Pilgrimage to Montana mountains
Head south, skiers and snowboarders, to celebrate 70 years at Whitefish Mountain Resort
A lot has changed at Whitefish Mountain Resort in the 70 years since it opened to skiers.
Even since the end of last season, the Montana resort has switched things up and moved one of its chairlifts to a new area, providing access to a whole lot of terrain. But some things stay the same. In particular, there’s the inevitable reality that winter storms will roll in and pound Whitefish with snowfall after snowfall.
“December is typically one of our snowiest months,” said Christina “Riley” Polumbus, public relations manager at Whitefish. “Sometimes, we get lucky and it opens with a ton of snow."
The snowfall leading up to Christmas was staggering, and it set up Whitefish for a spectacular holiday season.
January looks just as good. Access to the hill’s terrain was made a whole lot easier in the offseason when Whitefish moved Chair 5 from the Ptarmigan Bowl to the East Rim.
It was an important relocation for a number of reasons. The move means skiers and snowboarders have better access to the intermediate and advanced terrain in the area and will also reduce the number of guests relying on Chair 1.
“So far, everybody seems really happy with it,” Polumbus said. “It’s intermediate (terrain) and above. It’s definitely blues and blacks and a couple double-blacks, but it gives people another option.
“It gives people another way to spread out, because you have a lift that’s in a good spot and that tends to keep people over there for a bit.
“It’s good for the experience, and it’s certainly good for safety. We’re excited.”
Moving Chair 5 is only the latest infrastructure upgrade Whitefish has undertaken in recent years, as the mountain resort renovated Summit House and added the Flower Point chairlift three years ago.
But this season, the ski hot-spot is also taking a little time to celebrate its history and reflect on how far Whitefish has come since it first welcomed guests in 1947.
The resort unveiled a plaque at the bottom of Chair 1 to honour its founders and it’ll be celebrating hard on the weekend of Jan. 19-21.
Whitefish is calling the weekend Hellroaring Ski Heritage Days, and there will be everything from story swaps to reminiscing about the good old days, a ski-a-thon and a Retro Ski Day on Jan. 20, during which guests will be encouraged to pay tribute to all the many eras of ski-wear and equipment that have played out over the last 70 years.
“Since we represent going all the way back to the late-1940s, you can kind of date yourself with your gear and equipment,” Polumbus said. “But have some fun, as well.”