Season of big snows winds down
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake Spectators watch as Shannon McAlister, dressed as Freddy Krueger, launches off the jump Saturday afternoon during the 7th Annual Pond Skim at Whitefish Mountain Resort. Saturday, April, 7, 2012 in Kalispell, Montana.</p>
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake Josh Carpenter dressed as the Big Mountain Jesus Statue for the 7th Annual Pond Skim at Whitefish Mountain Resort. Saturday, April, 7, 2012 in Kalispell, Montana.</p>
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake Jeff Severn braces for impact after losing control during the 7th Annual Pond Skim at Whitefish Mountain Resort. Saturday, April, 7, 2012 in Kalispell, Montana.</p>
As recreational attention turns to warm-weather pursuits, the ski season came to an end Sunday at Whitefish Mountain Resort while the final day of skiing will be Saturday at Blacktail Mountain Ski Area.
The 2011-12 season was marked by big snows at both Flathead Valley ski areas.
Winter started out slowly on the Big Mountain, with a lack of snow forcing Whitefish Mountain Resort to open a week later than planned, but there was a recovery in snow as well as business.
“Things went pretty well despite a slow start so we’re pretty happy about that,” said Riley Polumbus, the resort’s public relations director. “Luckily, we had an award-winning grooming team that was working with us to get things rolling [with snowmaking] but then we started to get some snow.”
Lots of snow fell on Big Mountain — 7 feet in January, 6 feet in February and 6 feet in March.
The resort got 20 inches of snow over a 24-hour period on Feb. 26, the biggest snow day on the mountain since 1996, Polumbus said.
“That was the biggest season pass holder day of the year,” she added.
The resort sold more season passes for the winter than ever before, and there was “above average” paid skier visits for the season, she said.
The final weekend on the mountain included Saturday’s annual Pond Skim, which attracted a crowd of about 2,000 people, Polumbus estimated.
“It’s our biggest spectator event of the year, for sure,” she said.
On Blacktail Mountain, it was a record year in terms of skier visits, general manager Steve Spencer said.
“We had a really good year. We had more snow early in the year when other places in the region didn’t,” said Spencer, recalling how the Lakeside ski area got 35 inches of snow over a 24-hour period in mid-November.
The ski area is celebrating its 14th anniversary with a final day of skiing, along with a party and prizes, on Saturday, April 14.
Blacktail still has plenty of snow — a settled base of 128 inches — but people often don’t realize it, Spencer said, as they focus on spring pursuits.
“It’s just a lack of interest,” he said. “Once it gets nice in the valley, people are riding motorcycles and doing other stuff. It pains me to close when there’s tons of snow up there.”
The Natural Resources Conservation Service said March was a snowy month across the state, adding to mountain snowpack for the third month in a row.
“Storm patterns over the last month have favored the western and northern parts of the state with the Kootenai, Lower Clark Fork and Flathead River basins seeing substantial increases in snow water,” said Brian Domonkos, water supply specialist for the conservation service.
Snowpack above the Flathead Basin now is at 106 percent of average, while snowpack above the Kootenai River Basin is at 127 percent of average.
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.