The winter of 2026 will not be remembered by the Missoula nordic skiing community as a snow-filled season with chilly evenings and steaming hot cocoa. Rather, it will live on in infamy as a winter completely devoid of all things cold and snowy; the usually groomed ski trails at the University of Montana golf course were instead a field of green grass and golf balls instead of ski tracks peppered its surface.
The Ice Badgers, the nordic ski team in Missoula, first assured themselves that one week of cross training would suffice until the snows fell. Then, a week of rollerskiing and running became two. As weeks turned to months of waiting for snow that would never come, the team relied on pure perseverance to continue their zeal for skiing.
Out-of-state competitions held every few weeks offered all too short glimpses into what skiing is meant to be. At these races, the Ice Badgers would relish each moment they got to spend on the groomed, snow-laden courses of luckier places (though even these venues, such as Soldier Hollow, Utah, relied heavily on man-made snow to host these events). After each weekend of winter happiness, the reality would set back in; Missoula was snow starved, and her skiers were viscerally impacted by this famine.
Despite this, the winter of 2026 will also be remembered as one of unyielding success and a triumph of skiing spirit. The Ice Badgers, the very same team sentenced to hours of mud covered practices without skis on their feet, excelled at each meet they traveled to. Their hard work and dedication to the distant thought of skis on snowy trails led them to this success.
For the first time in recent history, three Missoulian skiers will be attending the Cross Country Junior National Championships. This competition, which represents the best of the junior skiers across the country, will be held in Cable, Wisconsin from March 9-14.
Ice Badgers and Hellgate students Ender Berryman, Odin Berryman and Canon Gardner earned their places on the Intermountain Division (IMD) Junior Nationals Team through incredible feats of hard work and competitive excellency.
The IMD team, encompassing Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Western Wyoming, is made up of the 12 best skiers from the region in each age group (U16 and U18/20) and gender.
Odin Berryman, 18, who has skied for twelve years, said, “[Nationals] is a group of the best junior skiers across the country. The country is divided into regions… and then each region has a quota for how many kids they can bring. And you have to be in that top [number of] kids at the end of how[ever] many races or qualifier races there are.”
Each race that the skiers compete in throughout the season is an opportunity to gain points to be in that top tier of skiers.
“You get [points] through your place in each race, like first place is 100 points, second is 80, third is 60. I just goes all the way down to thirtieth, [which is] just one point,” said Odin.
This points system does have exceptions, as Odin himself pre-qualified for the Nationals team by placing in the top six at Senior Nationals earlier in the season and booking himself a spot on the U-18 Nordic Nations competition circuit in Norway and Sweden. This international showing affirmed his place in the top echelon of upcoming nordic skiers worldwide, and served as his ticket to Junior Nationals.
Canon Gardner, 15, finished with 154 IMD points, placing himself in the eighth position for the team and guaranteeing his spot on the IMD U16 Nationals team.
All three of their qualifications come from years of hard work and dedication to the sport of skiing.
For Gardner, his aspirations for Nationals started after his first time racing on the JN Qualifier circuit. “When I went to my first Qualifier race, I was like ‘oh wait, I could actually make the team. Now I just need to train to get there,’” he said.
His aspirations for making Nationals may have begun at this race when he was in eighth grade, but it was his single-minded resolve to improve that led him to where he is now. This resolve was put to the test this winter as the Ice Badger’s access to snow was severed. It is a testament to Gardner’s work ethic and determination that he managed to push onward despite not being able to get as much time on skis as many of the people he competed against.
The entire Ice Badger team displayed incredible grit during this winter season, and Canon Gardner, Ender Berryman, and Odin Berryman represent the best of this community, not only with their incredible places and mastery of the sport of nordic skiing, but with their steely determination to keep the sport alive within the hearts and community of Missoula, Montana.
At the end of the last JNQ race, held in West Yellowstone at the Rendezvous ski trails, among swirling snow flurries, each of their names were called as the IMD Nationals team was assembled. A huge contingent of the Ice Badgers were present to cheer on these three skiers who are their teammates, sons, brothers, and friends.
With the initial qualification offering a moment of celebration as hard work paid off, Gardner looks to the competition and what he hopes to accomplish on the snowy trails of Cable, Wisconsin. He hopes to “get top 10 in at least one of the races.”
Odin, who has been to Nationals three times before, said, “It’s super fun. It’s definitely one of the highlights of the year.”
Held by the American Berkebeiner Ski Foundation, the 2026 Junior National Championships feature four races; a 7.5/5K freestyle interval start, a classic sprint, a 14.6/11.3/8K classic mass start, and concluding with a four-person mixed gender freestyle relay.
It is truly a special moment in the history of Missoula nordic skiing to have these three boys representing their home on a national scale. Though Missoula and its skiers continue to mourn this snowless winter, the success of these Ice Badgers offers a welcome moment of wintry exaltation as Canon Gardner, Ender Berryman, and Odin Berryman leave with their skis and puffy jackets to compete on Wisconsin snow, alongside all the fastest skiers of the United States.
