Whitefish 2023

[momskeeztoo]

Travel day yesterday was grueling. Park n Ride off 33 at 3am. 1st flight 630am, landed in Dallas barely had a layover. 2nd flight from Dallas to Missoula around 1230. On to the bus, quick stop for groceries, liquor store and place that won’t be named on a public forum. Got to the resort at dark, got all our stuff in. I got 5 tickets, we’re here for 6 days, so we decided to take today. Just checking out the resort and taking bus into Whitefish. 

[zzslope]

nice pics.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I’m wondering what kind of place that won’t be named on a public forum.  Probably a strip club. 

[sibhusky]

Pardon me for butting into your thread.

 

Chair 4 down again today, resulting in long waits at the HSQ's. Fixed grip were ski right on. High winds meant that 21°F was quite cold. Hopefully fewer people this week, but I think last week with the closures means there is pent up demand. A woman on the chair told me they'd extended their trip because of having skied so little last week.

[sibhusky]

5 hours ago, momskeeztoo said:

2nd flight from Dallas to Missoula around 1230.

How come you flew into Missoula? Cheaper? Usually for me there's been no $ difference. Airport is only 25 minutes from the ski area.

[momskeeztoo]

It’s a group trip. I did not pick the airline or airport. I did see on Whitefish literature, you can fly into Glacier National Park. Sounds so much easier, maybe cost prohibitive for the group. 

[momskeeztoo]

1 hour ago, sibhusky said:

Pardon me for butting into your thread.

 

Chair 4 down again today, resulting in long waits at the HSQ's. Fixed grip were ski right on. High winds meant that 21°F was quite cold. Hopefully fewer people this week, but I think last week with the closures means there is pent up demand. A woman on the chair told me they'd extended their trip because of having skied so little last week.

Thanks for the info. We took today off after the marathon travel yesterday. Walked ALOT today. Took the bus into Whitefish, walked around , lots of stores closed. Came back and walked around here. We are at Morning Eagle. Fourth floor. I probably climbed up the stairs here 6 times. We really needed just walking and stair climbing. Skiing tomorrow, feeling a little anxious about visibility 

[sibhusky]

Generally speaking, chair 2 trails are under the cloud layer.  Chair 11 trails are narrower and face a different way than the rest of the mountain, so the light and shadow needed to see the surface area is better.  The problem is, to get to 11, you have to head down the Ant Hill.  The flattest light will be on those trails whose surface is perpendicular to the position of the sun. Skiing next to trees that would throw a shadow on the trail if the sun were out is the better side of the trail to pick. AVOID TONI MATT IN THE FOG. ALSO MOE-MENTUM. 

Edited February 27, 2023 by sibhusky

[sibhusky]

4 hours ago, momskeeztoo said:

lots of stores closed

Sunday.  You must have seen all the Ten Commandments on people's front lawns as you came north.

 

The reason I ski Sundays is normally people go to church in the morning.

Edited February 27, 2023 by sibhusky

[sibhusky]

5 hours ago, momskeeztoo said:

you can fly into Glacier National Park

It's called Glacier Park International but it's not in the park.  It's between Kalispell and Whitefish.  

[momskeeztoo]

8 hours ago, sibhusky said:

Generally speaking, chair 2 trails are under the cloud layer.  Chair 11 trails are narrower and face a different way than the rest of the mountain, so the light and shadow needed to see the surface area is better.  The problem is, to get to 11, you have to head down the Ant Hill.  The flattest light will be on those trails whose surface is perpendicular to the position of the sun. Skiing next to trees that would throw a shadow on the trail if the sun were out is the better side of the trail to pick. AVOID TONI MATT IN THE FOG. ALSO MOE-MENTUM. 

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. We plan on taking the tour with the ambassadors at 1030 am, hopefully they can give us more pointers. The area off chair 11 looks nice. 

[sibhusky]

It appears as if the cloud layer is above your head at 10:38 AM.

[sibhusky]

Does anyone see her? Ambassador tour forming up at 10:30. Ambassadors are the ones in yellow. Altho, another tour also starts in the base area.

Edited February 27, 2023 by sibhusky

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

47 minutes ago, sibhusky said:

Does anyone see her? Ambassador tour forming up at 10:30. Ambassadors are the ones in yellow. Altho, another tour also starts in the base area.

Yup she’s in the steezy jacket behind and to the left of the yellow jacket person in front of the trail map.  

[antman12]

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 minute ago, antman12 said:

Thanks I need to get the software to make a box like that.  

[momskeeztoo]

8 hours ago, sibhusky said:

Does anyone see her? Ambassador tour forming up at 10:30. Ambassadors are the ones in yellow. Altho, another tour also starts in the base area.

OMG. It’s Krazy Kathy. 

[momskeeztoo]

First day skiing, took the tour from 1030-12, then spent the rest of the day mostly on the north side. Visibility wasn’t bad. Took about a 45 minute break, got 18 runs in 

[zzslope]

Looks awesome.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

TFTI

[momskeeztoo]

Today we’re looking for some easy spaced out trees. Apparently there’s an area that’s perfect- but only accessible via a tow rope that omlet runs weekends. Any suggestions Sib?

[sibhusky]

Sorry, don't read this in the AM.

The trees have been getting less and less spaced out over the years.

There's the "tree farms" either side of George's Gorge, but they've gotten pretty dense. East Rim Face used to be nice and may be tomorrow if we get what is forecast, but ever since they put in chair 5, it's been pounded. There's some okay trees left side of Hogan's East. A bit steeper ones left side of Outside Road. 

Easiest to dip a toe in and then exit at any point is Good Medicine. Quite spaced in the middle. But, increasing steepness AND they face South, so snow is sometimes not so great. The good thing is you can traverse out to the right at any point. 

Number one thing is, ski with someone who is going to really keep an eye on you. Remember, if you go into a treewell and they are downhill from you, they are going to have to posthole UPHILL, possibly in snow up to their crotch, while you could be suffocating. Don't go in the trees with someone who plans to "meet you at the lift" or get carried away by the powder. (You might as well go by yourself, they would be useless. And, being by yourself, you'd be more careful.) Try to look for the path taken by others before. The snow will be more compacted. Straying 6 inches off that line could have you waist deep very suddenly. Don't become the next statistic on my list of deaths in tree wells here.

If you've found that special, reliable partner, the trees in Big Timber (unlabelled, to the left of Ridge Run after Outside Road and before its final pitch) are really nice.

Edited February 28, 2023 by sibhusky

[sibhusky]

[sibhusky]

Lucky her! It looks like she's having a wonderful inversion day!

[momskeeztoo]

Trip report slacker here. Yesterday was awesome, snowed most of day. When it got foggy up top, we moved lower. Snow was lovely untouched powder. Today was sunny for most part. Did one of the bowls, some bump runs. Last bump run, ended up on Thousand Turns, then to the bottom . I know what they mean when they say fog! Literally couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces at the bottom. Returned to North Side and Hellroaring Basin rest of the day.