Going to Whitefish

I'll be out there next week, anyone have any good info on some skin trips in the area?

Really, no one has been to Whitefish?

I've been to WhiteFish on a "family ski vacation". Never did any skinning.  There was plenty of lift-served terrain to keep me busy.

The resort covers "The Big Mountain" -- it is the highest bit of terrain in the immediate area.  Here is the resorts uphill policy: skiwhitefish.com/safety/uphill-policy/

I think touring in Glacier Park might be interesting -- but I would guess you'll need a snow-machine to travel snow-covered roads to make access reasonable.

Thanks,

Was the resort fun? Busy? That sort of thing?

I enjoyed myself. Their snowpack is looking better than anything in WA -- too bad that Chair 8 is closed at the moment there is some fun terrain in "hellroaring basin" N.B.C can be a fun little slot off the main chair.

If I was going to drive that far from Seattle -- with skiing/snow being the *only* consideration -- I'd head to Revelstoke instead.

But if family connections are to be considered Whitefish is a fine place to ski.

I wanted to go to Revelstoke but my two buddies are too lazy to get their passports.

I wanted to go to Revelstoke but my two buddies are too lazy to get their passports.

I believe a Washington State Enhanced Drivers Licence www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/edlsteps.html may be used for travel to/from Canada

The paperwork requirement is similar, but it is significantly cheaper than a US Passport.

But it still takes about 3 weeks.

Of course if any of your buddies ever got busted for pot possesion, DUI or other (even minor) infractions at some point in the past -- Canada is going to refuse entry. www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applic.../5312ETOC.asp#5312E3 -- the pot possesion rule is pretty ironic -- considering one of BC's major argricultural products/exports...

Well I tried to post to this a week ago but was having session cookie problems. I was out in Whitefish two Januarys ago, before the new Flower Point chair went in. There really isn't much touring terrain accessible from the resort - Flower Point used to be popular with the sidecountry crowd because the T-Bar only ran on the weekends, so you could hike/skin from more or less the bottom of the T-Bar to where the top of the new chair is. Now I guess those folks will have been pushed into Canyon Creek, which is a very doable option when the stability is good. Basically just doing laps out there via Chair 7.

Aside from Canyon Cr., there are usually some good turns off the top of Hellroaring Peak down into Hellroaring Basin. However, there's no real need for skins as there's typically a bootpack set to the top from the cattrack. Lastly, there's some good sidecountry skier's left of Grey Wolf on the backside, just make sure you hit one of the the obvious exit paths (there are a few, the further down you go, the flatter they get). The entrance is basically where Grey Wolf begins to flatten out for the first time - it should be quite obvious from the existing tracks. Finally, a short stroll from the summit to the radio towers can yield some fun turns into Hellroaring Basin, as well as some fun bomb drops off the building next to the towers.

Awesome, thanks for the info. I am leaving today!

I live here and can help when you get out here. Tip 1, bring gore tex for the next couple days.