Skiers and riders across Northwest Montana have been waxing their skis and boards in anticipation of opening day at Whitefish Mountain Resort, which was slated to open on Dec. 7 with a catalog of new improvements.
As of Dec. 6, when the Beacon went to print, opening day had been rescheduled for Dec. 9 in hopes of making additional gains to the scant snowpack (keep an eye on the online snow report for updates throughout the week). Despite the unseasonably low snow accumulations, however, spirits remained high up at Big Mountain, which was bustling with preparations to unveil a glut of changes engineered to improve the guest experience this winter.
Having sold a record-breaking number of season passes for the sixth year in a row following a season that shattered visitation highs by more than 20%, the ski area continues to make investments aimed at accommodating the growing crowds by improving skier distribution and expanding its services. The perennial investments have included updates and additions to infrastructure, signaling a resistance to the industry-wide trend of corporate consolidation in favor of expanding its offerings locally, both in winter and summer months.
In recent years, those improvements have included multi-million dollar remodels of the Summit House, Bierstube and Ed and Mully’s; expansions of the Base Lodge and Bike Park; and the addition of the Flower Point Chair and subsequent relocation of Chair 5, now called East Rim Chair.
This winter, skiers and riders will sample the fruits of a multi-year, $2 million project to reconfigure the Hellroaring Basin chairlift, which is set to begin operations in the coming weeks after helicopter crews spent the summer ferrying lift towers to their new locations. The new configuration eliminates the long, often sparsely covered runout at the end of Hell Fire by moving the lower lift terminal of Chair 8 up to Grand Junction, while the upper terminal will deposit skiers near the intersection of Toni Matt and Big Ravine.
According to Chad Sokol, public relations manager at WMR, the improvements to Chair 8 not only allow Big Mountain to open Hellroaring Basin earlier in the season, but it gives skiers more options for accessing its powder-choked runs. For example, the upper reaches of the old lift didn’t feature any clear trails back into the basin, and most skiers and riders were steered back onto the front side of the mountain.
Under the new configuration, according to Sokol, “you can still hop onto the front side if you so choose, but now you’ll have the option of turning back into the basin on two of our newest runs” — Wing and a Prayer (rated double black diamond) and Short but Sweet (rated blue square).
“We think this new configuration will improve overall mountain traffic flow,” according to Sokol. “And it will enable us to open the Hellroaring Basin earlier in the season; we won’t have to wait for decent snow accumulations at the lower elevation where the bottom terminal used to be.”
A trip on the new Chair 8 lasts about seven minutes and covers 1,082 vertical feet, Sokol said, and although initial plans called for a Dec. 11 opening date, that will likely be delayed, he said.
The Hellroaring Basin Improvement Project also included a timber-clearing project for existing runs like Glory Hole and Connie’s Coulee, and added five new runs, including Chet’s Stache and Rad Jack. Those runs are named after local legends Chester “Chet” Powell, who worked on Big Mountain for more than four decades, retiring in 2019 as director of mountain operations (and who is easily recognizable beneath his goggles by his signature salt-and-pepper pushbroom mustache) and the late Jack Marcial, an early pioneer of telemark skiing in the valley, who raised his family on the slopes of Big Mountain.
Even as the additions and improvements to the chair lifts and ski trails have improved skier dispersal on the slopes, parking has become a crunch for visitors to Big Mountain. To that end, Sokol said WMR has added approximately 180 more spaces in the Aspen and Willow Tail parking lots near the Base Lodge. Still, Sokol encouraged visitors to carpool or use the free S.N.O.W. Bus shuttle that offers free trips to and from the resort and downtown Whitefish.
Another visible change this year will be the return of a singles line, which was eliminated last season due to COVID-19 concerns, leading to longer wait times. Bars and restaurants also ran at reduced capacities, and required hosted seating. Not so this year, as WMR tailors its operations in accordance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although unvaccinated guests are encouraged to wear masks or face coverings in crowded settings where social distancing can’t be maintained, they won’t be mandatory this year.
As always, the best source for up-to-date information on the snow conditions and operations on Big Mountain is the daily snow report at skiwhitefish.com.
Learn more about what’s new at Whitefish Mountain Resort this season here.