The spirit of a true Montana sport is alive and well in Flathead Valley, but Old Man Winter is not.

As temperatures soared to record highs Wednesday, the Whitefish Skijoring Association decided to cancel the 20th rendition of Whitefish Skijoring, which was to be held Feb. 14-15 in Kalispell.  

“We are heartbroken,” said Leah Mitchell, board member for the skijoring group. “The decision was not made lightly.”  

The group was prepared to work around the lack of snow, but determined it was impossible to safely build a course with the winter thaw. They considered hauling up to 150 truckloads of snow from Blacktail Mountain or possibly Big Mountain to make about 4,000 yards of snow, with Blacktail and other community members offering snowblowers.  

Changing the venue to Flathead County Fairgrounds was also considered.   

“We would absolutely invest the time and money to have done all that, if we thought the snow would hold up in the valley,” Mitchell said. 

According to the National Weather Service, the average temperature in Kalispell in January was 27 degrees, about 3.3 degrees above normal. Kalispell received 6.2 inches of snow, roughly 8 inches below normal.  

The first five days of February recorded an average of 38.1 degrees, 13.1 above normal.  

Putting a nail in the coffin, the forecast leading up to Feb. 14 shows temperatures regularly in the 40s.  

Whitefish Skijoring isn’t alone in the challenges of a lackluster winter. Mitchell said about half of the venues in the skijoring circuit across the West have been canceled. The races that are still on have relied on snowmaking equipment.