Pilot Editorial: 'Nice Day' a befitting recognition

The colorful history of Whitefish Mountain Resort comes through in many of the named slopes on the ski hill.

There’s the obvious:

Mully’s below Chair 2 honors Lloyd “Mully” Muldown, the founding father of skiing in the Flathead. George’s Gorge on the backside is named for George Prentice, a co-founder of Big Mountain. Toni Matt, well that one’s named for, you guessed it, Toni Matt! He was an Austrian skiing legend who served as an early ski school director at Big Mountain. The popular cruiser Moe-Mentum recognizes former Whitefish resident and Olympic champion racer Tommy Moe.

The trail map is littered with names of founders and supporters of the mountain or colorful employees who left their mark.

Another deserving character on Big Mountain was honored this winter with his own nameplate above a run. Although the selected moniker isn’t quite so obvious, and that’s just the way Martin Hale wants it to be.

The longtime race course on Slalom Run off of Chair 2 has been renamed “Nice Day” to honor Hale’s years of support for youth ski racing and his own place in racing lore. Hale was a national junior champion ski racer in 1955, and later a coach and ski school director at Big Mountain. He was inducted into the Flathead Ski Heritage Center hall of fame with the inaugural class of 2014.

According to the resort, when Hale was asked by the Flathead Valley Ski Education Foundation about having a run named after him, he modestly shied away from the idea of using his own name. They would have to come up with something else, he said.

So they did.

Hale was well known for his unique way of greeting everyone who came into the ski school. He would always smile and say “Nice Day,” no matter how unpleasant the day might have actually been.

It’s an expression that is connected to Hale in every way, and now, the “Nice Day” slalom course befittingly connects Hale to Big Mountain forever — a much deserved recognition for one of Whitefish’s skiing legends.