Resort opens Saturday for summer season
Visitors to Whitefish Mountain Resort enjoy a lift ride from the Base Lodge to Chair 1 and the Lift Plaza during a summer day. (Pilot file photo)
After an early closure to the winter season, Whitefish Mountain Resort is looking forward to its summer, which begins Saturday, June 13.
Open on day one, subject to weather, will be the alpine slides, summer tubing, scenic lift rides, Stryder Bike Park, Aerial Adventure Park zip line tours and the Whitefish Bike Park.
The Danny On Memorial Trail is open, though snow still remains at the top of the trail, and the Learn to Bike Downhill program is accepting reservations as well.
There will be new safety precautions related to the coronavirus that visitors will notice, WMR spokesperson Riley Polumbus said.
“A lot depends on the activity. We’ve kind of put some bullet points on our website specific to each activity. One thing people will notice is all our employees as part of their uniform will get a Buff they’ll wear around their neck and can pull up if they’re within 6 feet of a guest,” Polumbus said.
She added the resort is moving forward with caution, but the nature of their summer activities lend themselves to social distancing and other safety practices.
“Most of our activities are outside, so it gives people a lot of room and the social distancing is easy to achieve. We’ve redesigned some of our areas that typically get crowded,” she said.
This summer the resort is offering online booking for most activities at www.skiwhitefish.com. For those activities where equipment or resort staff are involved, guests will choose a time and date for their visit, and the resort asks visitors to arrive early to sign waivers or pick up tickets when required.
“This summer’s new online reservations system will provide added convenience to our guests,” Nick Polumbus, director of Sales and Marketing at Whitefish Mountain Resort, said in a release. “This creates a more streamlined process that not only makes it easier for our guests to get outside and start having fun, it should also help mitigate the possibility of multiple groups gathering at the same time.”
The Summit House is also open for business, with grab and go items only this summer. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the bar opens at the same time and closes at 5:30 p.m.
The Base Lodge Café and Bar is also open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the café and until 6 p.m. for the bar.
For mountain bike riders, only expert trails will be open at the summit until more snow melts. The Bad Rock chairlift and all trails in the Bad Rock Zone will be open.
The Whitefish Bike Park encompasses more than 30 miles of mountain bike trails including 22 lift-accessed trails in three zones serviced by two chairlifts.
Three new trails are currently under construction in the Whitefish Bike Park and are expected to be ready in July.
The resort is finishing up a timber project on the front side of the mountain near Chair 3 and in that process will be rebuilding three mountain bike trails that had previously been closed. Once the timber project is done, the resort will get going on its Hellroaring Basin redesign project, which will expand the area with new lifts and ski runs.
As visitors start to roll in, the resort says it’s looking forward to welcoming guests in a safe and fun manner.
“We are excited for summer and especially to welcome back our past visitors along with new ones to a variety of family-friendly outdoor activities at our resort. We have something for all ages. Guests can explore our mountain setting through a variety of experiences that are both fun and relaxing ways to reconnect with family and friends,” said Whitefish Mountain Resort CEO Dan Graves. “We have been working diligently to make sure our guests will feel safe and find comfort in their visit to Whitefish Mountain Resort this summer.”
For more information on the resort, call 877-SKI-FISH or visit skiwhitefish.com.