The community of Steamboat Springs is known as “Ski Town, U.S.A.,” producing over 100 Winter Olympians. That is a record amount for this country. At the 2022 Beijing Games alone, 13 athletes from the town competed. 

The rich history in skiing has trickled down to the local high school as the Sailors boast a successful program.

Charlie Wiedel is a headliner as he earned the silver medal in the 5-kilometer skate race at the 2025 CHSAA Nordic Skiing State Championships. He also placed seventh in the classic race. It was quite a strong showing in his first state competition. He joined the high school team for the initial time last school year. 

Wiedel is just the latest gifted skier from Steamboat. 

“It’s always been mostly known as a skiing town,” he said. “There’s kind of a lot of pressure on people to become a skier, so I feel like people have just always developed as skiers and resulted in really good skiing teams.”

In the skate race, he was side-by-side with Carter Niemkiewicz of Summit, the class champion, as they entered the rodeo grounds at the Steamboat Ski Touring Center. In the end, Wiedel nipped the standout from Summit by 0.01 seconds. He was less than four seconds behind the winner, James Sowers (Summit). 

Steamboat finished 6th as a boys team and the girls earned the same place. 

Now, in 2026, they’re performing well again as the boys are led by junior Wiedel, Jackson McLaren, and Luke Bedell. McLaren and Bedell were previously competing for the local club team, but now joined the high school squad. The girls returned talented competitors in Dixie Barnes, Evie Fisher, and Ella Wilson.

Barnes was 11th in both the classic and skate divisions last year, while Fisher was 12th in the classic race. 

“We’re usually in the upper half of competitions,” coach Katie Lindquist said. “I would say we’re usually third or fourth overall, so we’ve always been a strong program. About a fifth of our students are newer to skiing though. They didn’t develop through the local ski club.”

They hope to finish even higher at the skiing state championships this year as the boys could be title contenders, getting a lift from capable additions from the club program in town. Oh, and Wiedel has a chance of tasting gold individually.

“I used to ski for the winter sports club up here and then it just got too expensive, so I changed over and switched to the high school last year,” Wiedel said.” Some other athletes and friends that I trained with at the sports club were in the same situation this year. They didn’t have enough desire to stick with the sports club, and the finances as well, and so I got them to come over and ski with us. That way they could keep pursuing the sport.”

Steamboat Springs has been a successful skiing program for a long time, but Summit, Aspen, and Lake County could be difficult to defeat once again. The Sailors are seeking their first-ever state championship as a team. 

“Summit’s always put together a really good team, so it would be kind of nice to be close to them,” Wiedel said. “As a school, Summit has always been a rival.”

The Sailors nearly earned a state title in boys soccer this past fall, too, as Class 3A First Team All-State goalkeeper Wiedel was a key player. Unfortunately, they lost in the state final 1-0 to Kent Denver. 

Nonetheless, it was a terrific season for the junior and his teammates. He also golfs, nearly qualifying for state, and is a biathlon (skiing and shooting). 

He wants to compete for a college soccer team, but right now his focus is on placing top five in both ski races at the state championships. He is newer to skiing than some in Steamboat Springs, just starting in sixth grade, but he’s accomplished a lot already.  

“Last year at Junior Nationals for club racing, I finished ninth in the freestyle sprint, which was definitely a huge accomplishment racing the best U-16 athletes from across the nation,” he said.

“Charlie’s quite a unique individual,” Lindquist said. “He’s quite mature for his age physically and mentally. He’s a very solid human being as one of our team captains this year. For that reason he has leadership capabilities. He’s coachable, which is a big thing. He’s able to take direction and implement it into his own skill.”

All these qualities have certainly paid off.

Lindquist has quite a background in athletics too, though.

“Nordic skiing was what we did,” she said of growing up in Minnesota. “We would ski as a family. We also downhill skied, as well, but we just skied in the woods. I learned how to Nordic ski from a young age. It’s not something I did competitively until I was in my 20s.”

On top of competing as a skier, which she still does to this day, she was also a professional cyclist in the past. 

But, now she is a full-time ski instructor who also works with adults. 

“I really like teaching people this sport and sharing with them my competition and history and training goals and methods,” she said. “I also really enjoy being with this demographic. Teenagers are wonderful. I like being able to provide them a place to be that is outside and fun and energetic and welcoming.”

The culture that Lindquist has built in the program has reaped benefits. She has been coaching for the high school team for eight seasons, four as the head coach.

Wiedel certainly enjoys being a part of the team.  

“There are two main coaches, Katie and Jeff (Yeiser), who help run it with training,” he said. “Pat Gleason is our wax technician. He waxes all of our skis, which is definitely beneficial. He has a lot of knowledge when it comes to snow science. Katie and Jeff are just really supportive. They get a lot of kids who are just trying Nordic and Katie’s a Nordic instructor. She brings a lot of support and encouragement, which really helps the newer kids develop.”

The Sailors hope all their preparation leads to their first team championship in skiing, as the 2026 CHSAA Nordic Skiing State Championships will take place at Maloit Park in Minturn on February 20-21.