Remembering Park City’s home-grown Wendy Wagner. Two-time Olympian, “kind, brave girl”, and “Force of Nature”
by RJ Guiney
“I don’t get tired, I go hard!” are the words six-year-old Wendy said to her uncle when on a hike, as told by Wendy’s husband, Jon Davis. The Wagner Family went on to say, “that was the way Wendy lived her life and achieved her dreams.”
“The rest of us felt so lucky to scramble, climb, pedal, ski, or snow machine behind her, trying to keep up on another Wendy adventure.”
Her family wrote:
“Wendy was born on October 31, 1973, in Salt Lake City, Utah and she touched the sky on November 6, 2025, in Park City, Utah under a super moon, giving us a fresh dusting of snow on the mountains.
Wendy accomplished so much in her life. An incomplete list: 2002 and 2006 Olympic Winter Games athlete in cross country skiing, 4 World Championships participations, 6 National Championship wins, a coach at the University of Utah XC ski team 2006-2008, an intern for the Utah Avalanche Center, a master’s degree in atmospheric science from University of Utah leading to a career in avalanche forecasting, the Director of the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center 2010-2025, and an air resource meteorologist for the US Forest Service deployed to wildfires.
But beyond these amazing achievements, the most significant is her sincere and genuine smile, infectious laugh, and the positive energy behind it that had such an impact on so many during her life with us.”
On the warm fall afternoon of November 3rd, I had the privilege of interviewing Wendy about her life of Nordic skiing as she relaxed in a recliner in her parents’ home. Dave Hanscom, Charlie Sturgis, and Wendy’s dad, Dave, were with us in the Wagner’s toasty south facing sunroom. Wendy’s mom, Deb, was helping wrangle her grandkids, the daughters of Chris Wagner, Wendy’s brother. Everyone shared stories, smiled a lot, and we had some laughs.
Her mom, Deb, had texted us the week before, saying, “Wendy’s battle with ovarian cancer is nearing the end. After 18 months of surgery and difficult treatments she has decided to write her last chapter in hospice care. She will be sharing her strength and smile here in Anchorage, and will then transition to Park City, to finish her time with family and friends.”
Lucky us, the guys and I got to chat with her in her final days. Here are snippets of those conversations:
Inspired by her parents, Wendy reminisced about her inspiration in skiing and what she loved most about it.
Skiing of all kinds brought her “freedom,” and at 10, she was “just jumping around, playin’.”
She remembered when the playing became more of a serious pursuit.
“Yeah, there was a moment, and it was driving from Montreal, that’s when my dad told me, ‘The sky is the limit’ and I could be on the U.S Ski team if I really thought that I could.”
The early challenge was finding a team.
“I think early on, I faced a lot challenges, I didn’t know what programs I could belong to. So just finding a program, a club to hook up with was tough—to really support me in races elsewhere,” she remembers. “It was tough back then. There was no, like, Stratton Mountain (SMST2) or APU (Alaska Pacific University).”
As a child, her parents were her team.
“Yeah. Mom and Dad were driving that bus and I didn’t have a choice (smiling).”
“I was quoting you on our drive over here,” Sturgis said of Wendy’s dad Dave, “asking you once how you get these kids to the races all the time, both her brother Chris, and Wendy? You told me that you ‘gave them two choices: they could either race or watch.’ That’s the kind of parenting I need to know about.”
Wendy’s childhood memories included a few notable people outside of family who made an impact in her career.
“Todd Johnson,” Wendy remembered, was an influential coach.
Todd worked at White Pine Touring, and coached the entire junior team, all ages, once or twice a week in Park City.
“Yeah. Yeah, and he kind of stepped in to coach the younger kids. When there wasn’t anybody.”
Unlike now, the skiing culture was a little different in the area.
“Oh, man, nonexistent (everyone laughs out loud), Wendy quipped regarding the ski community at the time, “Yeah, yeah. And a couple of older guys, talking about skiing (referring to Hanscom, Sturgis, and her dad).”
“Well, the other choice at the time was the ‘hood in the woods’ program that we had,” reminisced Hanscom and Sturgis, “Holly Hunter, and a few others, that were kind of just taking kids under their wings in the afternoon program, they were trying to race a little bit.”
“Al Bronson was coaching when Holly was around,” Hanscom remembered. “My son remembers, my son Greg. I asked him, how old you were you relative to Wendy? And he said, ‘Oh, she was my age.’ He said, ‘We used to go to the Wasatch Citizen Series races, and she’d kick my butt.’ (Fact check: Greg is more than a year older than Wendy.)
