The Big Mountain, as it was called for obvious reasons, beckoned a small band of skiers as early as 1933. Lloyd "Mully" Muldown and Ole Dalen met while skiing on the Big Mountain. They were soon joined by others who shared the same passion for the sport and adventure, and built a cabin at the head of Hell Roaring Creek in 1935. This marked the unofficial start of the Hell Roaring Ski Club, which officially formed in 1937.

Mully became the club's first president, and was happy to teach others how to ski. He went to Europe in 1936 to watch the Berlin Winter Games and gather information about the latest ski equipment, clothing and techniques in the emerging sport. Mully shared his knowledge with others fostering even more interest for the sport throughout the valley. He became the first ski coach at Whitefish High School in 1937.

Also in 1937, the club built a second cabin, in 1938 the cleared runs and by 1939 they added a rope tow so they could sponsor races and social events. The Montana High School Ski Tournament brought 86 boys from 10 schools to compete in 1939 when Whitefish racer Doug Smith won the downhill and Duane Einan was first in slalom. An enthusiasm for the sport was catching on in Whitefish, and soon caught the attention of one of most influential businesses in the valley.

The Great Northern Railway sent Al Lindley and his wife Grace Cater Lindley to Whitefish in 1940 and again in 1946 to survey the area for a future ski area. Both Lindleys were members of the 1936 US Ski Team and Al was the consultant to the Union Pacific Railway for Sun Valley. The town of Whitefish was excited to learn that the Lindleys enthusiastically reported that the area was favorable.

When World War II came many of the area's skiing pioneers left town to serve. Dalen, Karl Hinderman and Otto Ost served in the infamous 10th Mountain Division. The war only delayed the town's idea of building a ski area.

"It was a community enterprise"*

In 1947 George Prentice and Ed Schenek came to the area from Great Falls, Montana while scouting locations for the next great western ski resort. After sampling the deep powder and variety of terrain on the Big Mountain, the duo decided to stay in the area for the rest of winter to gather more information. By late March they were mapping the area for potential lifts and runs.

On March 31, 1947 articles of incorporation were filed for Winter Sports Inc. Whitefish Chamber of Commerce they raised $840,000 nearly all of which was local money. They also invested $20,000 of their own. After eight months of hard work, just weeks before they were scheduled to open, the project was broke. Brad Seeley, president of the Whitefish Chamber, called a meeting with Ed & George and about 100 local investors. Then he locked the door.

The doors re-opened once they raised another $6,000. Ed & George returned to work and on December 14, 1947 a ski area called Big Mountain opened for business.

*Quoted from the 1950 Saturday Evening Post article, "The bet their shirts on skiing," by Ed Schenck as told to Edmund Christopherson

• 1933 Local skiers including Lloyd "Mully" Muldown began hiking up & skiing down Big Mountain
• 1935 First cabin built and named Hell Roaring Ski Camp (the unofficial start of Hell Roaring Ski Club)
• 1937 Hell Roaring Ski Club officially formed and second cabin built
• 1938 First runs cleared by Hell Roaring Ski Club
• 1939 First rope tow installed and first race held (10 high school teams)
• 1940 & 1946 Great Northern Railway surveys the area for locating a ski area
• 1947 Winter Sports Inc. founded to manage ski resort called Big Mountain through community investors. On December 14, Big Mountain opens for business with its first T-Bar lift (lift ticket was $2)
• 1948 Ski Lodge completed
• 1949 Chalet building completed
• 1949 & 1951 Hosted the National Ski Championships
• 1950 Big Mountain was featured in the Saturday Evening Post (March 4th issue), Opened for Summer Scenic Lifts
• 1954 Statue of Jesus Christ erected on Big Mountain by the Knights of Columbus.
• 1959 Bus service for skiers from town to mountain began
• 1960 First major expansion: Chair One double installed (village to summit) tripling skiable terrain, ski lodge expanded
• 1962 Big Mountain was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated (December 3rd issue)
• 1963 The Ski Lodge burns down October 31st and is re-built in 45 days
• 1967 Night skiing begins; current Bierstube building built
• 1981 Danny On Memorial Hiking Trail finished
• 1985 Summit House Restaurant constructed; Chair Seven installed adding 75 acres
• 1989 Chair One double replaced with a high-speed detachable quad
• 1996 First top to bottom mountain bike trail, the Summit Trail, built
• 1997 Chair Seven upgraded to a high-speed quad; Chair Eight installed & Hellroaring Basin opens adding 550 acres
• 2001 Hosted U.S. Alpine Championships & Telemark World Championships
• 2002 Hosted Telemark National Championships, opened Walk in the Treetops for the summer
• 2005 Fishbowl Terrain Park opens
• 2007 Name changed to Whitefish Mountain Resort, new Base Lodge opens, Chair One and Chair Two upgraded, Big Mountain Road re-graded
• 2008 First downhill only mountain bike trail, Runaway Train, opens
• 2009 Installed Alpine Slide and four zip lines
• 2010 Added two more zip lines, cleared trees for Bad Rock lift
• 2011 Installed Bad Rock Lift, extended Zip 5, poured foundations for 7th zip line
• 2012 Planned installation of 7th Zip Line from top of Bad Rock lift to top of current Zip 3

