Ski USA's toughest XC race on Feb. 11 at SoHo

Soldier Hollow Nordic Center. Photo: Michele Roepke

MIDWAY, Utah — On Saturday, February 11, the SOHO Grand Tour is the ultimate test of the ski season, showcasing everything that Soldier Hollow Nordic Center (SOHO) has to offer and allowing participants to challenge all of their skills across SOHO’s renowned terrain and world-famous grooming.

It will include the new two lap 15km course + Prize Money to the top three Men and Women, or a one lap 10km Junior Grand Tour for U20 athletes.

Retired two-time Team USA Olympic Cross Country Skier and current Director of the Utah Olympic Legacy’s Soldier Hollow (SoHo) Luke Bodensteiner, told TownLift, “This is one of the most challenging ski races also known as a ski tour that you can not only do in the area but potentially in the world. We’re going to follow roughly the 50 kilometer Olympic Course but we’re only going to do 30 kilometers. A lot of people will come here to ski in it, to just try to finish it, and definitely to have a fun time.” Bodensteiner won the first annual race.

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No International Ski Federation (FIS) license is required.

Events Manager at SoHo told TownLift, “We’re welcoming all levels. Anyone in the Northern Utah community can ski this. Whether you’re an FIS athlete aspiring to be on the World Cup circuit someday, or you simply want to come out and tour and see all that Soldier Hollow has to offer.”

Online registration deadline is Thursday, February 9. The total event registration limit is capped at 500 people.

“This is a rare opportunity. To the best of our knowledge, there’s not another current homologated 15K cross country ski course anywhere in the United States. This isn’t merely a popular course as most other race categories are,” Bodensteiner said.

“The important thing about the Grand Tour is that we’re replicating one of the toughest Olympic courses ever but at the same time, it’s an open ski event to everybody. We’ll have the top World Cup athletes in the same race as people who only ski once a year and will be happy when they get to complete the course.”

There are four race categories for the event: