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Northern Rockies/Alberta Skiing Montana - Big Sky or Whitefish

TexasStout

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Not to threadjack, but can someone compare pros/cons of Whitefish vs Big Sky? @Sibhusky

Our ski club has them both on the calendar for 2019
  • Big Sky Jan 5-12 staying at Huntley Lodge
  • Whitefish Feb 23-Mar 2 staying at Morning Eagle Lodge
The club package is ~$200 more for Big Sky + $130 more for 5 days of lift tickets


any advice or feedback here appreciated, including on the lodging chosen.
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
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Morning Eagle is right on the slope. My recollection of Huntley is a slight walk is required. But I could be wrong about that, it's been a few years.

Big Sky is absolutely huge. There's some serious "kill you" skiing there. There's little night time activity, a few bars and restaurants, but not much. There's a certain kind of rock there that seems to migrate upwards through the snow all winter long and you'll have some scratches at the end of the week, maybe more. It's sunnier, which is nice, but they get less snow. On the other hand, once everything's covered, how much do you really need?

Whitefish is pretty big, 3000 acres of mostly tree skiing. There's some cliffy stuff and chutes, but nothing like at Big Sky. There's skiing in every direction, and the crowd level is low, so you can find fresh snow for days after a storm. There's no tram-like situation. Most of the lifts converge at the Summit, so it's easy to meet others for lunch. Those days they have for the trip correspond to some historically fantastic skiing. But I would not go later, because in an El Niño year, the snow could be getting spring-like any later. The town is a REAL town. If you're staying at the hill, though, you'll be relying on the SnowBus to get to it. Most of the night life is down there. At the mountain for après, you'll be hitting the Hellroaring Chalet and the Bierstube, both good bars. The main restaurant up there, the Kandahar, to me is seriously over priced. There's tons of restaurants downtown, but staying at the mountain, you've hobbled yourself. Personally I think, unless you've got little kids, it's better to stay in town. Do you really want to be dependent on the Snow Bus at 10PM?

Whitefish is a good mountain for cruisers and tree skiers, and lovers of après. Big Sky is humongous, with something for everyone, but not much to do otherwise. There's a much higher % of locals at Whitefish. Big Sky is slanted heavily towards destination skiers.
 

Talisman

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Not to threadjack, but can someone compare pros/cons of Whitefish vs Big Sky? @Sibhusky

Our ski club has them both on the calendar for 2019
  • Big Sky Jan 5-12 staying at Huntley Lodge
  • any advice or feedback here appreciated, including on the lodging chosen.
I have never skied at Whitefish. The Huntley is a "skate" to the main lifts and ski back. There are two parts to the Huntley, Shoshone and the "old part". While serviceable the old part is dowdy and tired. The bar at the Huntley has some good music on weekends and the Huntley breakfast has renown locally.

Big Sky is spread out with several clusters: base village and two in the meadow with other venues dotted in the canyon. There are things for adventurous people to do like Yellowstone NP, horse back riding (all winter), dog sledding, zip lines, snow machines and snow shoeing. The 320 Guest Ranch has ski joring on certain weekends which is fun to watch and some of the locals pairs do well nationally. There are yurt and sleigh ride dinners which are a lot of fun. Some people fish the Gallatin in the winter.

Let me know, I should be around at the beginning of your visit and can show you a few runs where the ski ambassadors won't show you. I worked in Ft Worth and Houston and can speak a little Texan.
 

Crank

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What has been said above mostly covers it.

I have been to both resorts with ski clubs.

Big Sky - Jan 5 may be early and it will be boney. May or may not be a lot of terrain open. Night life/après ski is almost non existent. Around $350 more that the Whitefish trip is about what I would expect. Huntley's breakfasts are legendary and live up to their rep. Ski valet is a nice luxury. Rooms are OK hot tubs very nice.

Whitefish - better chance of good conditions IMO in late Feb/early March. Terrain is not as radical looking , has much less real steep skiing and is a tree skiers paradise. Great town if you like going out for dinner, drinks, music and they run a free shuttle bus. I have not stayed at the Morning Eagle Lodge. We stayed at the Kandahar which we loved.
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
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The Morning Eagle is condos, so will depend on the unit. Friends own one, but it's not in the rental pool and they mostly use it as a locker for their gear as they have a huge house in the Valley. I'd expect that the units are very nice, however. It's pretty new. Both the restaurants are walkable. Fortunately, the cheaper one is closer.
 

Poolskier Vinny

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Never been to Big Sky yet so can't comment.

