Resort records busiest day ever on slopes

Whitefish Mountain Resort marked its busiest day ever on Monday, Dec. 30 when more than 7,650 skiers hit the slopes.

All totaled, the ski area had three days during the holiday week with more than 7,000 skiers, and six days with more than 6,000 skiers.

The previous record for skier visits in a single day was 7,165 set in December of 2012.

Also a new record, more than 5,000 paid skier visits were recorded on Dec. 30. Paid skier visits are destination guests — or those without a season pass.

Resort spokeswoman Riley Polumbus cited good snow coverage and an unusually long holiday break as helping boost numbers.

“People knew we had good snow and wanted to go somewhere fun for New Year’s,” she said.

January typically is less busy before another surge of skiers arrive in February for Winter Carnival, set for Feb. 7-9.

The weekend of Feb. 15-17 could be extra busy with Presidents Day and Family Day in Canada both falling on Feb. 17.