Stoke is high heading into ski resort’s 77th season

Thanks to an onslaught of Pacific storms, the upper reaches of Big Mountain are already buried in nearly 4 feet of snow.

It’s been a decade since the slopes at Whitefish Mountain Resort were in this good of shape heading into opening day. 

“The last time we clocked that much snow in the preseason was ahead of the 2013-14 season,” resort spokesperson Chad Sokol said. “We’re due for a good snow year.” 

While it’s too soon to know exactly how many trails will be ready for the Thursday, Dec. 5 opener — the resort’s 77th season — there’s already enough snow to open terrain on the front and backsides of the mountain. Sokol said Chairs 1, 7, 11 and the Bigfoot T-bar are expected to run. 

Warm temperatures have limited snowmaking operations on the lower slopes, but mountain officials are hopeful to have some beginner terrain ready as well. 

“It could be a pretty busy opening week with all the snow and excitement,” Sokol said. 

Long-term forecasts are generally favorable for Northwest Montana powder hounds with La Nina conditions firmly in place over the South Pacific. The weather pattern is known to push wetter-than-average conditions and below-average temperatures into the Pacific Northwest. 

“We’ve been talking about a La Nina pattern for months now and it’s exciting to see it come to fruition,” Sokol added. 

THE RESORT upgraded a few of its main lifts over the summer. While skiers won’t notice the changes, Sokol said the mechanical overhauls will make a big difference in assuring the lifts keep spinning all winter. 

The main high-speed quad lift to the summit, Chair 1, had a new motor installed, while lift manufacturer Doppelmayr upgraded internal components on the Chair 2 detachable quad. 

“It will function like a new lift,” Sokol said of Chair 2. 

What skiers will notice is the vegetation work that was completed on some overgrown slopes. Crews thinned out shrubs on Good Medicine, Glory Hole, Picture Chutes, Haskill Slide and a section between Toni Matt and Bench Run. 

“It really opens those glades up,” Sokol commented. 

For the corduroy lovers, two new grooming snowcats were added to the resort’s fleet to manicure over 110 named runs. 

Off the slopes, a new covered area with benches was built for the SNOW bus stop at the Base Lodge. 

“Folks can chill in there comfortably and out of the snow,” Sokol said. 

He estimated that a few million dollars was invested in capital improvements this year. 

Season pass sales are a tick ahead of last year, with roughly 16,000 passes sold so far. Lodging reservations are on pace, as well. 

“Bookings are pretty solid,” Sokol said. “We’re expecting a pretty steady season.” 

About 80 international exchange students on J-1 visas will fill key roles as lift attendants and in guest services. The resort has relied on the federal J-1 program to shore up staffing for a number of years. 

“They get to come here and experience the U.S. and working on a ski hill, and they fill a lot of positions we have not been able to fill locally,” Sokol said. 

The exchange workers are coming from Paraguay, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru and Brazil. 

The resort’s management positions are largely the same as last season, with Nick Polumbus entering his third full season as CEO and president.  

Gardner Beougher was brought on as mountain operations director this summer. He oversees trail grooming, ski patrol, lift maintenance and operations, mountain events and strategic improvement planning.  

Beougher grew up skiing the local slopes and has more than two decades of experience working with grooming and snowmaking. 

He replaces Bill Cubbage who took a position at a ski resort in Utah. 

UPCOMING EVENTS include torchlight parades on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. 

Ski mountaineering races will be held Wednesday evenings beginning Jan. 15, the Tommy Moe kids ski races start up Jan. 19 and banked slalom races start Jan. 25. 

The annual Whitefish Whiteout ski mountaineering race is Feb. 8.  

A torchlight parade and fireworks will be the highlight of the always busy President’s Day weekend. 

The Nate Chute snowboard races are March 22-23, with the annual end-of-season Pond Skim April 5. The season wraps up on Sunday, April 6.

ABOVE LAKESIDE, Blacktail Mountain Ski Area had not yet announced an official opening date as of Saturday. A weather station on Blacktail Mountain at 5,650 feet showed 10 inches of snow on Saturday. The area’s annual Wake Up Old Man Winter Party is slated for Dec. 7 at 5 p.m., at Tamarack Brewing Co.

In Libby, the volunteer operated, nonprofit Turner Mountain opens annually as conditions allow. As of last week, the ski area had a 20-inch base at the summit. 

Lookout Pass Ski Area along I-90 on the Idaho-Montana border was among the first ski areas in the nation to open this season after it fired up the lifts on Nov. 8. The area reported 20 inches of settled snowpack on Nov. 30, with 47 open trails. The lifts run Thursday through Monday.

East of the Continental Divide, Teton Pass Resort outside of Choteau planned to open Dec. 13. Nearby weather stations showed the surrounding mountains with about 16 inches of snow depth as of Sunday. Lifts run Friday through Sunday.