Last-minute snow help opening day

Parking lots were packed at Whitefish Mountain Resort as it celebrated 60 years of skiing

By RICHARD HANNERS / Whitefish Pilot

Things were looking grim for Whitefish Mountain Resort’s opening day, but a deluge of wet snow last week followed by Arctic weather saved the day.

Skiers and snowboarders found good snow conditions on Big Mountain on Dec. 8. Blue skies accompanied frigid temperatures, but there was no wind.

The parking lots were filled by mid-morning, but hundreds of people lined up in the new Base Lodge for their season-pass photos. The resort operated four machines and quickly handled the crowd.

Whitefish Mountain Resort had 15 marked runs ready for skiers and boarders on opening day, with machine-groomed and packed-powder conditions. The resort reported 48 inches of snow had fallen so far this season, with 35 inches of that falling within the week prior to opening day. The result was a 39-inch settled base at the summit,

Snowpack at the village was much less. The resort reported a 10-inch base in the village, and skiing was closed across Big Mountain’s southern, sunny exposure.

“I gave up worrying about when the snow will fall long ago,” Winter Sports Inc. president Dan Graves said.

Graves, who’s been at the resort for two years, took over for Fred Jones in July. The resort decided months ago to delay the traditional Thanksgiving Day opening to the second Saturday in December.

Most skiers and boarders tackled the mountain’s north side, where “everything” was reportedly open. The rocky cliff near the bottom of Black Bear was pretty well covered, and tree skiing on both sides of Chair 7 provided good early-season conditions.

The lift lines on both sides of Chair 7’s base terminal grew to about 100 people at times, but the lift crew — including a predominant number of Brazilians — handled the crowds in an organized fashion.

It was cold back there, with temperatures hanging steady in the single-digit range. Skiers and boarders needed thick socks, good mittens or gloves, and some kind of face protection. The situation was quite different on the front side, where the sun provided a degree of warmth.

Skiers and boarders looking for powder found it in places like Moose, Evan’s Heaven, East Rim and the North Bowl Face, where winds earlier in the week dumped enough snow to allow those areas to open early.

The Nose on East Rim was well covered, and a good-sized cornice above Elephants Graveyard indicated just how much snow-loading had taken place. Skiers and snowboarders found fast, hard-snow conditions on Moe-Mentum and Russ’s Street to speed them back to the bottom of Chair 1.

At times, however, skiers and boarders and the occasional hiker skinning up the mountain crowded Russ’s Street, and snow-making equipment operating just above Chair 1’s base terminal became an obstacle for less experienced skiers and boarders.

The Bigfoot T-Bar was also running. Conditions in the glades there included shallow powder on a rock-hard base. Numerous skiers and boarders descended from the T-bar to Chair 7 through the thick trees leading to a place locals call Jumanji — a network of forest trails near Goat Haunt.

At the Fishbowl terrain park, beginner and intermediate jibs and rails, a silo, fun box, two rollers and a 15-foot kicker were ready for stunts. The Superpipe, however, was still under construction. The resort had been making snow at a furious pace until warmer weather hit the Flathead during the week prior to opening day.

Lack of good snow coverage on the resort’s front side meant the terrain park was isolated from the rest of the mountain.

Skiers and boarders had to use Chair 3, at the far end of the village from Chair 1, to reach the park.

Evidence of avalanche-control work in the Hellroaring Basin was evident to riders on Chair 1 as they passed above snowghosts near the summit. Two patches of blackened snow between Sling Shot and Glory Hole marked areas where ski patrol personnel set off explosives. There was a report that Haskill Slide had slid on its own earlier in the week without blasting.

Down by the Base Lodge, the Chipmunk chairlift and the Magic Carpet Run were available for beginner skiers and boarders. The resort deposited a good layer of man-made snow beneath Chair 6 for the bunny run there.

Families and other groups made good use of the new Base Lodge, where Mackenzie River Pizza Company was in full operation. Ed & Mully’s Smokehouse, in the former Moguls location will open Friday, Dec. 14, on the resort’s 60th birthday.

Reduced day-ticket prices will continue to be available through Dec. 16 — $44 adults, $36 youths and seniors and $29 juniors. Children under-6 ski for free.