Skijoring group says they were denied access to repair runway

Skijoring coordinator Scott Ping says there’s more to the story surrounding the closure of the Whitefish Airport after damage occurred during last winter’s skijoring event there. He claims his organization was never given an opportunity to make repairs to the airport’s damaged turf.

“We’ve always been able to repair damage to the field,” Ping said. “This year, we were denied access to do that.”

The World Invitational Whitefish Ski Joring races were held at the airport in January. During the annual event, skiers are pulled by a horse and rider around a slalom course through gates and hit jumps during the competition.

Horses running on the field put 6- to 8-inch holes in the turf, according to Cindi Martin, executive director of Glacier Park International Airport. She previously told the Pilot that the damage caused the closures of the airport, which is normally open seasonally from June to October.

Following an article on the issue in the July 6 edition of the Pilot, Ping said he felt it was important for him to clarify issues surrounding the closure of the airport.

Contacted Tuesday, Martin’s office said she was unavailable to talk about the matter.

The Flathead Municipal Airport Authority owns and operates the Whitefish Airport and GPI.

Ping acknowledged that thawing temperatures occurred close to the start of the skijoring event, but with athletes traveling to Whitefish from across the United States, it was impossible to cancel.

“It was too late,” he said. “But we’ve always repaired any damage. We’re good stewards of the land.”

Martin has said the damage cost about $23,000 to repair. Ping and other skijoring organizers say the cost of the damage was actually much less.

Following the event, Ping said, skijoring organizers hired a groomer that worked to level out the snow jumps and till the soil to get rid of any bare spots and holes in the turf. However, he said, before the job was finished the equipment broke.

“The groomer broke down and we were going to bring it back,” Ping said. “We would have also gone in and put seed down so the grass would have come up this spring, but we were not allowed to do that.”

Just as has occurred every year for the last 14 years skijoring has taken place at the airport, Ping said, organizers planned to make three to four trips to the airport following the event to ensure that any possible damage was repaired including fixing fences and picking up garbage on the property.

“We always make sure it’s ready by June,” he said. “But we were denied the ability to do that again.”

In May the Flathead Municipal Airport Authority board voted to no longer permit skijoring to take place at the Whitefish Airport.

Ping said Whitefish Ski Joring races will relocate to the 17 acres to the south of the airport on private property for next year’s event. Parking for horse trailers and competitors would likely occur on city property at Armory Park and spectators, as was done last year, would be bused to the event.

“We have the support of the community,” Ping said. “We want to keep making it better and better.”