Blacktail skiing starts on Saturday

Blacktail Mountain Ski Area above Lakeside will open for the season on Saturday, Dec. 10.

All lifts will be running on opening day, according to a news release from Blacktail. The ski area had a 32-inch base of snow as of Monday. 

Lifts will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The ski area will be open Saturday and Sunday, closed early next week and then open every day of the holiday season, Dec. 15 through Jan. 2.

For more information, visit www.blacktailmountain.com or call 844-0999.

To the north, Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort still is waiting for more snow before the ski area can open.

According to the resort’s online snow report Monday:

‘We do have snow, and yes the top looks very pretty, however we do not have enough snow for a skiable base. We are watching the weather very closely and fully intend to open the mountain as soon as it is possible.”

The website entry added: “We feel like we're one good snowstorm away from having a solid enough base depth at the bottom of chair 7 to open that area of the mountain.”

The top of Big Mountain has 24 inches of snow. The snow report lists 4 inches of snow in the village area. Whitefish Mountain Resort had to postpone its planned Dec. 3 opening day.

For more information, visit http://skiwhitefish.com.

The National Weather Service forecast calls for light snow over the two Flathead ski areas on Wednesday and Wednesday night, with the rest of the week expected to be dry.

The Weather Service predicts little or no new snow accumulation from the midweek storm.