While the overarching sentiment in the ski racing community is, “it’s about time,” there is unquestionable excitement brewing about reviving an outlet for female racers that once saw an incredible level of international talent depth and popularity.

“I have great memories looking back,” says Toril Førland, who won the Pro Tour women’s title for four consecutive years from 1981-84. “I hadn’t raced any dual events and I thought it was just really exciting to race against another racer.”

A Norwegian slalom, giant slalom, downhill and alpine combined champion for many years as well as an Olympic bronze medalist, Førland joined the Pro Tour following her World Cup career in 1979, notching her first Pro Tour title.

“The starting gates were different. The fact that every time we won a heat, we’d have to go back up again was exciting. The competition was definitely stiff,” Førland says. “It was a fun, new format. On the national team, everything is done for you. On the Pro Tour, I had to organize everything on my own. That was kind of fun, especially when you did well. The money involved was a good incentive, too.”

Women’s Pro Tour history

During Førland’s Pro Tour heyday, Budweiser was the title sponsor and according to former competitor Lisa Densmore (read comprehensive article here), weekend prize purses ranged between $10,000 and $25,000. Launched in 1978 under the guidance of Jill Wing Heck, in addition to Forland, the Women’s Pro Tour hosted a number of international champions and Olympians, including Austrian Rowitha Raudaschl and Swede Catharina Glasser-Bjerner.

It was a big deal. The tour traveled throughout the United States, featuring dual slalom races at Hunter Mountain, New York and the occasional downhill in Vail, Colo. Densmore said the Pro Tour was among the most lucrative sports available to female athletes, its nine-event prize purse culminating to $325,00 at one point in 1993.

The tour was regularly covered by mainstream outlets like The LA Times and ESPN. Førland was invited on numerous occasions to appear on the ABC Superstar series and even once on The David Letterman Show.

“We got so much coverage for racing,” Førland says. “Because of my success on the Pro Tour, I got to do all of these fun things.”

Like the men’s Pro Tour, which launched in 1969 by Bob Beattie and ran from the 1970s through the 1990s, featuring many of ski racing’s most notable stars including Billy Kidd, Jean Claude Killy, Phil and Steve Mahre, the Women’s Tour fizzled out at the end of the 1990s.

Ed Rogers resurrected the men’s World Pro Ski Tour in 2017, adding a one-off women’s race in 2018. Taken over by Jon Franklin and backed by Dan Leever in 2019, the WPST has been building back to its former notoriety, hosting World Cup stars like Ted Ligety and last year dominated by former U.S. Team racer Rob Cone.

Big sponsors on board again

Thanks to a new partnership with Rocket Mortgage, America’s largest mortgage lender, and additional sponsorships from brands like White Claw, women will re-join the World Pro Ski Tour for 2021-22, competing in three race events in Aspen, Steamboat Springs (Howelsen Hill) and Taos, New Mexico.

“We are proud to spend our marketing dollars to promote a sport that is committed to gender equality, with men and women racers competing for the same amount of prize money. WPST has elite athletes, enthusiastic fans and a mission that we support – to provide opportunities for all competitors,” said Casey Hurbis, Chief Marketing Officer serving Rocket Companies. 

“We’re super excited to bring women back to the tour,” Franklin says. “We’ve always allowed women to enter, but the goal is to build a field of at least 16 women. We’re completely on the bandwagon with equal podium prize money and Rocket Mortgage got behind the idea. It’s going to be really exciting. Word is definitely getting out. We are getting a lot of inquiries.”

Franklin hopes that like the men’s Pro Tour field, the women’s field will draw competition from every branch of the sport – NCAA, NorAm, Europa and even World Cup, both current and retired athletes.

“Ultimately, we’d like to have a men’s and women’s event at every stop on the tour,” Franklin says. “We’d love for Mikaela Shiffrin or Lindsey Vonn to stop by.”

Who’s racing?

Freshly retired from a 12-year World Cup career that included a downhill victory, numerous top 10 finishes and two Olympic teams, Alice McKennis Duran is considering competing in the Pro Tour races at Howelsen Hill in Steamboat this February as well as in the finals in Taos, NM, this April.

“My primary goal for that is to be feeling good physically,” says McKennis Duran, who suffered a fractured fibula and torn knee ligaments on the World Cup last season and having retired, has begun coaching for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail. “I’m definitely interested. I want to feel strong and stable on my skis again. As soon as I start racing, I go 100 percent. There’s no 75 percent for me.”

Other than at various fundraising events and the occasional training session, McKennis Duran has not done much parallel slalom racing, but is excited at the opportunities it presents for female racers from all backgrounds and disciplines.

“I’ve spent a fair amount of time on slalom skis for drills and things and we trained parallel as a team, both speed and tech. Everyone could figure it out,” she says. “A big thing is dialing in how to do starts correctly. It’s really fun to be racing head-to-head with someone, but it’s different. It adds a bit of distraction to have someone in front of you or ideally, behind you, but it’s fun to have that motivation. If I’m strong enough, I’d love to enter the events later in the season.”

McKennis Duran has also heard whispers from former teammates that they also might be interested in competing in Pro Tour races.

“It’d be great camaraderie and a lot of fun to have some of my other teammates there,” she said. “Historically, the Pro Tour has been a viable stepping stone off of the World Cup for a lot of athletes. It provides a great opportunity for racers at every level. The prize money is really substantial. Coming home with a big purse like that can give a boost to any athlete no matter where they’re at in their career.”

Although numbers are not set, organizers say the first-place prizes for men and women will amount to at least $10,000 each at every event, with more on tap for the World Championships at Taos Ski Valley.

“I think girls will come out of the woodwork for this,” says Foreste Peterson, who competed on the U.S. Ski Team for many years, landing a handful of NorAm podiums as well as a second place-finish at the one-off 2018 women’s World Pro Tour race in Sunday River, Maine.

“So many girls are not going to want to miss this opportunity,” Peterson says. “Based on everyone’s schedule, there’ll be women from the college circuit, maybe some PG (post graduate). Once the World Cup girls get back from Europe, I’m sure they’d love to squeeze in that April race. It will be cool to see who comes out for these events. I’m really psyched they’re doing this.”

Coaching for Rowmark Ski Academy, Peterson is tentatively hoping to compete in the WPST finals in Taos, but having retired from racing, would want to make sure she gets some training time in beforehand.

“I’m excited just thinking about the prospect, but it’s a big commitment,” she says. “The only way I would do it is if I had the proper training and preparation. I’m the type of person who’s too competitive to just go in cold turkey without any formal training. I’m committed to my coaching thing. I’ll have to see how my winter plays out. But a week of getting back into gates would do wonders for someone who’s recently retired.”

Regardless of whether she herself ends up racing, Peterson views the return of women to the WPST as a giant leap for the sport.

“In my mind, it’s the best of ski racing,” she says. “There’s competition, but they’re friendly rivalries. It draws in athletes from everywhere, from every walk of their career –  club athletes, World Cup current and former racers. On the guy’s tour, it’s so cool to see them come from so many backgrounds and countries. Rob Cone has shown that it’s possible to be retired and still annihilate. Maybe Lindsey would come back or Julia Mancuso would be interested. It opens so many doors. I’ll reiterate that it’s so awesome they’re doing this for females. It’s about time.”