While not a local like @Sibhusky...(who's written an excellent "unofficial" guide!) our club has always enjoyed our annual trips to Whitefish.

Excellent tree skiing (not a lot of steeps or high alpine runs) and now the moving of chair 5 has made it easier to access some more challenging terrain. Great hill for powder tree skiing. Be very careful in there - tree wells are a serious risk at this particular resort. Use good tree skiing protocol: buddy up/constant visual sight of one another/ communications/don't ski near the trunks/wells..etc.

The hill has maintained it's friendly low-key style - major plus. Definitely want to hit the Bierstube, Ed and Mully's which are both on hill.

Accommodation on hill vs in town:

We have stayed both on and off the hill over the years...pros and cons for each. The last few years our club has elected to stay on hill - I personally prefer that option. (our trips are for adults so there are no kids) It depends on priorities and your groups ability to deal with logistics...and the timing of those logistics..(ie: mornings or evenings...)
Is it easier for your group to be on-hill so each member can just wake-up and hit the ski runs whenever they want....but consequently have to deal with the evening logistics of getting into town and back again for the nights you want to hit the town for supper or nightlife? Our groups tend to like to not have to worry about things in the morning so easier logistics in am vs pm wins out for us.

We've found the Snowbus to be really convenient and easy to use. Additionally you can just grab a taxi or Uber if you are planning a late night out...and as you are often with a group of ppl it's pretty cheap to split a cab/Uber back to the hill. I'd pre-book a time if it's on a weekend and around bar closing time as there is a high demand at those times.

Lot's of great restaurants in town. For nightlife pop into Bulldogs (look for bathroom art), Remingtons (gamble or dance or both), Palace (great little dive bar), Caseys (multi-level bldg - pick your poison...pub or club) ...but our "goto main spot" is always "the Northern"...as the Great Northern usually has band on the weekends and it's usually a blast all the way to close!

Enjoy!
 

aubergine

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We've only stayed in town for Whitefish at the Grouse Mtn Lodge, which I recommend, especially their larger suite type rooms.

It's a very cool town and is already getting an Aspen like vibe to it.

Conditions when we were at The Big Mt were a little icy and foggy. But it was pretty desolate. Lots of runs I was the only person on them.

A good mountain for mid level skiiers.

And great value to boot.
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
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It's a very cool town and is already getting an Aspen like vibe to it.
I don't know about "already". They were established, per Wikipedia, in 1946. We were established in 1947. Fortunately the real estate is worlds apart. And don't wear Bogner here unless you want to draw the wrong kind of attention.


Edit. Maybe you meant unfortunately? My swipe keyboard does some weird substitutions. Maybe this was one of those. And "unfortunately" makes far more sense.
 
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skidrew

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Huntley's breakfasts are legendary and live up to their rep. Ski valet is a nice luxury. Rooms are OK hot tubs very nice.

Yep - you can really load up on food in the morning with a generous buffet (omelets, eggs, bacon/sausage, waffles, etc.). Huntley is right at base of Explorer lift, but it's faster to walk (actually, even crawl) over to Swiftcurrent to get you up than to go up Explorer. IIRC, Huntley gets you ski valet at the base of Swiftcurrent anyway, so you can boot up in your room and then walk 3-5 mins over and get your skis/poles there.

Hot tub is nice, but bring sandals/flip flops because it's a bit of a walk on cold concrete to the tubs (Shoshone has an indoor entry point).
 

Crank

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Yep - you can really load up on food in the morning with a generous buffet (omelets, eggs, bacon/sausage, waffles, etc.). Huntley is right at base of Explorer lift, but it's faster to walk (actually, even crawl) over to Swiftcurrent to get you up than to go up Explorer. IIRC, Huntley gets you ski valet at the base of Swiftcurrent anyway, so you can boot up in your room and then walk 3-5 mins over and get your skis/poles there.

Hot tub is nice, but bring sandals/flip flops because it's a bit of a walk on cold concrete to the tubs (Shoshone has an indoor entry point).

Our last time at the Huntley we kept our boots in their boot room on heated racks, so slippers or shoes to the boot room which is on lower level of hotel building close to the little base village. Then just a short walk out to the ski racks near Swift Current and Ram Charger. Our first time there we were close to a door and just kept our skis and boots in the room and skated over the the lifts. I think we took that old slow double that was right outside the door once but it took so long and only served some beginner terrain and it was not a hard skate.

