Whitefish had one of the biggest opening days it has had in years. 84 of 113 trails open on day 1. Hellroaring Basin is open as well. However, the new chair is not open yet.
Also, this makes 75 years at the Big Mountain. Their Facebook post today:
"As you all know, we're celebrating our 75th winter on Big Mountain. But today holds special importance to us.
Sunday, Dec. 14, 1947, was opening day of the resort's first-ever ski season. Tickets to ride the new T-bar, which originated just above the old chalet, cost $2 apiece. A hamburger cost a quarter and a beer a few nickels. Around 1,000 people showed up from around the Flathead Valley to see what the hubbub was all about.
Whitefish's skiing heritage can be traced to the Depression-poor days of the late '20s and '30s, when pioneers like Lloyd "Mully" Muldown and the Hell-Roaring Ski Club skinned up to the Big Mountain's summit on wooden planks through waist-deep snow. The rugged group built a road up the mountain and a couple of cabins and stayed there for days at a time, keeping warm around wood-burning stoves, just to claim fresh tracks on the anonymous hill overlooking their little logging town.
Then came World War II. Whitefish could have forgotten about skiing for good. But in the aftermath, the local chambers of commerce brought in Ed Schenk and George Prentice to transform Whitefish into a skiing destination. The pair went through a gauntlet of challenges — from fundraising to cutting trees to repairing the T-bar — to build the winter wonderland that would become Whitefish Mountain Resort.
Soon after the resort opened, veterans of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division, notably Karl Hinderman and the Austrian American ski racing champion Toni Matt, arrived and began coaching anyone who wanted to learn the sport of skiing.
The rest, as they say, is history. And while Schenk couldn't have known how the resort would look today, he believed there was something about this community that made the development of the ski hill an inevitability.
Asked how they had managed to get the resort up and running, he'd tell people: "It's easy. All you have to do is to find a town like Whitefish."
Resort breaks record skier visits for Opening Day
Open terrain, deep snow and pleasant weather highlighted Whitefish Mountain Resort’s 2022-23 winter season opening day on Thursday.
whitefishpilot.com
Also, this makes 75 years at the Big Mountain. Their Facebook post today:
"As you all know, we're celebrating our 75th winter on Big Mountain. But today holds special importance to us.
Sunday, Dec. 14, 1947, was opening day of the resort's first-ever ski season. Tickets to ride the new T-bar, which originated just above the old chalet, cost $2 apiece. A hamburger cost a quarter and a beer a few nickels. Around 1,000 people showed up from around the Flathead Valley to see what the hubbub was all about.
Whitefish's skiing heritage can be traced to the Depression-poor days of the late '20s and '30s, when pioneers like Lloyd "Mully" Muldown and the Hell-Roaring Ski Club skinned up to the Big Mountain's summit on wooden planks through waist-deep snow. The rugged group built a road up the mountain and a couple of cabins and stayed there for days at a time, keeping warm around wood-burning stoves, just to claim fresh tracks on the anonymous hill overlooking their little logging town.
Then came World War II. Whitefish could have forgotten about skiing for good. But in the aftermath, the local chambers of commerce brought in Ed Schenk and George Prentice to transform Whitefish into a skiing destination. The pair went through a gauntlet of challenges — from fundraising to cutting trees to repairing the T-bar — to build the winter wonderland that would become Whitefish Mountain Resort.
Soon after the resort opened, veterans of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division, notably Karl Hinderman and the Austrian American ski racing champion Toni Matt, arrived and began coaching anyone who wanted to learn the sport of skiing.
The rest, as they say, is history. And while Schenk couldn't have known how the resort would look today, he believed there was something about this community that made the development of the ski hill an inevitability.
Asked how they had managed to get the resort up and running, he'd tell people: "It's easy. All you have to do is to find a town like Whitefish."
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