“And I remember a WCS race when you went by me,” Sturgis added, “you had to be 10 years old, and you just kind of smirked, and, you know, you said something like, ‘don’t you have an engine under that hood?’ (huge laughter erupts all around the room). I was like, well, okay, Wendy!”
Things have changed here since then. There are many little kids in the programs here. Some doing Nordic combined, a few skiing biathlon, and a lot of pure Nordic, some good skiers. Wagner was pleased to hear that.
“That’s great. Great, yeah, wow!”
Sturgis pointed out the 100-200 kids in the Park City Kickers and Gliders program, and Hanscom added that TUNA and SOHO are nearly as big.
“Wow, my gosh, wow.”
We closed out our visit by letting Wendy know how much the community appreciates her contributions to the ski community, including thanking her for her signed Olympic race bibs.
“Oh, you’re welcome.”
Those bibs will be on display above the ski rack at the White Pine Nordic Center
Later that day, Dave Hanscom found and delivered some back issues of TUNA News to me. In the March 2006 issue, Laura Howat had interviewed Wendy prior to the 2006 Torino Olympic games.
Laura asked Wendy, “what experiences in your life helped create your passion for Nordic skiing?” Wendy answered, “my parents dragging me to all the citizens races as a kid – and beating them! I think this is what gave me that competitive spirit. I can still remember that euphoria, when I first beat my dad on the front nine at Jeremy Ranch. I thought life could not get any better.”
Laura also probed Wendy, asking, “The US Ski Team decided not to support any women’s skiers this season. Can you comment on how this has affected your Olympic build up?
Wendy replied, “my confidence was shaken for sure. Fortunately, my coach, Pete Vordenberg, has given me all the coaching support I could hope for, and the USST sports science staff has stuck with me as well. So, I had the support and direction as to how to succeed, my big problem was how I was going to afford it.”
The problem was this: the USSA had named its 2006 ski team. It was five men. Not a woman on the team. Qualifying women could go to the Olympics, but they needed to find their own support and pay their own way to all qualifying events. Apparently, the USSA had no money for the women. Before the games, the TUNA board put out an article requesting funds, and offered Wendy a “Title IX Grant,” in the amount of $2000. And “we would like to invite all of you in the community to chip in and help Wendy in her quest to the 2006 Olympics.”
The ski community came forward with enough to get Wendy to the Games.
Wendy thanked her supporters in a fall 2006 TUNA News issue, saying, “I count myself very fortunate to have begun skiing as a little kid with the Utah skiing community, and now, at the peak of my career, I am again supported by the Utah skiing community.”
Think about it for a minute and compare this to where women’s Nordic skiing is now, on the verge of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Games. We are serious medal contenders. Then, imagine where we’ll be when the games return to Utah, again, in 2034!
I asked Pete Vordenberg about his experience coaching Wendy. He said, “Wendy faced so many setbacks, and never complained—she was ALL IN no matter what and always showed up with a great attitude.” He continued, “in such a dramatic and great way, the evolution of American skiing, the success we’re having now, is on the shoulders of people like Wendy.”
Coaches often have lasting impacts on their athletes. In our interview, Wendy mentioned Todd Johnson. Todd recalls coaching Wendy, helping her develop her technique. He laughed, and said, “I had all the necessary qualifications at the time, I was 25 years old, I’d done a little racing in the Midwest, and because I was from Minnesota, everyone thought I really knew how to ski!” He went on, proudly, “as a 15-yr old second year J2, Wendy qualified for JN’s in Anchorage and had a top 5 finish.” Todd was very grateful for Dave and Deb Wagner, saying “they really embraced me, and took me in.”
In their post-competition years, elite athletes in Nordic skiing usually go on to embrace the outdoors. In the book “Trail to Gold”, written by 53 US Olympic Women Cross Country Skiers, 1972–2018, Wendy said, “I’m a recovering endurance athlete, which means I own 1.5 dirt bikes, a mountain snowmobile, and a Ram 3500 Cummins flatbed truck. However, due to being a lifelong outdoor lover, along with the motors come countless types of skis, running shoes, and mountain bikes. My family and I spend as much time playing outside as possible.”
Replying to Wendy’s husband Jon’s post on Caring Bridge, Kikkan Randall said, “The Wags energy and zest for life will live on in all of us! Sending so much love to all of Wendy’s amazing friends and family.”
Another one of Wendy’s Alaska friends, Ronald Polk said: “What a life and a way to live it! A few of us skied at the pass today, and the epic dump of 24″+ of powder was referred to as “Wendy’s Storm”. At her birthday party (on Halloween, in Anchorage), she mentioned sending some snow our way when she left this world. It was a storm above expectations. Wendy will be thought of often this winter.”