Always bring flip flops for outdoor hot tub ins and outs.
 

aubergine

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I don't know about "already". They were established, per Wikipedia, in 1946. We were established in 1947. Fortunately the real estate is worlds apart. And don't wear Bogner here unless you want to draw the wrong kind of attention.


Edit. Maybe you meant unfortunately? My swipe keyboard does some weird substitutions. Maybe this was one of those. And "unfortunately" makes far more sense.

I meant the comparison in a positive way. Folks who can live anywhere are choosing to be there. Being able to walk around and see amazing restaurants and other venues in town. I even saw that a Whitefish resident has been elected to the American Congress.

While we were visiting my kids counted the deer they saw. After 14 I got tired of them them singing their song after each sighting, and requested the census be halted.
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
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. I even saw that a Whitefish resident has been elected to the American Congress.
Zinke is now Secretary of the Interior.

Unfortunately, between him, Richard Spencer, and Whitefish Energy, we've probably had way more mention in the national press this year than Aspen has had since it was founded. I'd like to say we deny them all, but Zinke was a local football hero. And cousin to family friends. I look forward to the day when we are not in the news.

There's not a lot of people in this state, and three get sent to Congress. We're one of the larger cities, so occasionally you'd expect one to get to Congress.
 
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Jim McDonald

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So, the only distinctly native American criminal class has a foothold there :nono:
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
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So, the only distinctly native American criminal class has a foothold there :nono:
Since the three of them are notorious for such widely different sins I'm not really catching your drift. The fact that in a town of 7000 people some of them might know each other means nothing. The population is sparse enough that Kevin Bacon's six degrees of separation is thrown out the window here, it's more like one or two degrees across not just the state, but maybe even the region. My daughter is always running into people she's skied with, gone to school with, or are cousins of friends, etc. and she now lives three hours from where she went to high school, five from where she went to college and grad school. For all the land, it's a small state.

Two of the three men aren't really from here. But they've got a gender in common. And they are white, which, given the history of the state, is no surprise either. But only Zinke can be said to be from here. Just because you own real estate in a town doesn't mean you're from it. So, I'm not sure what criminal class you're talking about. Most of the crime here is alcohol- or drug-related (that's more the county, tho). And that's part of any tourist town. Visitors think they don't have to behave.

Whitefish itself is a liberal island in a Republican county in a Republican state. Everyone is really friendly. Drivers wave as they pass each other. People at four way intersections wave each other through. Off season you can stand in the middle of a street and have a conversation. They support each other. The town raised over $40,000 to send a guy to Moscow for a stem cell treatment he couldn't get in the US to stop his MS. (It worked.) So the attention we've had over the last two years for these three guys has been really slanted and inappropriate.
 

Jim McDonald

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Shouldve added the :D. Was just riffing off a line by Mark Twain. :wave:
 

aubergine

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Since the three of them are notorious for such widely different sins I'm not really catching your drift. The fact that in a town of 7000 people some of them might know each other means nothing. The population is sparse enough that Kevin Bacon's six degrees of separation is thrown out the window here, it's more like one or two degrees across not just the state, but maybe even the region. My daughter is always running into people she's skied with, gone to school with, or are cousins of friends, etc. and she now lives three hours from where she went to high school, five from where she went to college and grad school. For all the land, it's a small state.

Two of the three men aren't really from here. But they've got a gender in common. And they are white, which, given the history of the state, is no surprise either. But only Zinke can be said to be from here. Just because you own real estate in a town doesn't mean you're from it. So, I'm not sure what criminal class you're talking about. Most of the crime here is alcohol- or drug-related (that's more the county, tho). And that's part of any tourist town. Visitors think they don't have to behave.

Whitefish itself is a liberal island in a Republican county in a Republican state. Everyone is really friendly. Drivers wave as they pass each other. People at four way intersections wave each other through. Off season you can stand in the middle of a street and have a conversation. They support each other. The town raised over $40,000 to send a guy to Moscow for a stem cell treatment he couldn't get in the US to stop his MS. (It worked.) So the attention we've had over the last two years for these three guys has been really slanted and inappropriate.

It seems like someone is also spending $40k to send their deer to New Jersey too.
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
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It seems like someone is also spending $40k to send their deer to New Jersey too.
When I lived in New Jersey I actually had more close calls, but only hit one. The human population is just so much denser there that the deer can't help but be more visible. I doubt the deer/human population is higher there.

stats

NJ.
Deer 101,000
Humans 8,944,469
Land area 7,417

MT.
Deer 584,000
Humans 1,042,520
Land area 145,552
 
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