Mountain gets costly makeover Resort readies improved base area

The Daily Inter Lake

Whitefish Mountain Resort on Big Mountain is ready to kick off its 60th ski season on Dec. 8 with more than $18.2 million in improvements and a new name.

The resort has historically opened on Thanksgiving Day, but resort operator Winter Sports Inc. this year will push the opener into December "because the first two weeks traditionally are a huge money loser," spokesman Donnie Clapp said.

Snowfall in late November also has been scant in recent years.

Earlier this summer Winter Sports Inc. announced it was changing the name of the resort from Big Mountain to Whitefish Mountain Resort. The change is intended to identify the resort more closely with the city of Whitefish and acknowledge how skiers from other regions relate to Big Mountain.

A $7.5 million chairlift expansion of two new high speed quads is continuing at the resort, with load-testing to begin Oct. 1 for Chair 1, which has been fully replaced and is now called Big Mountain Express.

The original Chair 1 was a fixed-grip double chair constructed in 1960 and was replaced in 1989 by the current high-speed quad, previously called the Glacier Chaser. Mark Haselby, site manager for Salt Lake City-based Doppelmayr CTEC, worked on the high speed installation 18 years ago and is overseeing the two huge projects this summer.

Chair 2, now called Swift Creek Express, previously was a fixed-grip double chair. It is being extended, re-aligned and replaced with a high-speed quad.

"We're on track to load-test Chair 2 at Thanksgiving," Clapp said.

Both lifts will be ready for the 2007-08 ski and snowboard season.

Longtime Winter Sports board member Mike Jenson, a Whitefish native and lifelong skier, said the resort's infrastructure was in need of repair.

"We are fortunate to have a new group of investors like Bill Foley (the resort's biggest shareholder) who live in the area, ski the mountain and were willing and able to make this large commitment to a quality ski experience," Jenson said in a news release. "The new investors in the mountain made this multimillion dollar lift upgrade possible."

Progress to date on Chair 1 includes the replacement of lift-tower assemblies and tower extensions using a helicopter and the rebuild of the bottom terminal. The top terminal is 40 percent complete with the new bull wheel and electric motor in place. Grade work is nearing completion and new communication lines are being strung this week. New lift cable will be strung in mid-September and then new chairs will be added to the line for final load testing.

Last week 50 cubic yards of lift-tower concrete for Chair 2 were flown via Kaman K-max helicopter in 65 trips over 3.5 hours for towers 6 through 16. This week, towers 1 through 5 will be poured using trucks. New lift towers will be flown into place during October. The top terminal has been excavated and poured and dirt work is beginning on the lower terminal.

In addition to chair-lift upgrades, snow groomers also have been replaced at a cost of more than $240,000. The resort is tripling its snowmaking capacities for the Fishbowl Terrain Park and Superpipe.

THE CENTERPIECE of the upgrades is The Base Lodge, a recently completed $10.7 million, 35,000-square-foot lodge. It sits at the base of Chair 6, The Big Easy magic carpet and a new beginner lift called The Easy Rider. The top floor of the building houses a new restaurant, a full-service bar and a massive fireplace and lounge area. The middle floor includes a large day-care facility, a new retail and equipment rental area and the ticket and information desk. The first floor offers custom-built guest lockers, restrooms and a large capacity catering kitchen.

Specifics of the food and beverage upgrades around the mountain, including the style and name of the new restaurant in The Base Lodge, will be announced later, Winter Sports President Dan Graves said.

Next to The Base Lodge sits the new professional services building that houses the ski and snowboard school, a modern Ski Patrol headquarters and a state-of-the-art clinic run by North Valley Hospital. The expanded clinic will be open to walk-ins and wellness visits for those living in the mountain village.

"The average family's day on the mountain will be much simpler this season," Graves said. "They'll drive up the new Big Mountain Road, park near The Base Lodge, get their tickets and sign up for a lesson at the information center, rent their equipment at the rental shop, meet their instructors for their lessons on the new chair lift and then grab a bite to eat at the restaurant, all within the same area."

Guests in beginner skiing and snowboarding lessons will use the new Easy Rider lift this season, which loads right outside the door of the ski and snowboard school. This change will mean that riders in the expanded Fishbowl Terrain Park, in the Chair 3 area, will not have to compete for space with guests who are learning how to ski.

In addition to reorganizing locations for guest services, the resort is shortening Chair 6 and a new access trail is being built between Ed's Run and the Chalet to reduce skier congestion in the areas around the Chalet.

RECONSTRUCTION work on the upper segment of Big Mountain Road is nearing completion.

General contractor M.A. Deatley of Clarkston, Wash., is on track to have the realigned route - from Ptarmigan Village to Elk Highlands - paved by mid-November. The $9.7 million rebuild is being paid for with federal funding channeled into the state's secondary-road fund.

The current road surface is about 20 feet with 10-foot travel lanes, but it's being widened to

12-foot travel lanes and 8-foot shoulders. A couple of years ago the state opted to focus on the top portion of the road because no guarantee existed that officials would be able to negotiate right-of-way settlements on the road for a reasonable amount of money. The state must pay property owners fair market value for the land needed to widen the road.

All of the changes should make for a memorable 60th anniversary, officials said. Big Mountain first opened for skiing on Dec. 14, 1947. Lift tickets were $2 and 6,900 skiers enjoyed the mountain that first winter.

In honor of the resort's 60th anniversary, the traditional early-season pass sale has been extended until Sept. 30. Prior to the end of September, skiers and snowboarders can purchase an adult season pass for $499 (ages 19-64), a senior or college season pass for $399 (ages 65-79 or with full-time college ID), a junior season pass for $249 (ages 13-18), or a child season pass for $129 (ages 7-12).