New: Bad Rock Lift

The Bad Rock triple, located in the Base Lodge area, will provide direct skier access to Chairs 1, 2, 3, and 4 as well as the Upper Village's dining retail and lodging properties. Additionally the lift will assist with overflow from the Base Lodge Chair (Chair 6) to help maintain the resort's reputation for short lift lines. The bottom terminal is located at the base of the Bad Rock ski trail, a short walk from the Base Lodge patio. Passengers will unload just above Russ's Street. The lift will run daily.

Bad Rock also will run during the resort's summer operations as part of the Zip Line Tours. A seventh zip line will be installed in spring 2012, which will launch flyers just above Bad Rock's top terminal.

The addition of the Bad Rock lift denotes the first step in the resort's three step master plan for lift improvements. The US Forest Service approved the resort's request to extend Chair 4 to its original location on Inspiration (step 2) and to move Chair 5 to the East Rim (step 3). No date has been set for the Chair 4 and 5 projects; however these are expected to take place in the next two to three years.

Bad Rock Lift Facts:

Triple chair
1,627 feet long
461 feet vertical
1,000 people per hour

Sleep & Ski Cheap - Preserving the affordable ski vacation since 1947

The affordable ski vacation has not gone the way of the dodo bird, rather it's going the way of the Fish.

"For generations Whitefish Mountain Resort has been a destination for skiers and especially families seeking a ski vacation that offers an abundance of snow, a variety of terrain, lifts, lodging and lessons at reasonable prices," said Whitefish Mountain Resort President Dan Graves. "We are committed to protecting the endangered affordable ski vacation while providing our guests with personable and friendly service."

Whitefish Mountain Resort's 2011-2012 rates for single day lift ticket are $66 for adults, $58 for teens (ages 13-18), $35 for juniors (ages 7-12), and $54 for seniors (ages 65-69). Super Seniors (age 70 and up) and children six and under ski free. Prices get even better when you ski more: buy 2 or more days and the price per day drops to $60 for adults.

Lift ticket prices become even more affordable when purchased as a lodging package. Whitefish Mountain Resort offers Ski & Stay packages that include both lodging and lift tickets for less than what skiers pay for skiing only at other resorts. The mid-week Hibernation House Special includes lift ticket, lodging and breakfast for $79 a day.

Whitefish Mountain Resort is not only committed to preserving the affordable ski vacation, they are set on growing skiing and snowboarding. The resort's Learn to Ski/Ride first-timer package which offers two half-day lessons, two days of lower mountain lift tickets and two days of rentals is only $72 for skiers and snowboarders age seven and up.

The Bierstube - Big Mountain's Apres Ski Tradition

The Stube, as it's affectionately called by locals and long-time visitors alike, was the first bar on the mountain, originally located in The Lodge, just outside General Manager Ed Schenck's office. Ed often doubled as bartender in the early days. The Bierstube catered to its clientele by offering a variety of beers from local Montana brews to beers from Washington to appease the growing number of Seattle skiers. This is still the case today with as many as 19 regional microbrews and domestic beers on tap.

Big Mountain's Ski Patrol started its tradition of Frabert, the "Clod of the Week" award given at the Bierstube on Wednesdays. On Halloween in 1963, the original Frabert monkey was lost in a fire when the Lodge burnt to the ground. The building was re-built in time for ski season. In 1967 The Bierstube moved into its present building.

In the 1980s a Canadian radio station held a contest to name the "Best Ski Bar in Canada" and listeners chose the Bierstube. Most recently it was named one of the "Top 10 great places for apres-ski nightlife" by USA Today in February 2011.

In the fall of 2010, the building showed signs of structural wear. Whitefish Mountain Resort stepped in to restore the building's foundation, investing over $120,000 to preserve the legendary bar for generations of partiers to come.

Ride Amtrak's Empire Builder - The ski train tradition

Whitefish, Montana is the busiest stop on Amtrak's Empire Builder line between Seattle and Minneapolis. It's no surprise that the number one destination between these two cities (it attracts passengers from Portland, Oregon and Chicago as well), with access to Montana's first major ski resort and Glacier National Park.

Opt for a sleeper car or roomette and one price covers travel, accommodations and meals. Passengers are not charged extra for bringing their ski equipment, in fact there are no baggage fees at all. Find enjoyment in the scenery or get lost in a book. As the train rolls slowly toward Montana, you ease into relaxed state. Experience a sense of adventure and nostalgia... You'll arrive at the depot in Whitefish, as skiers have for over sixty years, early enough to check-in your belongings at your accommodations and hit the slopes.

