WHITEFISH — It’s that special day marked on the calendar for skiers and snowboarders across Northwest Montana as Whitefish Mountain Resort officially opens for its 77th season on Thursday, December 5.
“We have recorded 74 inches of snowfall, of course, some of that settled or melted, but that’s the most preseason snowfall we’ve recorded since just before the 2013/14 ski season,” said Whitefish Mountain Resort spokesman Chad Sokol.
Excitement is building at Whitefish Mountain Resort as the snow continues to pile up.
“It’s been a while since we were off to this good of a start, that’s going to allow us to open six chairlifts as well as our T Bar,” said Sokol.
Sokol said early results are showing positive for a forecasted La Nina season which means colder temperatures and higher-than-average snowfall totals are expected across Northwest Montana’s mountains.
“And we’ve already been getting some really cold temperatures that have helped us with snowmaking, especially over the last week or so, really setting us up for a good winter and we hope this pattern continues.”
Sokol said skiers and boarders should still expect some early season conditions and certain run closures to start the season.
“There are some bits of vegetation sticking out on some runs, so we always like to remind folks to take it slow to start the season.”
He said the resort did some off-season work on chairs one and two to help them run smoothly during the busy winter season.
“We’ve installed a new motor in Chair One and we’re working hard on Chair Two, it’s been receiving a major modernization, just to make it function like a new lift," Sokol told MTN.
He added that more runs should open in the coming days and weeks as the snow continues to fall.
“You know talking about and anticipating this La Nina pattern for a long time now, and it’s been awesome to see it come to fruition," Sokol said.
