Whitefish Ski Resort, Montana

Whitefish is a skier’s ski mountain — and real skiers will know it!

By Hilary Meyerson

Photo at right: The view of Glacier National Park from Whitefish Mountain Resort — the real deal. Photo by Hilary Meyerson

Travel to ski vacations is a little like a military operation, and can often be about as much fun. The logistics of moving a family of skiers from Point A to Point B usually involves packing up a car, enduring hours of mind-numbing travel, some white-knuckled snowy highways, and arriving tired and spent to your destination. The small skiers in the backseat are usually cranky, and the endless stops for bathrooms and leg stretching never seem to be enough.

A Whitefish, Mont., ski getaway is different. You may never go back to road-tripping.

Amtrak’s Empire Builder pulls into Essex, Mont., to unload skiers at the Izaak Walton Inn. Photo by Dorothy Van Geison

Aboard the Amtrak

Northwest skiers can hop a train in Seattle or Portland in the late afternoon and travel in style and comfort overnight via Amtrak’s Empire Builder, arriving at this winter recreation destination refreshed and ready for action.

My family boarded the train from Seattle’s King Street Station with ease. Ski bags and luggage were stowed in the baggage car and we settled in for the 16-hour ride in our family sleeper car.

A roomy private car with seats and tables, we quickly made ourselves at home. It was easy with complimentary champagne and sparkling apple juice for the kids. We pulled out of the city and were quickly hugging the shore of Puget Sound as we headed north.

The views are outstanding—just feet from the water. We enjoyed the vistas until it was time for our reservation in the dining car.
Dining car views are even better than the sleeper cars below. We ate our dinner and relaxed as the train turned and headed east.

After dinner, we descended to our car, which had been transformed into its night configuration: a lower double bunk and two upper bunks for the kids. We readied ourselves for bed and let the rhythmic motions of the tracks lull us to sleep.

A skier pounds by a giant snow ghost at Whitefish. Photo by Chuck Haney

Arrival at Whitefish

When we woke up, a quick peek out the window showed us we were in a snowy Montana landscape. After a quick hot breakfast in the dining car, our train rolled into our destination: Whitefish, Mont.

As we disembarked, we saw quite a few college-age ski bums emerging sleepily from the passenger car, grab their ski bags and head right for the Snow Bus, a free shuttle that takes skier from the mountain to town
and back.

Thus the beauty of Whitefish—you can take the train in, and be up at the mountain 20 minutes later.

On this trip however, we opted for a rental car so we could explore a little further. It was waiting for us at the train station and within minutes we were on our way up to the mountain, and checking into our condo, clustered in the Whitefish Mountain Resort Village.

If you’re just here for the weekend, there is everything you need: lodging, food, beer and lifts. You could just stay for the skiing, and grab a ride with the Snow Bus when it’s time to catch the train home. Luckily, we had a little more time to explore. But it was time to get down to business. The slopes were calling.

It’s sometimes lonely skiing at Whitefish with its 3,000 acres and 102 marked trails! Photo by Chuck Haney

3,000 acres of snowy terrain

Whitefish boasts more than 3,000 acres of terrain, with 98 marked trails and countless more opportunities for bowl and glade skiing. First-timers, like us, weren’t prepared for just how big it really was. Crowds are scant, even on a busy day, but perhaps that’s because we’re all so dispersed over the mountain.

Our longest lift-line wait was 10 minutes, and that was on a gorgeous holiday Saturday—with a ski race going on. We piled onto Chair 1, the Big Mountain Express, and sped to the top. The Summit, at 6,817 feet elevation, is called the “Anthill”—multiple lifts drop off here and the Summit House draws crowds—and you can choose your route down in almost any direction.

On a clear day though, skiers linger at the top for the views directly north. The peaks of Glacier National Park are worth dawdling for.

Our first day, we mostly skied the north side, starting with Goat Haunt, where there were countless glades with fresh powder and no lines at all on Chair 7. We watched them set up a banked slalom course for a race on a run called George’s Gorge to be held the next day, and took a few turns on that. No matter where we went, it seemed we could always find a fresh line.

Over the next three days, our family explored the many routes in Hellroaring Basin, the trees of Good Medicine and even all the gentle blue-square runs that dropped us right at our condo door. We could be out of our boots and changed for the hot tub in record time. There’s night skiing for those who can’t get enough during the day—and believe me, you’ll run out of energy before you run out of challenging trails.

Whitefish is a skier’s ski mountain. Real skiers will know what I mean.

On those nights when we were too tired to venture down the hill, there was a range of dining options. Ed and Mully’s, right at the bottom of the slopes, offered up better than average resort fare including a wicked pulled pork quesadilla. The Bierstube boasted cold beer and live local music. For a more elegant experience, Café Kandahar served up fine mountain dining.

Packing up

It was hard to leave our snug condo and drive our rental car down to the train station. However, there were enough tantalizing peeks at summer activities that the kids are clamoring for a return visit in sunny weather. Let’s face it, the zipline cables and Aerial Adventure Park were in plain sight just to tempt us.

Plus, we’re addicted to the train now. No more summer road trips—look for us to be in Whitefish again come summer.

Hilary Meyerson is a lifelong skier and ranks Whitefish as the best ski vacation she’s ever taken.

(Editor’s note: Whitefish’s mobile app and website are some of the best around, making them king of the technical heap of ski areas. skiwhitefish.com)

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