What Is Skimo? The Newest Olympic Sport Has a Long History in Europe

“A significant part of the history of the Dolomites is linked to the First World War, and this is something many people don't expect or fully realize when they come here,” - Agustina Lagos Marmol

But not until I was in the Dolomites, first last February and again in December, did I begin to realize how significant Northern Italy is to ski mountaineering. Skiing past deep networks of tunnels inside towering mountain spires and glaciers—where Austro-Hungarian and Italian troops lived and fought on skis during the “White War” battles of World War I, adapting to freezing temperatures at 12,000 feet—took my breath away. Trying to imagine what life was like for the local farmers and mountaineers who became soldiers was mind-bending as I stared at the preserved pickaxes and pulleys they used to chisel tunnels inside dolomite rock to keep themselves alive in alpine warfare now on display at  Europe's highest museum . After visiting the Museum of the Great War on Marmolada Glacier, I skied the scenic  Sellaronda ski route . “A significant part of the history of the Dolomites is linked to the First World War, and this is something many people don't expect or fully realize when they come here,” says Agustina Lagos Marmol, founder and managing director of Dolomite Mountains tours, which offers the Great War Ski Tour, consisting of 50 miles of war trenches in Italian, German and Ladin (the oldest Latin-speaking people) communities within Alta Badia and Cortina d'Ampezzo. “It's amazing, skiing and stopping on the side of a slope to see caves and shelters carved into the rock during World War I. It's an important part of European history and particularly meaningful for international visitors to encounter it in such a direct, physical way.”

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