sibhusky

Doug must have a book with notes on my life or something..

Some nice powder for you.

I still have the Audi, and it's showing its age. I hope to replace it this year with either the VW Golf Alltrack or an Outback. Hoping the Alltrack comes with a stick. I saw the Canadians are getting the choice of a stick.

Siblet lives in Missoula these days. I only go to Kalispell for the box stores or my mechanic. July and August is when Glacier National Park is open. That's the big draw. But, since this is a resort town there are always festivals of some kind or another going on. In addition, the mountain is a big mountain biking attraction, plus zip lines, etc. Then south of here is Flathead Lake, 27 miles long. So, there are dragon boat races, regattas, fishing, etc. And Whitefish Lake has more boating. Golf is big. Breweries are big. We've now got two distilleries in town as well. In August, the cherries come in. If you like the outdoors, there's a ton to do here.

Just to give you a feel for sizes, there are roughly 8300 people in the town of Whitefish, maybe 11000 in the school district, which extends some considerable miles outside the town limits (I am not within the town limits). There are 800,000 tourists a year. Most of them between July and August. Really irritating even to go to the grocery store then.

It's definitely a locals town, as long as you count the Canadians as locals... Just kidding. The town existed long before skiing, but it's been a ski town since 1947. The high season is actually summer due to the proximity to Glacier. I have to confess, though, that with the move of the drug store to the south of town, I only really shop at the hardware store. The rest of the shops are either high end clothes or tourist/gift shops. But it's not a ghost town in the shoulder seasons, just sleepier. The biggest problem is lack of rental apartments for normal people. Renting is geared to tourists. Columbia Falls is starting to be where young people like teachers and firefighters live. Although real estate is "reasonable" in Whitefish compared to most ski resorts, the median home price is still much higher than the rest of the county. There's a lot of guys living together as a "pack" if they live in town. The nice part of living in a tourist town is having much nicer restaurants and amenities than a town this size in the far NW corner of Montana would normally have.

Not generally, especially in the winter, unless to get gas or mail a letter. The ski area is North of town and so am I. Here's some commercial pictures. More here: http://portfolios.chuckhaney.com/sources/mobile2/index.php#portfolios/133/0

Stay away President's Week and maybe the week before. Although this year things weren't as bad as in the past due to the relative weakness of the Canadian dollar, it's still a week to avoid. On average, most of the snow arrives in January, but year to year that varies all over the map. Current long range forecasts show a GREAT season, colder and more precipitation (snow) than normal. So, I'd say best snow and fewest people third week of January until February 10. Fog levels seem to be depending on the lakes freezing. So, if it's cold, lakes should be frozen by then. Then February 27 onwards. I'd make it before mid March unless you're a fan of spring conditions. March is also far less foggy. But, the snow ghosts disappear as well. So, kind of depends what you are looking for.

Today. Views into Glacier (white peaks in distance). North Bowl area and East Rim in the near distance.

Top of Gelaendesprung today.

Last picture is a view of the Canyon Creek backcountry. There's an open boundary policy here.

Some more.

From today. Really too many to chose from today.

It's President's Week. Yes, there are tourists. I started really slow this year, then was sick, so trailing last year a bit. 40 days so far.

End of day today.

2-10 2/14 2/2 1/29

Too much blue sky. Snow ghosts losing battle.

Sibby doesn't count Doug among the people she cares about, so I really don't care what he says. Also, not sure I was "run off". The board just didn't add value to me. I stayed for years too long before I left. Never the less, for your viewing pleasure. We had an entire January of skiing in fog like gray flannel -- truly unbelievably wearing, day after day, for weeks. Finally, today we had a real bluebird day.

Too much of this: Not enough of this: Siblet's avalanche was just above these cliffs. She ended up being pulled out on a harness. The snow was unusually wet this season, therefore we had some slab problems.

Not much snow. All groomers all the time. One bonus, did not get taken out by the avalanche that passed in front of me. Was too aggravated by the fact that it cut me off from the route I planned to use to think about how close I came to being in it. This shot taken the next day from across the way from the avalanche. They closed the Basin for most of the winter afterwards. Snowfall Siblet also was almost caught in an avalanche.

Here's a few. Skied 81 days, but the season pretty much sucked. Best that can be said is the new area came in handy and the surrounding areas closing meant we could afford to stay open as scheduled. January 5 January 28, view of Canyon Creek area March 24 One more, April 7:

Apparently, things aren't done at the mountain.

Not yet. However, it's raining, so might be gone tomorrow.

The surrounding area is starting to get green, though.

Skiers after resort closure here. Looks like coverage top to bottom if you can stand that stuff.