Olympic skier Lindh returns to lead ski team

Long before she would go on to become a world champion downhill skier and Olympic silver medalist, a 15-year old Hilary Lindh competed in her very first International Ski Federation race on Big Mountain in Northwest Montana.

Now, after a professional skiing career criss-crossing the globe from her home in Juneau, Alaska, Lindh has returned to Whitefish with her family, where she’ll be coaching a new generation of powder enthusiasts with the Flathead Valley Ski Education Foundation.

“If you’ve been a skier for your whole life, it’s a whole network of people that even if you’ve never met before, you have that connection, something in common with them,” Lindh said. “Skiing is something I love to do, and to get kids excited about it also is really fun.”

While she hails from the Last Frontier, Lindh already boasts Montana roots. Her father grew up in Missoula, and after she opted to pursue a biology degree at the University of Utah she accepted a post-graduation stint monitoring the success of Yellowstone National Park’s reintroduction of wolves. In addition, her parents’ vacation home on Big Mountain has allowed her to spend spring break holidays navigating the terrain on Whitefish Mountain Resort with her family.

Lindh said the decision to move to the valley was driven by coastal Alaska’s recent bout of dismal winters, and she and her husband decided to make the move in the hopes of finding more consistent powder.

“I’ve always had somewhat of a connection here,” Lindh said. “We kind of jumped right in, gave up jobs, sold our house and took a leap of faith. ... Both of us were missing good skiing and mountain biking, so we went for it.”

Laughing that her partner-in-crime is also a rabid powder hound, she added, “And I wanted to maintain my husband’s sanity.”

Growing up in Juneau, Lindh first starting hitting the cross-country ski trails at the age of 2.

“I just started racing right away, because it was basically daycare for my parents,” she laughed.

At 14, she said a dry year in Juneau prompted her to head to Salt Lake City during ninth grade, where her mother’s friend lived and knew one of the coaches at the local ski academy. That year she joined the U.S. junior ski development team.

And following her introduction to international downhill ski races in Whitefish, she was off. The next year, Lindh went on to win the national downhill skiing championship as well as becoming the first American-born World Junior Champion in 1986.

“From 17 on, it was just World Cup full-time,” she said.

The National Ski Hall-of-Famer raced for the U.S. team in three Winter Olympics, winning the downhill silver medal at the age of 22 in Albertville, France, in 1992. She won three World Cups in downhill skiing, and until her retirement at age 27, competed in downhill skiing across the globe.

Among her favorite racing destinations she lists Alta, Utah, Las Leñas in Argentina and Verbier, Switzerland. But for a hometown ski area, she said Big Mountain has plenty to offer.

“I’ve been to a lot of places that are considered a ‘family ski hill’ that seem very manicured and boring to me,” Lindh said. “But it has a good variety of terrain and different aspects, and there’s something for everyone.”

Lindh will be coaching the ski education foundation’s master team this season, while also coaching youth groups.

Established in 1973, the Flathead Valley Ski Education Foundation has built on an eight-decade tradition of ski racing in the Flathead Valley, providing athletic training and character development for the up-and-coming generations of skiers. The foundation counts skiing legend Tommy Moe among its graduates, himself an Olympic champion who earned gold and silver medals in the 1994 games.

Upon arriving in Whitefish, Lindh said one of her first calls was to the ski education foundation, in the hopes of building on decades as a skiing coach. Although she’ll be handling some of the foundation’s most advanced athletes, Lindh said she especially loves helping young skiers find their footing on the slopes.

“It’s a lot of free-skiing — you just end up getting out there and having fun,” she said of the junior classes. “They’re learning by being put in different situations and figuring out, just, how do you get down the mountain?”

After more than a decade of riding atop the international racing circuit, Lindh says her free time on the mountain is more geared toward all-mountain and tree skiing with her husband and 10-year-old daughter.

“As a parent, to ski with my daughter and get her excited about it, and even with my parents, it’s just fun to get into,” she said. “My mom was racing there in the ’50s, with a rope-tow and all that. It’s something I keep coming back to, like a club or a sorority. It’s not just this generation, it’s something that’s shared between generations.”