It’s taken a little longer than Whitefish Mountain Resort officials were hoping, but a crucial chairlift damaged earlier this summer is on track to get fixed before the snow flies.
Even with economic and environmental factors working against it – Amtrak service disrupted due to floods, Going-to-the-Sun Road remaining closed well into summer and a disabled chairlift to the summit of Big Mountain – resort and tourism representatives in Whitefish said the summer season could have been worse and their hopes remain high for winter.
In June, saturated soil around tower six on Chair One slumped and knocked the tower out of alignment. Upon inspection, the resort shut the lift down. The resort hoped it would be able to open the lift before the summer was out, but repairs have taken longer than expected. Resort spokesperson Riley Polumbus said a permanent fix will be worth the wait.
“If the ground moves again, it will move around the foundation,” she said.
Unlike most towers, which are built on a simple concert foundation, tower six will be reinforced with steel rods, grout and casing sunk deep beneath the surface. Above this base will be a large concrete foundation supporting the tower. Polumbus said the fix was necessary because of the steep terrain on which the tower is located. She was uncertain of when the work would be completed.
“We’ve got quite a few things to do, but we’ll have it open this fall and well before ski season,” she said.
Even with the chair out of service this year, restricting easy access to the summit and the resort’s popular downhill mountain biking trails, Polumbus said business was solid.
And the winter looks promising.
“We seem to be bucking the trend here,” Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau Director Jan Metzmaker said. “We’re hoping for a lot of snow and we’re hearing rumblings of a La Niña season.”
Metzmaker said the bureau is working hard to promote the ski season and is focusing advertising dollars on Seattle, Portland and Minneapolis, all stops on Amtrak’s Empire Builder line, which runs through Whitefish. Metzmaker said a partnership with Amtrak last year resulted in $200,000 in ticket sales to Whitefish, an increase of $70,000 from the year before. She also said Canada is a prime target for advertising, to promote the exchange rate favoring visitors from the north.
“When you’ve got good snow and a good exchange rate, we’re bound to have a good season,” she said.