Whitefish Mountain Resort
Whitefish Mountain Resort is a ski resort on Big Mountain in northwestern Montana. It is west of Glacier National Park in the Flathead National Forest, from the town of Whitefish, west of Columbia Falls, and north of Kalispell.
History
Winter Sports, Inc. formed in 1947 as a public company of community shareholders, opened Big Mountain that It hosted the U.S. Alpine Championships in early March 1949, where future Olympic champion Andrea Mead of Vermont won all three women's titles at age sixteen. The mountain originally had a single T-bar, which was replaced by chairlifts installed in 1960, and 1968.Olympic champion Tommy Moe learned to ski and race at the mountain, where his father was on the ski patrol. Moe won the gold medal in the and the silver in the at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.
The mountain again hosted the U.S. Alpine Championships in 2001. That event is remembered for the failed comeback attempt, and life-altering crash, of 1984 Olympic downhill champion Bill Johnson.
In May 2004, WSI conducted a 150-for-one reverse stock split. Its stated purpose was to lower expense by reducing the number of shareholders to below the threshold that imposed public reporting requirements. At the time the transaction was proposed, 664 shareholders, or 72% of investors in the company, each separately held less than 150 shares. In total, these investors held a 2.5% equity stake. The board expressed concern that the transaction might be viewed as coercive, but after review and outside consultation, decided the transaction was fair to the affected shareholders.
In December 2006, WSI conducted a 15-for-one reverse stock split, further reducing to about 50 remaining shareholders in order to provide a tax advantage as a Subchapter S corporation. Again, all shareholders without enough shares to exchange for a post-split share were required to cash-out their stock. WSI's handling of the reverse split was criticized and resulted in animosity within the local community, where there were objections to the timing of the related announcements and the loss of a community connection to the resort by the
After sixty years, Big Mountain was renamed "Whitefish Mountain Resort" after billionaire Bill Foley became the majority shareholder of Winter Sports, Inc.
In early 2008, an avalanche occurred in the Flathead National Forest, within hiking distance of the backside of Big Mountain and killed two skiers on Later that year, the resort discontinued summer lift access for winter season pass holders, granting several free lift tickets In September of that same year, the resort reversed the decision and announced that 2008–09 winter season passes would again convey unlimited foot-passenger lift access for
Lifts and runs
The mountain is separated into three faces. The front side is primarily serviced by the Big Mountain Express high-speed quad out of the Village base area and the Snow Ghost Express high speed six pack from the Base Lodge, and has the most skiable terrain. A second high-speed quad, the Swift Creek Express, services beginner and intermediate terrain. The front side has seven of the mountain's eleven chairlifts.The backside of the mountain is serviced by the Big Creek Express, also a high-speed quad. The backside has more tree skiing terrain, and additional terrain can be accessed by the Bigfoot T-Bar on weekends and during select holiday periods, as well as Flower Point, and East Rim, which services the eastern front side and East Rim.
The western aspect of the mountain contains the Hellroaring basin. Serviced by Hellroaring, Hellroaring basin is the most advanced skiing on the mountain with cliffs, vertical chutes, and tight tree skiing. The intermediate Hell Fire trail is the longest on the mountain; it runs from the summit to the base of Chair 8. On some days the clouds at Whitefish Mountain Resort are low enough that skiers can literally ski above the clouds.
Lifts
- Whitefish currently has 14 operating lifts.
| Number | Name | Type | Manufacturer | Built | Vertical | Length | Notes |
| Chair 4 | Snow Ghost Express | High speed six pack | Leitner-Poma | 2022 | 2224 | 7211 | |
| Chair 7 | Big Creek Express | High Speed Quad | Doppelmayr USA | 1997 | 1211 | 5743 | |
| Chair 1 | Big Mountain Express | High Speed Quad | Doppelmayr USA | 2007 | 2087 | 7322 | Main lift out of Village base area. |
| Chair 2 | Swift Creek Express | High Speed Quad | Doppelmayr USA | 2007 | 1110 | - | 1 of 3 lifts open for night skiing. Originally Glacier Chaser Express prior to 2007. |
| Chair 6 | Base Lodge | Quad | CTEC | 1992 | 240 | 1535 | |
| Chair 9 | Easy Rider | Quad | Garaventa CTEC | 2006 | 269 | - | |
| Chair 3 | Tenderfoot | Triple | Thiokol | 1975 | 443 | 2452 | Oldest lift on the mountain, and also open for night skiing. |
| Chair 12 | Elk Highlands | Triple | Hall | 2007 | 375 | - | Has 2 way directional loading, and has a mid-station. Relocated from Easy Rider. |
| Chair 10 | Bad Rock | Triple | Thiokol | 2011 | 461 | - | |
| Chair 11 | Flower Point | Triple | Yan | 2014 | 970 | - | Relocated from Kimberley Alpine Resort |
| Chair 5 | East Rim | Triple | CTEC | 2017 | 805 | 2388 | Relocated from Glacier View |
| Chair 8 | Hellroaring | Triple | CTEC | 2021 | 1082 | - | Originally opened in 1985 as Big Creek, relocated to a lower alignment in Hellroaring Basin in 1997, relocated to current alignment in 2021. |
| T-Bar 1 | Heritage | T-Bar | Doppelmayr | 1982 | 568 | 1964 | Open on weekends. |
| T-Bar 2 | Bigfoot | T-Bar | Doppelmayr | 2000 | 400 | - |
The vertical drop of the ski area is, with a summit elevation of and a base of. The average annual snowfall is.
The ski area is about north of Glacier Park International Airport and south of the Canada–US border.