Local Nordic Racer Adds Cross-Country Skiing to Girdwood Sports Fame

Girdwood teenager Mia Stiassny charges to a 2nd place finish in Lillehammer, Norway last winter. (Photo by Etienne Bordes, a coach from Tahoe endurance that coached the Norway trip)

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

In a small town with rainy winters, with only five kilometers of groomed trail and with few, if any, local races, how unlikely is it that Girdwood is home to a rising national Nordic skiing talent?

Despite the odds, Mia Stiassny, 17, is crushing the field in cross-country skiing—in Anchorage, in Alaska, in the United States, and, recently, even in Europe. 

And that her success began in Girdwood—with Mt. Alyeska looming above and the town's share of medal-winning skiers and snowboarders—is merely a situational happenstance, says Stiassny, who wore a black puffy plastered with sponsors during an interview at a local coffee house. 

"From a Nordic perspective, I think Girdwood is maybe a little bit subpar," Stiassny says. "But for running and for so many other outdoor activities and endurance sports I think Girdwood is way above Anchorage and so many other places. You know what I mean? So, like, there's a balance there."

Making her achievements even more notable is that Stiassny has had to do so much of her training—whether hurtling around the 5K loop, bagging local mountains or clocking miles on "roller skis"—alone.

"There are only like eight other girls in my class all through [school], so, in a way [we're] all really close, but if you want to do something different, like Nordic skiing, you're the only one," she says.

Mia Stiassny, 17, is crushing the field in cross-country skiing—in Anchorage, in Alaska, in the United States, and, recently, even in Europe. (Photo courtesy of Mia Stiassny)

And while other racers at her level enjoy professional coddling from an early age, Stiassny hasn't had the privilege.

To reach her goals, she's had to make the long commute to Anchorage, endure an unrelenting 13-hour school-sports schedule, and learn technique through practice.

"I did that every day for two years, the whole school year and it was extremely difficult," she says. "It was really hard to live in Girdwood and doing [cross-country] skiing."

Stiassny's climb to higher-level competition has, at times, been fraught. After a series of races in which she finished in last place, she "debated quitting" cross-country racing entirely.

"Fast forward [a year later] to the next Junior Nationals, and I got fourth in the nation, which was a crazy rebound effect," Stiassny says.

On skis since the age of one, a cross-country runner, and always a bit competitive, Stiassny ignited the fire of recognition after winning a Nordic "Cookie Race" (so-named because everyone who finishes gets a cookie) when she was in fifth grade and going to Anchorage for a "Junior Nordic" program.

"I ended up winning and that instilled [a sense of]: 'I'm good at this, I really like skiing, this is fun,'" she says. "That was my first race, my launching point."

From that point she was put into the "Hawk" group as the only girl. "That really encouraged me to keep with it," she says.

Stiassny competed in soccer until social restrictions under COVID turned her attention to Nordic ski racing. In seventh grade, she entered Alaska Pacific University's "Devo" program for middle-school age athletes. 

A goal of Devo is for kids to not only learn cross-country skills, but to "create a love of the sport," according to APU's website.

And, though she only went to Anchorage twice a week to participate with about 30 other athletes, Stiassny credits the program with boosting her interest in Nordic racing.

The program nourished Stiassny as a young athlete after she had tried a variety of sports, she says. She avoided "specializing young" and thinks young people should enjoy "a cool opportunity to learn many different sports and figure out what [they] like."

"t's kind of a new thing where coaches are really taking young sports super competitively, and they're kind of forcing kids to choose and specialize at a young age," she says. "I think I would be even better at skiing or running or whatever if I had I did a lot of sports when I was young."

"If you just focus on one thing your whole childhood you're gonna get super burnt out by the time you're in high school," she says.

Stiassny hails from a family of athletes. Her parents operate a back-country ski guiding business and her brothers, Col and Taz, are advanced free and backcountry skiers. From an early age, she accompanied her mother, Melanee—herself an accomplished marathon runner—on long trail runs in local mountains.

