‘It Was a Rough One’: Flathead Valley Ski Areas Wrap Up Weak Winter With a Bang

Last year on Christmas Eve, when chairlifts started spinning at Blacktail Mountain to launch the 2025-2026 season, a recent storm had dropped just enough snow to open the upside-down ski area outside of Lakeside, where the parking lot is located at the 6,780-foot summit. Staff were only able to operate the top half of the 1,000-acre ski hill due to thin coverage on the lower mountain, but they were open for business.

Despite an atmospheric river that brought record-breaking precipitation in December, that moisture fell in the form of rain at all but the highest elevations. By the first week of 2026, the faucet shut off for the remainder of the month.

In between the rain, windstorms and dry spells that defined the winter, the summit snow depth at Blacktail reached roughly 30 inches in early January, where it hovered throughout much of the season while rain and windstorms forced sporadic closures at the ski area.

Amid a tumultuous season, Blacktail Mountain Ski Area General Manager Jessi Wood this week announced the closing day would be on Saturday, March 28. Chairlifts will not spin in the days leading up to the finale to preserve the snow as warm temperatures and rain continue to degrade the snowpack.

“There were a lot of challenges this year,” Wood said. “It was a great year to be an upside-down mountain, and we could ski the top half.”

Wood said the mountain’s lower half was open only one full weekend all winter, when a mid-March storm allowed staff to run the entire ski area from top to bottom.

“We had this huge powder weekend, and it turned around and rained on us,” Wood said. “We’ve had every kind of condition, but we’ve been really fortunate that our mountain operations have done a great job in keeping the snow we have … It was a rough one. We are looking forward to celebrating the season.”

While the second annual TeleFestivus, an event that celebrates telemark skiing with free demos and live music by Billy Billie, was already on the books for Saturday, March 28, the Blacktail team decided to end the season on a high note. As part of closing day tradition, the annual Mama Mingo Day will also take place, which entails beach vibes and a flamingo scavenger hunt.

Fifty miles to the north, Whitefish Mountain Resort (WMR) operations plan to go on as scheduled, with closing set for April 5, according to spokesperson Chad Sokol.

Despite the melting snowpack and thin coverage at the base area, Big Mountain boasts an 88-inch base at the summit as of March 25, dropping from its most recent peak of 98 inches on March 15.

“This warm and wet weather could require us to close some terrain before the season ends, but we still have a deep base of natural snowpack at higher elevations and plenty of our slopes are in decent shape,” Sokol said in an email.

WMR still plans to host end-of-season events including the Corn Cup Slopestyle and the Spring Brewfest on Saturday, March 28, along with the Lady Power Park Hour on Sunday, March 29. The annual Pond Skim, too, remains on the schedule, but Sokol said the event might relocate if thin coverage exists at its usual spot at the bottom of Chair 1.

Even as the south-facing front side of Big Mountain continues to melt and pose challenges for operations, WMR’s snowpack fared better than most of Montana’s ski areas this winter.

For example, Bridger Bowl outside of Bozeman held its closing day on March 22, citing the bare lower mountain and a “grim” forecast.

“It’s left us unsure if we’re going to make it to next weekend, let alone into April,” Bridger Bowl General Manager Hiram Towle said in an Instagram announcement last weekend while standing in a puddle at the base area. “We decided the best way for us is to finish strong is to close this Sunday in celebration of what was an odd, but fun season.”

In the northwest corner of the state outside of Libby, Turner Mountain Ski Area operated only a few weekends in January and February, with its snow depth topping out at 40 inches. By March 2, officials announced on social media the season was over.

On the east side of the Continental Divide, Teton Pass Ski Area is having an above-average year and, as of March 22, had a settled base of 77 inches. The nearby 6,430-foot Mount Lockhart SNOTEL station reports a snow water equivalent (SWE) level of 112% of normal.

In northwest Montana, a cold front accompanied with gusty winds and mountain snow is forecast through Thursday before temperatures rise again on Friday. From March 31 through April 4, below-average temperatures and above-average precipitation are forecast across most of the state, according to the National Weather Service.

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