Worker has done 'a little bit of everything'

Dave White, 64, is a behind-the-scenes kind of guy who has helped keep Whitefish Mountain Resort and Big Mountain in tip-top shape in a variety of departments — from pyrotechnics to developing mountain biking trails — since 1976.

“I was looking for winter work. It was the beginning of the 1976 ski season. I was married at the time with a child on the way,” White said. “I’ve been working here ever since full-time year-round.”

Skiing since he was a teenager, White has never lived far from the base of a mountain.

White started out as a lift and mechanic operator on Big Mountain when there were, he recalled, just three chair lifts, a T-bar lift and rope tow.

“We had the whole front side that essentially is the same,” White said.

And while technology has improved, the name of the resort has changed and runs have expanded, “The mountain is still the mountain and I can still ski the same runs that I did in the ’70s that I do right now,” White said.

From food and beverage, transportation, lodging and property management to his current role in facilities and maintenance — “I was doing a little bit of everything,” White said.

In the ’70s, White got into fireworks as part of a maintenance crew responsible for putting on the Fourth of July fireworks display on Whitefish Lake. In 1977 he took training to become a pyrotechnician and eventually took over the role of organizing the Fourth of July show.

“I shot Whitefish Lake for probably 30 years. I retired from shooting it about seven, eight years ago,” White said, although he continues to set off Whitefish Mountain Resort’s New Year’s Eve and Presidents Day weekend fireworks displays.

One of the largest fireworks displays he put on at the mountain was at the turn of the millennium.

“The millennium show I did up here was one of the nicest ones we had to work with. I probably shot 600, 700 shells in 10 minutes,” White said.

One of the advantages of working on the mountain is when work is done, it’s time to go skiing.

“It’s one of the perks of having a very good boss and a good crew that the ones that want to get skiing in, can get skiing in — as long as we get our work done,” White said.

Along with skiing, White is a mountain biker. In the 1990s he was tasked with developing mountain biking trails on Big Mountain. He established a Thursday Night Race League that continues today.

“It [mountain biking] was up and coming in the sense that ski resorts and communities were developing cross-country trails and offering that,” White said.

And he left his stamp on the mountain with “Dave’s Dive,” an expert downhill trail developed for racing.

As the seasons change, so does White’s time spent off the mountain.

In February he will gear up for umpiring girls high school softball; he heads a group of officials who are part of the Montana Officials Association.

“I won’t stop umpiring until in the fall,” White said.

White, who was integral to getting the Whitefish Softball Association going, said it’s an opportunity to stay in the game.

“I’ve always been involved with baseball, softball, as a player, as a coach, as an umpire — since I was young,” White said.

In 2009-10 he received an Official of the Year award in softball from the National Federation Officials Association for the state of Montana.

When fall rolls around, White is ready for the football season to begin and moves from the field into the stands.

“We’re [University of] Montana Grizzlies season ticket holders — so our falls are spoken for with Griz football games,” White said smiling.

White lives with his wife, Elaine, in Whitefish and has four grandchildren.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.