Mia Stiassny is currently the youngest skier on APU's elite team. She's trained in high-altitude camps and has been to the Eagle Glacier training facility run by APU for two camps. (Photo courtesy of Mia Stiassny)

"The summer before last all I did was run around Girdwood, all the mountains around us. It's so easy to access and I can just run from my house. That is exactly why I had such a good season last winter," she says.

"So if my parents don't want to drive me, I can just go from my house, and that's kind of always been the case. Like, I've been running alone in Girdwood since I was, like, probably in sixth grade, you know what I mean?"

During her first two years in high school, Stiassny had a grueling schedule—up at 5:30 for the bus, school, cross-country running and, later, skiing practice, home at 7 p.m., then homework. 

"Those two years were extremely difficult and made it hard to live in Girdwood and continue skiing," she says.

As a ninth-grader, Stiassny was South Anchorage High School's fastest skier and placed 10th in the state meet. 

Then in a series of Junior National races in Fairbanks, she finished "dead last". 

She fought back, however. 

The following summer, with guidance from APU coaches, she increased and honed her training. 

As a sophomore, she won a silver at the state high school meet and came in fourth place in the under-16 division at Junior National races in Lake Placid, N.Y., her first race outside of Alaska.

"Things just aligned for me that day. I feel racing is a lot of skill, but also a little bit of just luck that everything worked out for you," she says.

Now she was training five days a week, gaining sponsors, and earning acceptance to camps and higher-level competitions.

In the fall of 2024, she joined elite Nordic skiers at a one-week training camp in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

"I remember we were all sitting there in the little auditorium and [the head coach] is like [Olympians] Jessie Diggins and Gus Schumacher were like sitting in your exact seats. Like, all these World Cup skiers, maybe not all, but the majority of World Cup skiers went to U-16 Camp. ...And [they said] how people in this room will make the World Cup and be on the ski team. So that was really inspiring."

She would be undefeated in a series of "Besh Cup" races in the under-18 age division and qualified to race in a "Scando" trip. She traveled to Norway where, donning a USA-decorated uniform, she placed second among 100 Norwegian competitors. Norwegians, along with Swedes and Finns, are considered the best cross-country skiers in the world. 

"And so going there was like going to a Nordic skiing paradise," she says. "Going into it, I didn't have expectations. I was just so excited to go and experience what it was all about and then I had a surprisingly... I mean, I had a really good race."

As a junior, Stiassny attends "middle college," a partnership program between the University of Alaska Anchorage and the Anchorage School District that offers teens more flexibility while receiving academic credit. 

This summer, she's trained harder than ever. In cross-country running, Stiassny won regions and took fourth in state. 

Stiassny is currently the youngest skier on APU's elite team. She's trained in high-altitude camps and has been to the Eagle Glacier training facility run by APU for two camps. 

"It really helped my skiing," she says. "Your whole week is just focusing on skiing, and you ski twice a day, and we ski like 20-plus hours in six days. And so your whole life is just skiing and eating and sleeping and then skiing and then eating and sleeping, and you just do that, like, for a whole week." 

A few weekends ago, she placed tenth in a time trial pitting three Alaska colleges on a trail with which she is intimately familiar. She's circled the 5k loop as many as six times.

"You don't really get bored of the loop when you're doing intervals [a type of speed training]... At least I don't. But if I'm doing, like, a three-hour ski or something, I probably wouldn't choose Girdwood just because that's a lot of, like, circles, you know?" 

Considering races are rife with variables, she says, "It all comes down to one week, and I could be sick. Right? Or injured. Or I could miss my flight or something. A lot could happen. My skis could be bad or I could break a pole or there's like a hundred different, bad scenarios."

"So. You just control what you can control and I'm going to do everything that I can control in the next month."

This winter, Stiassny will compete in Junior Nationals and hopes to qualify for, and compete in, World Junior races in Lillehammer, Norway. An under-20 race, she has three years to qualify.

"And if I don't make it, then I'll train hard and hopefully make it next year," she says. "And if I don't make it again, then third times a charm."