The Olympics bring out the dreamer in all of us. Who doesn’t have a memory of watching the competitions as a child and thinking, “Maybe someday I could do that!” Of course, few of us go on to dedicate every waking moment to mastering a sport, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try one out for fun.
Living in Montana means proximity to many winter sport activities. If you find a Montana mountain home, you may be lucky enough to have cross-country skiing trails out your back door. Homes with land in Montana provide the open spaces needed for trying your hand at the biathlon, a traditional Olympic event that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.
One sport that has gained popularity and Olympic television coverage is curling, the Scottish game of sliding large stones across the ice toward a target, like an enormous, frozen game of shuffleboard. Curling clubs exist all over Montana, from Whitefish to Billings, and most clubs offer periodic “learn to curl” events for those of us inspired by recent scenes of Olympic glory.
For hockey fans, Billings might now be one of the best places to live in Montana. The city is gaining a yet-to-be-named team that will play in the Western Professional Hockey League in the fall of 2022. Hockey is incredibly popular all across the state, with leagues for youth and adults in every city with an ice rink. Whether you have your eye on the Bozeman real estate market or are looking for a log home for sale in the forests near Glacier National Park, hockey is readily available to try or to watch.
Figure skating is always a prime time Olympic event. While most of us have long let go of our dreams of landing a triple toe loop, there are still many places to try and enjoy the simpler aspects of this graceful sport. If you are watching the Whitefish real estate market, it may interest you to know that the town’s Glacier Skate Academy offers year-round figure skating instruction, including adult classes.
While not yet an Olympic sport, another wild and exciting Montana winter sport is skijoring, a competition where a skier is pulled along a course by a horse and rider. Watching skijoring is definitely exciting—you can catch it as part of the Whitefish Winter Carnival or see the national finals each March in Red Lodge. For the very brave who want to try it themselves, guests at The Resort at Paws Up, east of Missoula, or the Triple Creek Ranch, in Darby, can take the reigns in their own hands and give it a try.
The wide world of winter sports is as much a part of life in Montana as a Montana log home or a piece of land for sale with Big Sky views. Here, winter is a season to be enjoyed and celebrated, and these unique winter sports are one more reason to call this wonderful state home.
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