Big Mountain summer season kicks off June 16

Rain, shine or snow, Whitefish Mountain Resort will start their summer season this Saturday, June 16, with scenic lift rides to the summit, mountain biking, the alpine slide, Walk in the Treetops, a summit nature center and zipline tours.

Building on their current offerings, the resort plans to add another zipline, build an aerial adventure park and offer a kid’s climbing area.

“Before, you could do all the attractions all in one day,” resort spokesperson Riley Polumbus said. “Now, you might need a few days.”

The new zipline, called Inspiration, is currently under construction. The 1,900-foot long, 200-foot high zipline will run from the top of the Badrock chairlift to the base of the Inspiration ski run. Crews have poured concrete for the landing pads, but poor weather has slowed further progress. In the meantime, the current six-zipline and four-zipline tours will be offered at a discounted rate.

A new aerial adventure park is expected open by the beginning of August. Suspended in the trees near the Chipmunk ski run, customers wearing harnesses will walk across ladders, rope bridges and other obstacles on self-guided tours on five different courses.

“It’s like a big playground, only it’s in the air,” Polumbus said. “Imagine being like Tarzan swinging from vine to vine.”

Aerial parks are popular in Europe and have only recently popped up in the U.S. Crews will begin construction of the aerial park next week.

For the kids, the resort is installing Spider Monkey Mountain, a two-story tall tower of nets and webbing kids can safely climb up and descend via an inflatable slide.

“Younger kids could do this by themselves,” Polumbus said. “They can do it again and again and again and again. They will burn off a lot of energy.”