In March, Whitefish sophomore Maeve Ingelfinger scripted a textbook week of cross-country ski racing, delivering a clinic in grace-under-pressure competition as she repeatedly demonstrated her patience and prowess at the Junior National Championships in Minnesota. Over the course of four races — a skate distance, classic sprint, classic distance, and a mixed 4×3-kilometer relay — Ingelfinger represented the Glacier Nordic Club (GNC) with fire in her eyes. She attacked heat after heat on the sprint day and, through elimination rounds, lunged to secure second place nationally for the U16 girls. On the day of the classic mass start, Ingelfinger skied powerfully to stay ahead of the 5k mob to place third for yet another podium.
Fast forward to July, when near-triple-digit heat relegates thoughts of sliding on snow to the far reaches of the mind. Except for elite skiers like Ingelfinger, who found herself on a trip to Canada to train on one of the only year-round groomed ski courses in North America. Nestled in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, the Beckie Scott High-Performance Training Centre is a training camp located on the Haig Glacier, offering athletes a chance to regain their ski legs even during the doldrums of summer.
“We skied on the glacier almost every day, which was my first experience on summer snow,” Ingelfinger said. “It’s certainly a different experience skiing in the summer and not having to worry about working hard enough to stay warm.”
To train on the Haig, Ingelfinger, along with two other GNC teammates, had to run 10 miles to the base camp, followed by a 40-minute hike to the glacier itself each day.
“The course iced over each night, so it was super fast when we started out each morning,” Ingelfinger said. “It was great to be back on skis between seasons and work on technique. It reminded me of what I need to work on while roller skiing.”
For Nordic skiers who can’t visit the few groomed snowfields in the off season, roller skiing is the traditional training tool during summer. Throughout the summer months, groups of athletes can be seen around Whitefish on the long two-wheeled skates gliding along the roads with ski poles in hand.
“Roller skiing is one of the most important tools for Nordic dry land training,” said GNC executive director and coach Jennie Bender. “It’s a full body workout that really simulates being on skis.”
Instead of groomed ski trails, roller skiing requires smooth pavement, ideally with limited interruptions from terrain and traffic.
“I literally drive around the valley looking for good pavement, routes with just enough hills, but nothing crazy and places with as little traffic as possible,” Bender said.
Originally from Vermont, Bender ski raced professionally for a dozen years, including while living in Bozeman, and recently spent two years coaching at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks before returning to Montana and finding a community in Whitefish in 2021. At the tail end of the last ski season, Bender was announced as the club’s first full-time director as well as the head competition and adult coach.
One of Bender’s first goals was to increase the off-season opportunities for athletes of all levels.
“There’s a saying that skiers are made in the summer,” Bender said. “There’s so much behind the scenes work that needs to be done in order to be fit in the winter.”
This summer, Bender said she’s had roughly a dozen athletes showing up for training each week. The training regimen involves days of running, roller skiing, lifting and big adventure days in the mountains of Glacier National Park. Some of the workouts are brutal, such as eight by three-minute intervals of uphill ski bounding at a high prescribed heart rate.
“It’s not just an amazing workout for building cardiovascular capability,” Bender said. “It’s about setting the expectation that type two fun, especially when you’re with a group, is good. Suffering in a group builds character and work ethic and as a coach it’s the most fun to see athletes suffer, then recover and get more motivated.”
Recently the Bridger Ski Foundation brought a group of athletes to Whitefish for a week of training, offering more opportunities for skiers to have a competitive, fun training environment.
“I’m really working building the culture of year-round training within the club and looking to expand our offerings,” Bender said. “As we grow our programs and have more coaches during the summer, I’m hoping we can offer more camps and do more combined training with other clubs.”
Bender sees a lot of growth potential with the Nordic Club, including adding to the adult program offerings and expanding the venues they groom around the valley.
For the competitive athletes like Ingelfinger, the summer’s training will be consequential for early season races, where qualifying spots at the junior national and world championships will be on the line.
“I had a lot of success at the end of the season last year, just because I got so much more fit as it went on,” Ingelfinger said. “This summer training is so much more structured and more intense, and I’m excited to go into the winter fitter and ready to be racing well at the beginning of the season.”
To learn more or support the club’s programs, operations and trails, visit glaciernordicclub.org or donate through the Great Fish Community Challenge.
