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Nikiya Adomaitis, a 16-year-old junior at Jackson Hole High School, is a professional on the International Series of Champions snowmobile tour. Her biggest moneymaking opportunity is in sponsorship, not race prizes. PHOTO COURTESY KARA ADOMAITIS

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Sometimes, Nikiya Adomaitis will disappear from classes at Jackson Hole High School for days at a time. When she returns, her friends and classmates don’t know where she has been.

“Kids at school will ask me, ‘Why were you gone the last two weeks?’” Adomaitis said. “It’s kind of like nobody knows what I do.”

That’s because Adomaitis’ success as an athlete is carried out far from the ball fields and the gymnasium of Jackson Hole High School. The Bronc junior has carved out her niche in an individual winter sport frequently overlooked by Jackson’s youth: snowmobiling.

Adomaitis took a big leap in November when she turned pro on the International Series of Champions snowmobiling circuit days after her 16th birthday. She had already qualified for professional status in a previous race but couldn’t turn pro until she turned 16.

Just days after her birthday, Adomaitis placed fifth at a competition in Duluth, Minn., and fourth at a race in Milwaukee in events featuring as many as 15 women. The finishes earned her a few hundred dollars in prize money.

It’s been a wild ride for Adomaitis, who was born in Jackson and whose parents are actually skiers, not snowmobilers.

Adomaitis’ love for snowmobiles began when she was 5 years old. She frequently visited two childhood friends in Hoback and rode their snow machine in their yard. She was hooked instantly.

“She immediately came home and said she wanted a snowmobile,” her mother, Kara Adomaitis, said.

Adomaitis thought her daughter’s desire to own a snowmobile would just be a phase. It wasn’t. The youngster spent the next summer selling lemonade hoping to earn enough money to buy a sled. She earned only $200, but it was enough to convince her parents to buy her a machine.

Shortly after, she participated in a snowmobile race at the Teton County Fairgrounds. She placed fourth.

“I just remember thinking it was all really cool, just really fun,” she said.

And that’s where her snowmobiling career was born. Adomaitis has participated in events all over the country since, including the last two World Championship Hill Climbs at Snow King.

“I didn’t imagine this when she was little and on a little machine,” the teen’s mother said. “But here we are.”

Adomaitis’ first two pro events weren’t without fault. She crashed on the first weekend of competition and bit her tongue, suffering a minor laceration. The injury resulted in her getting a much-needed Christmas gift.

“Santa brought me a mouth guard,” she said.

As a pro, Adomaitis knows she won’t make a living through the small payouts at events. Instead, it’s sponsorships that pay the bills for most riders.

Adomaitis has already received two free snowmobiles – one from Colorado SledStyle and the other from Polaris Racing.

She knows the more she wins, the more sponsors will line up.

“If she makes money,” Kara Adomaitis said, “it won’t be from racing. It will be from sponsorships.”

Nikiya Adomaitis’ training regime is demanding but simple. She takes her snow machines up to Togwotee to ride on occasion. ISOC races are held on tracks with jumps and berms, which often can’t be simulated in natural settings like Togwotee.

“Much of her practice simply comes from racing,” her mother said.

Adomaitis also lifts weights and trains in the offseason. She is now preparing for the next event on the ISOC circuit, which will be held Jan. 23 and 24 in Minneapolis, Minn.

And once again, Adomaitis will mysteriously disappear from school with her friends wondering were she has gone.

“I still think most of my best friends still don’t know what it’s all about,” she said. “But I think it’s cool. I really love it.”