Though echoes of the banging and clanging from summer construction didn’t carry down into the valley from the summit of Whitefish Mountain Resort, swarms of men and women ascended the 6,817-foot ski area during recent months to make some major changes. Resort management put $1.5 million towards changes to improve their aesthetics, guest services ability, and skiing experience.
The Summit House, the only mountaintop restaurant in the state, got a complete facelift. The lodge’s old, retro facade has been replaced with new corrugated metal siding and stonework. Other lift maintenance and operation buildings on the summit also have a new look to match.
Inside the Summit House, crews erected a new 1,600-square-foot mezzanine. The new level houses approximately 135 seats, which increases the lodge’s seating capacity by about a third. The mezz’s windows peer out to the northwest, looking over the Whitefish Range and providing skiers with a complete 360 degrees of panoramic views from the lodge.
“The Summit House remodel is an exciting enhancement to our guest experience at the summit, adding seating, comfort, and a great look to our popular mountaintop lodge,” said Riley Polumbus, public relations manager at the resort. “We are looking forward to offering our guests more room to spend quality time with each other while on a ski break.”
Also new indoors are trim and lighting features that up the building’s rustic style. On the ground level, bathrooms were installed near the main entry, which was also expanded in order to decrease heavy congestion by the doors and water fountain.
The Ski Patrol Headquarters saw the biggest revamp of construction season. In place of the patrol cabin sits a shiny new building that, at 800-square-feet, is four times the size of the old space. The additional room will make it easier to dispatch patrollers directly to an incident from the summit – the formerly cramped headquarters forced patrollers to rest and gather by the Base Area, at least a chairlift ride away from an injured skier. With plumbing, patrollers will now be able to treat minor injuries on site, without having to transport the patient to the clinic at the Base Area.
“This is a real game changer,” Polumbus said. “The new building provides more workspace and break space for our patrollers which will allow them to better serve the needs of our guests.”
Near the base of the mountain, crews moved earth to create more beginner terrain, which Polumbus expects will clear up the busier areas and make it easier to teach both adults and kids how to ski.
In the Upper Village, Village Rentals will now sell hard goods like skis, snowboards, boots, and bindings while Snow Ghost, which shifted to a new centrally located space, will focus on retailing soft goods and gifts. The resort also added new Wi-Fi access at the Base Lodge and Upper Village as well as up on the Summit House.
Perhaps the most exciting of the changes for the 2015-2016 ski season is a new coffee shop, built right across the Bierstube by the free S.N.O.W. bus stop. Enjoy your morning java in the mountain air starting Dec. 5, Whitefish Mountain Resort’s projected opening date.