Front Page Sports: Ski Racing

Last updated: January 9, 2026

Overview

Front Page Sports: Ski Racing is a 1997 skiing simulation game developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra On-Line¹. The game simulates the four World Cup skiing variants: Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super Giant Slalom and Downhill, focusing on realistic gameplay rather than arcade-style action². Olympic medalist Picabo Street served as the game’s featured athlete and skiing consultant, providing video tips and training instruction throughout the game³.

Unlike the snowboarding games popular on console systems at the time, Front Page Sports: Ski Racing was designed as “a racing simulation through and through”⁴. The game featured six courses based on real-world locations: four American and two European ski resorts, all fully rendered in 3D using Dynamix’s new 3-D engine⁵⁵. Players could compete in single races, multiple events, or participate in full season racing across various difficulty levels⁵.

Game Info

Developer: Dynamix¹ Designer: Scott Youngblood⁵ Publisher: Sierra On-Line¹ Platforms: DOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows 95⁵ Release Year: 1997 Series: Front Page Sports Sierra Lineage: Core Sierra

Story Summary

Front Page Sports: Ski Racing does not feature a traditional narrative story, but rather focuses on career progression in the world of competitive skiing⁶. Players work their way through the skiing ranks, competing in various World Cup events while learning from Olympic medalist Picabo Street, who appears in training videos explaining “the best and easiest way to make it down the hill alive”¹. The game emphasizes the real-world aspects of professional ski racing, including the courage required “to put two boards on your feet and rush down a mountain at speeds of up to 90 mph”⁷.

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

The game supports both keyboard and mouse input, with additional compatibility for Microsoft Sidewinder and Force Feedback joysticks⁵. Players can choose from two camera perspectives: first-person and behind-the-skier views⁵. The interface includes 3D card support and adjustable view distance settings to optimize performance on different hardware configurations⁵.

Structure and Progression

Players can select from five skiing events: slalom, giant slalom, Super G, downhill, and all-around competitions⁸. The game offers three difficulty levels - Rookie, Pro, and Champion - with the Rookie level featuring 13 gates per race⁵. Competition takes place across six different, fully rendered world-class resorts⁸. The game includes a “Train with Picabo” mode where players can practice on all mountains and events, though results and statistics are not recorded in this training mode⁶.

Puzzles and Mechanics

The skiing mechanics require precise control and practice, as the game focuses on realistic physics rather than arcade-style gameplay⁵. Players must navigate through gates while managing speed and maintaining control on varied terrain. The game was noted as being “of all the games I’ve played recently, this one was the hardest”⁷. Each race venue features calculated penalties that reflect the difficulty of the course, length, and overall level of competition⁹. The game also includes skiing tricks, though reviewers noted they had “no practical use for them”⁵.

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

Publication	Score	Notes
GameSpot	8/10	”Great” rating, praised graphics and sound10
Gamezilla	75%	Highlighted graphical quality as “one of the best sports sims available”7
PC Player	62%	Mixed reception from German gaming press1
PC Joker	33%	Poor reception from German gaming press1
GameStar	28%	Very negative review from German gaming press1
Computer Gaming World	2/5	Criticized as “moderately fun arcade racing game”1
Computer Games Magazine	2/5	Negative review1

Modern Assessment

The game maintains an aggregate critics score of 56% on MobyGames⁵. User ratings on various platforms show mixed results, with GameFAQs users rating it as “Outstanding” based on 4 ratings¹¹, while other sites show ratings ranging from 3.8/5 to 5/5³¹². Modern reviewers have noted it as “the best ski racing game on PC at the time”⁵ despite its limited course environments and technical issues.

Development

Origins

Front Page Sports: Ski Racing was developed as part of Sierra’s Front Page Sports series, which focused on realistic sports simulations⁵. The game was designed with world champion skier Picabo Street serving as a consultant, lending authenticity to the skiing mechanics and techniques⁵. Scott Youngblood served as the game’s designer⁵.

Production

The development was handled by Dynamix using their new 3-D engine⁵. Unfortunately, the game was rushed for Christmas release, resulting in many planned features being cut from the final product⁵. Sierra had a patch in development following release but would not comment on its contents or release date at the time⁵. The game supported 3D acceleration cards, including advertised support for Rendition and 3Dfx graphics cards⁵.

Technical Achievements

The game featured impressive 3D graphics for its time, with reviewers noting it was “graphically one of the best sports sims available”⁷. However, the advertised support for Rendition graphics acceleration cards was never actually implemented, despite being promised on the retail box. After two patches stating “Sierra Screamin’ 3D (Rendition V1000) support is not included in this update,” Rendition cards were never actually supported⁵. The game required a Pentium 90 processor, 16 MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, and 75 MB of hard drive space plus 50 MB free after installation⁵.

Legacy

Front Page Sports: Ski Racing was followed by “Skiing, 1999 Edition” and was later repackaged by Sierra Sports as simply “Ski Racing”⁵⁵. The game filled a niche in PC gaming, as “skiing games are something of a rarity on the PC”¹³. Despite its technical issues and rushed release, it represented an ambitious attempt to bring realistic skiing simulation to home computers. The game has since been preserved by various abandonware sites and the Internet Archive, allowing modern players to experience this unique entry in Sierra’s sports simulation catalog².

A community-created patch has been developed to address compatibility issues, specifically fixing “a superficial limitation preventing the game from running on a computer with its date set to 2020 and beyond”¹⁴.

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

• GOG Dreamlist - Community wishlist

Download / Preservation

• MyAbandonware
• Internet Archive

Series Continuity

• Previous: Other Front Page Sports titles (Football Pro series)
• Next: Skiing, 1999 Edition

References

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia – - Basic game information and publication details ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. Internet Archive – - Game description and mechanics ↩ ↩²

3. CNET Download – - Picabo Street’s role in the game ↩ ↩²

4. GameSpot Review – - Game design philosophy ↩

5. MobyGames – - Technical specifications and engine details ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴

6. Sierra Chest – - Game structure and play modes ↩ ↩²

7. Web Archive Gamezilla – - Opening review commentary on skiing ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

8. LA Times Archive – - Game events description ↩ ↩²

9. Ski Racing Point System – - Point calculation methodology ↩

10. GameSpot – - Review score and assessment ↩

11. GameFAQs – - User ratings ↩

12. MyAbandonware – - User rating of 5/5 ↩

13. Web Archive CDMag – - Rarity of PC skiing games ↩

14. PC Gaming Wiki Community – - Community compatibility patch ↩