Big Mountain Nordic track nixed this year

Good news for everyone else — La Nina is back

By RICHARD HANNERS / Whitefish Pilot

Whitefish Mountain Resort will not offer Nordic skiing this winter. The Nordic center has been put on hold, resort spokesman Donnie Clapp said.

"The reason is the same as the reason for discontinuing the super pipe," he said. "We want to stop making promises we can't keep."

The resort announced in August that it will no longer offer a regulation superpipe this winter season and will focus instead on other features in the Fishbowl Terrain Park.

Clapp gave two reasons for the Nordic track closure.

"Our grooming machines can't fit through the underpasses that were built on Glades Drive, which means that after heavy snowfall, it's very hard and time-consuming for us to move snow around out there," he said. "(Secondly), the trails were not designed as Nordic trails, but converted from roads, so they're particularly hilly and quite difficult."

Clapp said that puts the resort in a situation where it can't consistently deliver what it promises.

"Of course, avid Nordic skiers would rather have a trail system that's available sometimes than not at all, but there's a large portion of people who are very disappointed when we can't get those trails in shape as they're ready to ski them, due to snowfall or other conditions," he said. "It's a tough call, but we felt like last year we created a lot of disappointed customers for ourselves."

Clapp said if the resort can't be confident it will be able to do something well, it's not going to do it.

"That being said, the situation with the Nordic trail system is a little different than the situation with the superpipe, because long-term, we'd still like to have a Nordic offering," he said. "What we'd like to do at some point in the future is design a Nordic offering that mirrors our alpine offering — something for skiers of all ability levels, well maintained and consistent in its quality. We're not sure how we'll get there yet, but that is the desire."

One problem common to both the Nordic center and the superpipe is snow. Both are located low on the mountain, and the resort doesn't have the ability of other resorts to produce man-made snow, Winter Sports Inc. president Dan Graves said in August when the resort announced there would be no superpipe this season.

But who needs man-made snow if the resort sees another huge snow season? There's good news for skiers and snowboarders coming from long-range forecasters, and the buzz words are La Nina.

A La Nina climate-changing pattern has been reported again in the Eastern Pacific, and long-range weather forecasters are predicting lower-than-normal temperatures and higher-than-normal precipitation for the next six months.

Cold plus precipitation equals snow. Last year's La Nina produced a great skiing and snowboarding season at Whitefish Mountain Resort, with consistently low temperatures preserving powder conditions from opening day practically to closing.

And snow-level records fell as the season progressed. Two feet of powder snow fell during the March 29-30 Corn Cup event at the resort.