Ski Foundation keeps sport alive in valley

There has been the zero-degree game, the wild-game dinners and, of course, the Warren Miller ski films.

For 36 years, the Flathead Valley Skiing Foundation has sponsored unique fundraising benefits to help up-and-coming alpine skiers hone their skills on the slopes of Big Mountain.

That tradition continues tonight when the foundation hosts its annual benefit "Showcase of the Chefs' at Grouse Mountain Lodge beginning at 6 p.m.

The foundation was established in 1973 when a handful of Whitefish mainstays — including Martin Hale, Leo Kaufman, Frank Thomas and Gary Tallman, among others — met at the Conrad National Bank in Kalispell to discuss the importance of financing junior ski racers in the Flathead Valley.

The group formed a non-profit, Tallman was elected president, and it was decided that "fundraising was to begin immediately."

From that moment, the foundation has been helping young skiers in the valley interested in racing cover the costs of coaches' wages, travel to races and other expenditures. The efforts have reached hundreds of children, including some who have gone as far as the Olympics, like Tommy Moe.

In 1974, the program covered more than $16,000 of expenses for about 60 skiers. Today, that number runs somewhere between $60,000 and $70,000 for 40 skiers.

Early on, the foundation sponsored a zero-degree game in which participants paid a dollar for a chance to win $500 if they guessed the first day the thermometer at Glacier Park Airport reached zero degrees.

The first Warren Miller film sponsored by the foundation was "There comes a time" in 1975, which featured skiers jumping off a 100-foot high cliff in Utah.

Tim Hinderman, one of the original coaches for the foundation under head coach Martin Hale, remembers the Wednesday night races put on throughout the season to help fund the foundation.

"For years and years, there has been a Wednesday night local race league," Hinderman said. "We actually started that in the early 1970s as a fundraiser for the ski foundation. Originally, it was just the two or three coaches and all kids that helped run the races over on Chair 3."

Martin Hale recalls the annual wild-game feast that took place around the hunting season, but no matter how the foundation raised the money, the goal has always been the same — to help children interested in snow sports get onto the slopes more affordably.

"We had lots of help from the foundation to pay for coaching," Hale said. "It helped some kids who didn't have anything. Many companies would help the kids get boots, skis and sometimes used gear from the U.S. National team."

According to Hinderman, many local children wouldn't have been able to participate without the benefit of the foundation's scholarships.

"The foundation also raised money to help subsidize the overall cost of the program for everyone," Hinderman said. "It made it more affordable for all the kids."

Current foundation president Richard Kramer said the same principles exist today.

"The foundation is helping keep the sport alive," Kramer said about the foundation. "It's helping make it affordable for families."

Kramer says coaches' wages and travel expenses can add up quickly for families with multiple kids involved with the sport.

"When kids work hard all year and then are invited to nationals, that can be a really expensive trip," he said.

That's where the fundraising efforts come into play.

Currently, the foundation promotes benefits such as the Showcase of the Chefs, the Warren Miller film premieres, a mountain bike raffle and a golf tournament to help offset the costs of keeping seven coaches for the race team and four coaches for the freestyle team. They also take on corporate sponsors.

Donations are down this year because of the slumping economy, according to Kramer. Yet, the foundation will still be able to help a number of junior athletes get onto the slopes again this winter.

Kramer said one of the foundations biggest accomplishments in recent history has been the Whitefish Alpine and Freestyle Ski Academy, which allows the valley's elite racers to leave school at noon twice a week to train on the mountain.

"For the kids that do really well in ski racing, the academy helps keep them in the area," Kramer said.

According to Kramer, the academy lets student athletes achieve world-class on-snow training while remaining in the Whitefish school district.

"This is a real windfall for our valley," he said. "No longer will elite athletes have to move away from their families in order to train. Kids as young as 11 years old can now live, train and go to school in their home town."

The only prerequisite for student-athletes participating in the academy is that they maintain a 3.0 GPA. So far, the seven members are posting a 4.0 average. The foundation helps offset the cost of the $2,350 program and provides a liaison between the race team and the school.

Much of the long-term success of the foundation can be attributed to its foresight in building and maintaining a partnership with Big Mountain.

Hinderman said the foundation is like a three-legged stool.

"There is the mountain, the kids and the foundation," he said. "If one isn't there, it doesn't work very well."

This year, in cooperation with Whitefish Mountain Resort, the foundation will offer a host of skiing opportunities, including the Tommy Moe Race League for children 5 to 12 years old, the junior race team for children 8 to 12 years old and the freestyle ski and snowboard team.

For more information about the foundation's on-snow opportunities available this year, visit online at www.skiwhitefish.com.