Scottish mountain information Di Gilbert draw out to popularise it in 2012, when she founded SkiMo Scotland — the UK’s completely company to organise ‘skimo’ races — and started campaigning to earn it recognised as an legitimate speciality in the nation. With the discipline soon debuting at the Milano Cortina 2026 Iciness Olympics, it’ll finally earn the consideration she feels it deserves.
Where does your passion for the start air approach from?
My mother — northeast Scotland born and bred — was reasonably formidable. I grew up in the geographical region and was on skis at a extraordinarily younger age. That potentially sowed the seeds. Then, I went to college for exterior education. I purchased very end to a crew of what I call ‘fling other people’ and fed off the enthusiasm that was around me.
What about ski mountain mountain climbing?
I’d finished it recreationally. Then, I was approached to indicate Crew GB in the 2011 World Championships in Italy. I will’t stress this sufficient: I’m no longer a performance athlete. They ethical wished numbers to in point of fact compete, and the industry was so minute that there was no person else. I was so sluggish, so completely out of my depth; it was the most humbling, mortifying expertise. Smooth, it was a baptism of fire and one of the reasons I made up my mind to champion the sport in the UK.
So, you founded
Whereas skimo is broad across Europe and North The United States, it wasn’t recognised as a discipline in the UK. I loved it loads — the sport, as successfully as the enthusiasm and community around it — and I couldn’t factor in we didn’t attain it here, that we had to proceed to the Alps to compete. I restful rob into yarn myself a leisure athlete, I ethical present a platform for other people to drag.
Di Gilbert founded SkiMo Scotland to be ready to establish the sport in UK athletics.
Photograph by Alistair Todd
Has the scene modified?
I attempted to earn skimo acknowledged for years, but none of the national our bodies had been . In 2023, I had a chance bump into with the then CEO of the British Hiking Council (BMC) while at a hut by Ben Nevis. By now, we knew it would function in the 2026 Olympics. To cleave a long memoir immediate, the BMC took skimo beneath its umbrella, and the SkiMo Racing Steering Community [which manages the GB Skimo Racing teams] was draw up.
Where attain you counsel skimo rookies trudge in the UK?
First, chances are you’ll perchance simply restful be ready to ski and ski tour. In Scotland, we bear clubs that organise meets, admire Edinburgh Ski Club and Inverness Backcountry Snowsports Club. When you’re proficient, chances are you’ll perchance perchance maybe approach into the skimo side. The Lecht drag is a transient route — ethical over 880 yards, with 100 metres (328ft) of ascent. The skiers attain laps; when you’re sluggish, someone will overtake you, so that you just’ll by no plan be left some distance unhurried.
What attain you expertise about it?
I’m no longer spiritual, but the mountains are my church. It’s ethical you and the ambiance — and optimistically a ethical associate. We mountain other people are all kindred spirits.
What are your hopes for the future?
I’m inspiring to stare the Olympic races raising awareness of the interval of time ‘skimo’ and giving the discipline some momentum. It’s a ethical stepping stone. Nonetheless, after I take into yarn skimo, I take into yarn broad lessons admire Switzerland’s legendary Patrouille des Glaciers or Italy’s Mezzalama Trophy, which rob rivals over dozens of miles and the most astonishing technical terrain. That’s the put I’d wish to stare skimo trudge— up into the mountains.
Published in the Jan/Feb 2026 issue of Nationwide Geographic Traveller (UK).
To subscribe to Nationwide Geographic Traveller (UK) journal click here. (On hand in make a selection countries completely).
