Resort sets record for skier visits

A blast of sideways snow with a touch of sun. Powder up top and corn snow down low. It’s only fitting that the season’s final weekend of skiing at Whitefish Mountain Resort was defined by a mixed bag of conditions.

The resort wrapped up its 2012-13 winter season Sunday with a settled base of 96 inches at the summit after receiving 257 inches of natural snow. Typically, Big Mountain sees about 300 inches a season.

The winter began with powder skiing on opening day and the slopes were 100 percent open by Christmas. January was suspiciously dry, but February was deep. March and April were all about goggle tans and sun on the Bierstube deck.

Ski patroller Kyle Fedderly says the variable conditions averaged out to be a “phenomenal season.”

“There were no bad days,” he said prior to taking part in the annual pond skim contest on Saturday. “We didn’t have many deep days, but there were lots of soft days. It was just consistently good.”

Skier Kim Givler, dressed as Kim Kirsplashian at the pond skim contest, called it a great year, fondly recalling the number of sunny days she spent on the slopes.

Kevin Smith traveled from Superior about a dozen times this season to ride Big Mountain.

“Overall, it was a pretty good season,” he said. “The snow was awesome up top all year.”

While snowfall numbers were just a touch off the pace, the slopes were busier than ever.

The resort set a new record for total skier visits, up 11 percent over last season. Total skier visits accounts for everyone on the mountain, including season pass holders, single lift tickets and employees.

“It’s basically the number of bodies on the mountain,” resort spokeswoman Riley Polumbus explained.

A new record for single-day paid visitors was set Dec. 29 when 4,252 people were on the mountain. The record was broken the next day with 4,750 single-day paid visitors. In fact, Dec. 30 turned out to be the busiest day ever on Big Mountain with a total of 7,165 visitors. The previous record was set in 2007.

The resort on average sees about 127,000 paid skier visits per season. That number has yet to be tallied for this winter.

In more good news, lodging totals were up 11 percent over last season, as well.

Polumbus said it’s tough to pinpoint one reason why the slopes were so busy.

“Last year we had a good year and got some attention,” she said. “The high ranking in SKI magazine might have helped, and just word of mouth. It’s spreading about who we are and people are interested in coming here.”

Another all-time record hit the books this season when Tony Cooper became the new “vertical king” of the mountain. The Whitefish skier racked up 5,612,746 vertical feet of skiing, edging the previous record of 5.3 million set by Chris “Chappy” Chapman.

Every time season pass holders board a lift, their pass is scanned and the vertical feet gained is recorded. Chair 1 amounts to 2,084 vertical feet. Cooper’s record equals about 2,690 laps up and down the mountain, or about 22 laps a day in a typical season.

Whitefish Mountain Resort opens for the summer season June 16, weather permitting.