OUT OF THE GATE
Peter Vordenberg
IN STRIDE
The “completely caffeinated” U.S. head
cross country coach, Peter Vordenberg,
creates a new path for nordic racers
BY PETER Q. GRAVES
In the three and a half years since Peter Vor-
denberg became head coach of the U.S. nordic
program (after four years as assistant coach
under Trond Nystad), the team has seen some
of its greatest successes, including nice racing
this month by Kikkan Randall, Kris Freeman
and others (read more at skiracing.com). So we
thought we’d take a closer look at “Vordy.”
Vordenberg was born in Spain, as his parents
were teachers for the military in parts of Europe.
His family eventually moved to Boulder, were
they skied, biked, hiked, ran and fished. Vorden-
berg spent his formative years in Colorado, and
he began skiing in the Lake Eldora Racing Team
(now Boulder Nordic Juniors) program.
“I just enjoyed having fun with all my friends
skiing and running and exploring the mountains
every day after school,” recalls Vordenberg, now
37. “That friendship thing is still the thing that
keeps me in it, but planning, training and win-
ning are fun, too.”
Rapidly, he made progress and skied on four
Junior Olympic teams for Rocky Mountain Di-
vision before racing for the powerful Northern
Michigan University team, coached by the leg-
endary Sten Fjeldheim.
“I saw at once that Pete had what it took to be
a skier,” says Fjeldheim. “He was very focused,
stubborn, but in a good way, and he was con-
stantly thinking about how he could train better,
and how he could push himself to the next level;
that was his priority. He had a passion for the
sport, and did not ever make excuses. He loves
challenges.”
Fjeldheim says that Vordenberg improved so
fast his freshman year that he made the Olympic
team in 1992; he made the Olympic team again
in 1994 for Lillehammer.
After NMU, Vordenberg graduated from the
University of New Mexico with a minor in phi-
losophy, which still seems to come in handy to-
day. “Pete is not a talker but rather a thinker,”
says Fjeldheim, “and he will get the job done.
He’s very creative and is a bit of a philosopher;
he believes in his athletes and they can feel it.”
Vordenberg talks about cross country like it’s a
manifest destiny for the U.S. to become an ongo-
ing international presence — but says the USST
can’t do it alone. “We really do rely on the cross
country community to bring us well prepared
skiers, but we also support the community by
supplying the pathway to success for athletes,”
says Vordenberg. “We call this the pipeline; we
do this through talent identification and race op-
portunities. Many of these are new programs at
least in this generation.”
USST cross country coach Matt Whitcomb
says that Vordenberg has a hard work ethic like
no other. “Pete is indefatigable, completely caf-
feinated,” says Whitcomb. “His energy not only
helps drive this team forward, but in the right
direction, and the right speed and through some
exciting stops along the way. He knows how to
explain our route to the coaches and athletes, yet
he is more than willing to consider changes to
the map. He allows everyone a role.”
Sverre Caldwell, the longtime nordic direc-
tor at Stratton Mountain School, says that Vor-
denberg has done a great job of getting people
to train better. “He has a ‘no excuses’ attitude,”
says Caldwell. “His message is getting out there.
My junior skiers are training significantly hard-
er than they were eight to 12 years ago. I think
the college kids are too; and all of my 16-year-
old skiers are over 500 hours of training. That’s
progress and I give Pete credit for getting that
message out that we need to work harder and
more professionally.”
Above all, Vordenberg seems motivated to cre-
ate a program that U.S. skiers can believe in. “I
want these skiers to be able to turn their dreams
into goals, plans and action,” he says. “If they fol-
low the path, if they prepare well, have the right
attitude and talent, we are here to give them the
opportunities to succeed — when I feel I’m not
playing my role in that, then I’m either done in
skiing or I’ll move into a new role where I can.”
So, if he wasn’t a ski coach, what would he be?
“I like to work outside,” says Vordenberg. “My
second favorite job so far has been building
trails. I love to work with rock and dirt. It’s fun
to have a vision and then see it come together
with creativity and sweat.”