The Hiking Tradition - Big Mountain's longest standing tradition

During the Great Depression a few local adventure seeking souls would drive north out of town as far as they could get and then don skis with skins and hike for turns. Soon this group of skiers formed a club, and built cabins which allowed them to explore more terrain; namely an area they described as "The Big Mountain."

Climbing the mountain is still a popular pastime of local skiers. This activity prompted the Resort to create an "Uphill Policy" in March 2010 which originally restricted skiers from climbing after the lifts closed as a safety measure. After locals provided the resort with feedback on this restriction, a new policy was created to allow uphill traffic on designated routes.

Frabert, "Clod of the Week" Award - A Tradition of Making Fun

Frabert is a three-foot tall stuffed monkey which, since the early 1960s, lives behind the bar at the Bierstube. As one story goes, Jim Rice, Bierstube bartender and manager, came up with an idea to have a little fun and attract patrons into the bar on Wednesday nights. At the time, Sun Valley gave an award for the "Skier of the Day." Rice thought it would be fun to give an award to the "Clod of the Day" to an employee or visitor. According to Jean Arthur's book, Hellroaring: Fifty Years on The Big Mountain, the Frabert Award was given out by ski patrol on a daily basis in the beginning, when everyone got together at the Bierstube after skiing. Regardless of its origin, the tradition has carried on for over 50 years: every Wednesday people gather at the Bierstube where a ski patroller tells the story describing why the recipient is worthy of such an honor.

A Skier's Mountain

Whitefish Mountain Resort is uniquely endowed with slopes on every aspect, and with 3,000 acres and 360 degrees to choose from, skiers can find a variety of conditions every day. Big Mountain also features a mixture of terrain including open bows, gladed runs, open slopes, chutes and ridges. While the resort has an extensive lift system including three high-speed quads, Chair 1 which climbs 2,084 feet from the Upper Village area to the summit, provides access to all of the aforementioned terrain including runs for every level skier. That means families and friends can spend a quality eight minutes together on the lift before reaching the top and finding a run that suits their fancy.

Vertical Tracker

Since the 2004/05 season, the resort has provided its pass holders with the ability to track their vertical throughout the season. Pass holders can sign up and track through the resort's website, skiwhitefish.com. Once logged in, they can track their vertical along with that of their family, friends or anyone they choose to add to their "Buddy List."

In 2010/2011 season pass holders set a new record with 1,736,762,298 billion feet of vertical for the season.

Whitefish Weather Phenomena

Overview

Whitefish Mountain Resort is located west of the Continental Divide in the Whitefish Range of the Rocky Mountains where it receives an average of 300 feet of snow a year. Because we are located west of the Great Divide, our temperatures are not as cold as the interior or eastern half of the state. We are cooler than our resort counterparts in the Cascades and Coastal Mountains, and therefore our snow tends to be lighter and drier.

Big Mountain's "little fog problem" and creative snow reporting

Today's Snow Reporters are required to provide the same fun, personable creativity in their daily reporting. Daily reports are written twice daily and posted on skiwhitefish.com, along with a daily video and also recorded for the snow phone.

Why we embrace the Fog/Clouds

Cloud cover and fog preserves snow so that it lasts longer and keeps snow in prime condition. Clouds keep snow cool in the day and warm at night therefore reducing the freeze/thaw that produces hard crust. Fog also helps in creating Big Mountain's famous snow ghosts.

Tips for skiers on foggy days include skiing gladed runs, or skiing near trees for better visibility. Stick to Chair 2 below the clouds, or take a free mountain tour with an Ambassador.

Inversions

An inversion is when temperatures increase with an increase in altitude. It is caused when a layer of warmer air rests over cold dense air. The town of Whitefish is located at 3,033 feet on the Flathead Valley floor. Big Mountain's base elevation is 4,467 feet and the summit is 6,817 feet. There are coveted days in the winter when skiers will wake up in town or at the base of the mountain in fog, but when they ride up chairlifts to the summit they rise above the clouds to a clear, sunny day.

Fata Morgana

Fata Morgana is a weather-related optical phenomenon that can occur during a temperature inversion. Rays of light are distorted as they pass through air layers of different temperatures caused by the inversion. This creates a mirage on the horizon in which the peaks of Glacier National Park and the Canadian Rockies reflect upside down upon themselves. Fata Morgana is a rare occurrence, and rapidly changing. It is named for King Arthur's half-sister Morgan La Fey in Arthurian Literature, who was an enchantress who could create mirages of castles to lure sailors.

Snow Ghosts

Next to views of Glacier National Park the most photographed features at Whitefish Mountain Resort are its famous snow ghosts. Historically referred to as the "Fantasy Forest," the weather transforms the trees atop Big Mountain into picturesque sculptures called Snow Ghosts. The trees look as though they are covered in snow but are actually covered in rime ice. Rime is formed when supercooled water droplets freeze on impact with mountaintop obstacles such as trees or chairlift towers. Wind can help bend and form trees into unusual and eerie shapes that trigger the imagination.