“The outdoor access was a big draw,” says Rudd. “The roller skiing is incredible. The running is incredible.” 

In the summer, Nordic athletes typically train by doing high intensity interval training, strength training and weightlifting, and long-distance aerobic workouts like running or roller skiing, which is a lot like roller skating, except instead of boots with wheels, athletes strap on two-foot-long carbon-fiber skis with wheels to simulate Nordic skiing. 

With a lung-busting high-altitude environment and boasting more than 100 miles of Nordic ski trails, Bozeman has become a mecca for elite endurance athletes like Rudd, enticing Nordic skiers from all over the country (as well as Canada and Europe) to pursue World Cup and Olympic dreams within an easy hour’s drive of downtown. 

Nordic (a type of cross-country) skiing is somewhat of a strange sport, combining the ripping fast nature of alpine skiing with the endurance and high-cardio aspects of trail running. Originating in Europe thousands of years ago, the hobby involves two styles of racing—traditional classic with skis in parallel tracks and newer skate skiing on groomed trails—in a variety of formats and distances. 

Anchoring this world-class training destination is the local, community-focused, nonprofit ski organization Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF), which grooms over 40 miles of trails in the Gallatin Valley and manages Nordic teams. BSF also sponsors one of the few professional Nordic ski teams in the United States. The BSF Pro Team sends athletes to the North American Supertour (the highest level of racing on the domestic scene), U.S. National Championships, the European-based World Cup, and, occasionally, the Winter Olympics. BSF is also focused on building community and teaching children and adults to ski and recreate in the snow. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit spent over $84,000 on outreach during the 2021–2022 season.  

BSF Pro skiers qualified this year for the Minneapolis World Cup, the first Nordic World Cup held on American soil since 2001. Unfortunately, Rudd was unable to compete, as she herniated a disc last fall at a coaching clinic. However, watching her Montana teammates race at the highest level of competition possible on the continent this year was electric for her.  

“Having so many people that I know and have raced against, on the World Cup, it makes you think that the World Cup is attainable,” Rudd says. “There was definitely this crazy energy in the air. There was such hype around it. People just brought the energy, [and] the courses were thickly lined with people the whole way.” 

For Rudd, it wasn’t just about the outdoors. The Health Sciences major spent time in Bozeman when she skied for the University of Alaska Anchorage and raced against Bobcat skiers for NCAA glory. She flat-out fell in love with the place.  

The community’s unique vibe—a walkable downtown with all its shops and old buildings, the easy drive to the threshold of mountain wilderness and (mostly) dry climate—was simply irresistible to a young athlete with ambitions to work hard and play hard. 

“Who doesn’t love Bozeman?” Rudd says. “It’s amazing.” 

When Rudd moved here, she was as excited to be “in the community” as she was to knock off 10-kilometer intervals on the trails at Crosscut Outdoor Center, where the BSF Pro Team spends many of their training sessions. 

“At this time, we have amazing snow,” Rudd says in early Spring. “This part of the season kind of brings me back to the roots of why I love skiing.”  

Now that the racing season is over, Rudd looks forward to skiing beneath Bozeman’s spring sunshine and sweet-spot temperatures. After all the focused and grueling work in sideways blizzards and frigid snaps, this is the season of Nordic ski bliss.