XC veteran reborn as SkiMo pioneer

Image: ISMF

Having started more than 100 cross country World Cup races since January 2012, Phil Bellingham entered unchartered territory last month.

The two-time Olympian competed at his first ever Ski Mountaineering World Cup in Andorra on 21-22 January, trying his hand at the sport which will make its Olympic debut in Milan Cortina 2026.

“It was a steep learning experience and a bit of a baptism by fire, but I loved it and I'm looking forward to more races still to come this season,” said Bellingham.

“Unfortunately Europe was having a bad year for snow and all of my preparation races in the lead up to this World Cup had been cancelled so I really was jumping in the deep end.”

However the 31-year-old has not moved all his eggs from cross country to the SkiMo basket.

Last Friday, just six days after competing in Andorra, Bellingham was in Les Rousses, back competing in the cross country World Cup. The following day he was over the border in Switzerland for their national championships before returning to France to complete the cross country World Cup on Sunday.

Having competed on the cross country World Cup circuit for over a decade, turning up to SkiMo events has presented Bellingham with a totally different experience.

“I've become at ease on the cross country World Cup and can now show up and focus entirely on just the racing itself, whereas on the SkiMo World Cup it was all pretty overwhelming at first,” said Bellingham.

“Hopefully now that I've got the first one out of the way I can now narrow my focus towards just racing fast and not being distracted by the circus that goes along with these events.

“I finished 50th and 60th in the events in Andorra which was a good starting point and hopefully I can start to make some steps up in the coming events.”

With SkiMo incorporating elements of backcountry skiing, ski touring and Telemark, the sport has already given Bellingham experiences which are new to him despite more than 10 years competing against the world’s best. 

“I love that SkiMo takes me to new places that I've never been, as well as the training,” he said. “The training takes me deeper and higher into the mountains exploring some pretty cool and extreme places.

“It's all new and exciting and my learning/improvement curve is much steeper right now than what it is in cross country skiing which also makes it much more enjoyable.”

Bellingham will continue to split his season’s focus between cross country and SkiMo, with this season being one to learn where his new sport may take him.

“The main goal is to gain experience and knowledge that I will need if I'm going to get better, race faster and be competitive in the coming years,” said Bellingham. “No Australian has competed for ski mountaineering before, so we're all just trying to figure it out as we go.

“Once we have more knowledge and experience I'll hopefully be able to direct my focus on making some steps up in the future. 

“But it's definitely been an enjoyable transition to make and I'm looking forward to hopefully making some good steps forward in the coming races.”

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The International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) - an independent International Federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) - has confirmed the formal acceptance of Snow Australia as a full Nation Federation member.

After the official inclusion of SkiMo at Milan Cortina 2026, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) started working with Snow Australia to find a suitable governance model and establish SkiMo in Australia.

For more information about SkiMo go to: https://www.snow.org.au/disciplines/skimo/