Resort marks opening day

Excitement was in the air as a long line of riders waiting for Chair 1 at Whitefish Mountain Resort’s opening day Thursday morning cheered when the wheels started turning to load the first chair of the season.

As Chair 1 scooped up riders, everyone there was graced with somewhat rare, mostly sunny skies for the first half of the day. With an estimated 2,600 guests showing up for opening day, which is near the number the resort was expecting according to WMR Public Relations Manager Maren McKay, the enthusiasm was high for another season on The Big.

“Opening Day was incredible,” McKay said. “It was great to see so many happy faces — eyeballs, with noses and mouths covered by masks — back to ski and ride. The weather was fantastic when Chair 1 opened to the public too, blue skies on the summit.”

The first group in line, consisting of Lane Anello, Anthony Tatum, Bridger David and Payton Douglas, say they arrived at the resort at 7 p.m. the night before opening day. The four camped out in the parking lot, sleeping in their car to secure the first chair.

Although unlike most years, the rush up to the mountain on opening day was more of a trickle as the roped lines were only about half full around 8:30 a.m. Over the next hour, the line more than doubled in size.

Anello, Tatum, David, and Douglas expressed they were a little surprised by how few people were up there early this year.

“We could have got here like 11 hours later and still have been first chair,” Anello said with a laugh.

The group said they woke up at 3 a.m. but no one was around yet, so they slept another couple hours before staking out their spot in line at 5 a.m.

The same group was on the first chair last season as well, that being their first year getting to the front of the line on WMR opening day. This season the four say what they are most looking forward to is simple: lots of snow.

“Hopefully some good snow,” Anello said with his three friends echoing his statement.

Although snow is in the forecast this week, the resort’s opening day had variable conditions. There were soft powdery areas on the upper mountain and the backside off Chairs 5, 7 and 11, but the frontside that is exposed to the sun more often was mostly hard packed and icy in spots. Chair 6, T-bar 2 and the magic carpet were also running.

A highlight for the opener was, due to extra snow making on the mountain and some heavy November snow, the frontside run Toni Matt was open from top to bottom; last year riders had to download on Chair 1 in order to return to the parking lots.

This season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the resort has implemented new regulations including the requirement of wearing face coverings over both the nose and mouth of patrons while in line or in indoor areas. On opening day many were complying, and employees were walking around the lines reminding everyone of the new rule.

McKay says that overall the resort feels the compliance with COVID-19 procedures went smoothly in its first week being open again. Despite some grumbles regarding the new safety precautions, more than anything the resort staff saw the pure enjoyment people expressed while getting to ski and ride again.

“One of the biggest things we noticed was how happy people were to just be outside and skiing in the fresh air,” McKay said. “It's clear to us our visitors really need skiing to have good mental health this year. We missed seeing everyone up here, so it's been so fun for us to see people back.”

McKay acknowledged that the mask policy is challenging and compliance is not at 100% yet, but the resort is hopeful that through reminders guests will keep up the good work by following the new regulations. She asks all visitors of the mountain to make sure noses and mouths are both covered while in line, loading and unloading the lift and also indoors.

“We really think compliance needs to start at the habit-forming level and believe good habits formed will lead to complete compliance,” McKay stated. “We unfortunately can't be everywhere at once, so we're asking our guests to help us out.”

Another change to lift lines this season that was apparent on opening day was dissolving the singles line, which is normally a way to pair up single riders with other groups to keep the lines moving as quickly as possible. Although groups in line were merging on their own throughout the day, the lift lines at many chairs were lengthy.

Since opening day, Chair 3 has also opened with more groomed runs and a mini terrain park.

For more information about the resort’s COVID-19 policies, open runs or snow conditions visit skiwhitefish.com