Resort ends season with record skier visits

An inch of spring snow landed on Big Mountain over the weekend to close out the 2020-21 ski season at Whitefish Mountain Resort.

The lifts finished turning on Sunday ending a season with record visitation of about 460,000 guests topping the last full season that ended in 2019 by more than 75,000 visits.

The 2018-19 ski season saw about 384,800 total skier and snowboarder visits and was the third consecutive year of record total skier visits. The resort in 2020 was forced to close roughly a month early due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resort spokesperson Maren McKay said it was a great season for the resort with skier visits up 20% over the last full season that ended in 2019.

“The season went really well with skiers and riders working with us to help us stay open,” she said. “It was a really good year and we’re happy we made it all the way through the season.”

Total snow at the summit on Sunday topped 231 inches and a settled base of 94 inches, while the 2018-19 season ended with 253 inches at the summit and a settled base of 79 inches. The village recorded a total of 87 inches of snow for the season.

Season pass holders got in turns this season recording 2,406,727,351 total vertical feet skied.

At the top of the leaderboard for total vertical feet was Jesse Black with 6 million vertical feet skied this season.

This season saw modifications related to the pandemic including requiring folks in line for the chairlift to wear a face covering and there was no singles line. Bars and restaurants also ran at reduced capacity.

“It was a challenging year, but we’re proud of how we handled it,” McKay said. “Staff and the guests worked hard so everyone could remain safe.”

Some early season snow in November created better snow quality than the resort has seen for opening day in recent years, that combined with some extra snowmaking allowed for the frontside run Toni Matt to be open from top to bottom. An estimated 2,600 guests showed up for opening day.

Before skiers and riders even hit the slopes, the resort had already set a new record in October with more than 12,500 winter season passes sold. It was the fifth consecutive year of record season pass sales.

This season the resort’s Freestyle Team marked its 25th anniversary. When the program began there were about 22 freestylers involved and this season there were about 150 team members.

Looking ahead, the resort recently announced its plans to add a new six-person chair lift with France-based company Leitner Pom chosen to install the resort’s first high speed six-pack lift out of the Base Lodge area. The lift will transport skiers to the top of the Inspiration Ridge below the old top terminal of Chair 5.

The new chair will replace the current three-person fixed-grip Chair 4, and crews are expected to begin prepping for the new Chair 4 now that the season has ended.

Full construction will take place in the summer of 2022, and the lift is expected to be ready for the 2022-23 ski season.

This summer, the resort is planning another big infrastructure project. Salt Lake City-based SkyTrac will move the Hellroaring lift to its new location. The lift reconfiguration will put the Hellroaring bottom terminal at Grand Junction and the top terminal on the Toni Matt ridge at the split off with Big Ravine.

Crews are expected to complete the lift installation for the start of the 2021-22 season.

Season passes for the 2021-22 season are now on sale with a slight increase in price after pass prices did not increase for the 2020-21 season. An adult winter pass is $689 through Sept. 30.

The resort's 2021-22 winter season is set to run Dec. 9 through April 10, 2022.

For more information, visit skiwhitefish.com.