Glacier Nordic Ski Team has new head coach

Larry Bruce and his wife Molly announced they are retiring from coaching the Glacier Nordic Ski Team after nearly 20 years with the club.

Replacing the Bruces will be Ben Morley, a 26-year-old coach from the Jackson Hole Ski Club in Jackson, Wyo. He will move to Whitefish in early October and looks to train with the team shortly afterward.

For the Bruces, the demands of coaching the team and working had become overwhelming. Yet, according to Larry, the timing of their retirement from the club couldn't be more perfect.

"We're going to miss it," he said. "But everything is 100 percent sweet now, it's a good time to leave."

They have trained a national champion in Stella Holt and worked with two of the region's elite skiers in Ian Mallams and Eric Anderson. The team has always been competitive under their guidance and it was going to be tough to top their recent success.

Larry and Molly said the most satisfying part of leading the team over the years has been watching the skiers progress through the ranks. They coached many of the team's members in the Chet Hope Youth League — a Nordic division for skiers as young as 6 years old — and moved up the ladder with them as they aged in years and skill level.

"We had fun seeing the results of our skiers," Larry said. "It was exciting seeing Ian and Eric have top finishes in Sweden. Seeing Stella win Nationals was special, and watching Carl Talsma — a real stick and ball guy — ski himself into shape every year was great."

He says some of the best workouts and most fun they had were skating up Chair 2 at Big Mountain after the lifts closed and skiing down the groomed runs on their skinny skis.

"There are a lot of good memories over the years," he said.

Mallams, who has skied with the Bruces since he was five years old and now skis for the University of Colorado, says the Glacier Nordic program wouldn't be what it is today without the influence the Bruces brought to the club.

"They taught us good character," he said. "They taught us how to train and other life skills."

Mallams pointed to the fact that the Bruces have done so many outstanding things with their own lives it was easy for the team to gain from their wisdom.

Larry was a founding father of the Aspen, Colo. rock climbing scene and regularly soloed 5.10-rated climbs in Yosemite, while Molly is the acclaimed mountaineer the movie "Storm and Sorrow" depicts, and she was on the first all-female ascent of El Capitan's the nose in 1977. Together they authored "The Rock Climbers guide to Aspen" and remain active in the outdoors scene today. Larry and Molly moved to Whitefish from Colorado about 20 years ago.

Mallams said he has skied under a number of coaches in recent years, but none have been as fun as the Bruces.

"Every workout, no matter how intense or excruciating, was always entertaining," Mallams said. "I had the most fun skiing while in Whitefish. Molly and Larry, the way they taught, everyone could be themselves."

Larry says he was reluctant to turn the keys to the team over to just any coach. He and the club's board diligently sought a leader that could sustain the team's level of excellence on the snow while also being a good mentor.

He thinks they've found that in Morley.

"Ben is going to bring some youth and energy to the team," Larry said. "His physical abilities will be an asset for these kids. He will bring a new introspective to the sport."

Morley, born and raised in Jackson, Wyo., has been on skis his entire life. He grew up with the Jackson Ski Club and skied at the collegiate level for Western State College in Gunnison, Colo. He later graduated from the University of Oregon and spent a year studying in Oslo, Norway — the birthplace of Nordic skiing.

Only in his mid-20s, Morley is not too far removed from the age of the skiers he will be teaching. He says that relatively small age gap will be an asset as coach.

"I'm only 10 years older than some of these kids," he said. "I've been through everything they are going to go through, I've skied in the same division, so I can easily relate."

Larry said one of the main criteria he was looking for in a coach is for that person to be able to balance a serious training regimen while still keeping the sport fun. It was something he and Molly strived toward every year, and it is critical to him that that value continues with the new coach.

"We always wanted to get the kids to ski for life and not get burned out on it," Bruce said. "Ben's philosophy is basically the same, and that's important."

While skiing at Western State, Morley says he hit a metaphoric wall with Nordic skiing, forcing him to walk away from the competitive side of the sport. He had been training for ski races most of his life and had simply grown tired of the routine.

Although he kept skiing for pleasure while at Oregon and in Norway — where hundreds of meters of Nordic track were groom daily outside of his dorm — hitting that mental wall altered his view of the sport in a way that, he says, will benefit him as a coach.

Morely reiterated that while it's essential his team trains seriously to reach their goals, keeping skiing fun is even more significant.

"I can't force workouts," he said. "More than anything, the kids need to be psyched on skiing. It's up to me to keep it lighthearted."

He says he will ask each team member what their intention is with Nordic skiing and set their goals from that baseline.

"It's important to ask the kids what they want," he said. "I will ask them why they are involved with the sport and go from there."

Morley has already sent a training schedule to the team and hopes he can start regular practices by November. He says many other teams are already getting into shape for the season.

"I hear this team has some very devoted and very good kids who want to accomplish their goal," he said. "I'm excited about that."