Opening day - Whitefish Mountain

I had unpacked and laid out my gear the night before so I was ready to go first thing in the morning. I was up bright and early, had my breakfast and coffee and was out the door at 8:35am. I packed up my car and drove down the snow covered road to Haskill’s Pub, which is also the Snow Bus stop, to catch the 8:48 bus. My stop is the last stop on the way to the mountain so the bus was almost full by the time it got here, but I was lucky enough to grab one of the last two remaining seats. The bus arrived at the base lodge at 9:00 and I was on the lower lift by 9:20. Being a Saturday and opening day, the lift line was fairly crowded but no more than a five minute wait.

It was a beautiful day. Temperatures were around 20 degrees, the sun was out and there was no wind to speak of. Taking the chair lift to the top of the mountain for the first time was quite an experience. Looking up from the bottom it was impossible to see the top due to the inversion layer of fog. Once we passed about 6,000 feet the sun was shining bright with the backdrop of deep blue, cloudless skies. The peaks of Glacier National Park were visible off to the east as well as the Canadian Rockies to the north. All of the trees at the top were wrapped in snow which has earned them the nickname “snow ghosts”. The views at the top and of the adjacent mountain ranges were amazing but looking down the mountain was, in my opinion, even more spectacular. Standing completely above the cloud line, it was like looking out the window of an airplane over an endless sea of soft, puffy cotton.

I spent most of the day just getting used to making turns again after ten months of downtime. I was feeling pretty good towards the end of the day and began skiing a little too aggressively than I should have for the first day out. I twisted up my knee when I got sucked in to a tree well trying to avoid a collision with said tree. Fortunately it was my good knee so now both of them felt pretty well balanced out at this point. I took one more run after that and decided it was best to call it a day.

I caught the 3:57pm bus from the base lodge back down to my stop, loaded up the car and was home by 4:30pm. All in all, it was a great day. It was more crowded than I thought but for opening day that was to be expected. Hoping to get my new equipment in soon and looking forward to many more days on the slope. My door is always open!

Final destination: Whitefish, Montana

I arrived in Whitefish in the evening of Tuesday, November 30^th. After 81 days of traveling and just shy of 9,300 car miles I was finally in a town that I wanted to call home. After my original place to stay fell through the day before I got back to Whitefish, I had been searching for a place to live and not having much luck. That night, as a last resort, I placed an add on Craigslist hoping to find someone looking to rent out a portion of their house.

I started the next day with a stop at The White Room Mountain Shop. I had stopped their a few weeks ago looking at new ski gear. With the ski season beginning in a few days at Whitefish Mountain, the store was busy. When I walked in the two owners and the ski tech welcomed me back to Whitefish. They told me they had a feeling I would be back in town. Everyone working at The White Room is about as friendly as can be. But to be fair, that’s pretty much been my perception of people here in general. Anyway, I gave my credit card a bit of a work out today buying a new set of skis, bindings, boots and avalanche beacon. This is a La Nina year, so of course I needed a pair of powder skis. As I was leaving, they welcomed me back to the store for their happy hour starting at 5pm. Unfortunately, the rest of my day was to be occupied with trying to find a place to live, but first I thought I should try a few slices at Jersey Boys Pizza. Russ, the owner, came from Verona, NJ first opening a shop in Dillon, CO and now here in Whitefish a few years back. He makes a pretty mean pie. It’s always nice to know there is good east coast pizza to be found in town. Happy hour here starts at 4:30pm with $1.50 slices and $1.00 PBRs. I think I’m going to like this town. Next time I see Russ I’ll be sure to mention that I’ve slung a few pizzas in my day in case he’s ever looking for help.

I found two postings outside of a small market store advertising rooms for rent. After two phone calls, I had two places lined up to see. The first one was slightly nicer than a crack shack. The house was owned by a single father, his 10-year old son lived there and a young couple was renting out another room. Random people came and went in the 15 minutes I was there. A woman who lived across the street was over with her 7-year old daughter, smoking cigarettes in the kitchen and drinking beer at two in the afternoon. The rent was extremely cheap but this place was a downgrade from living in my Subaru. The second place I looked at was an apartment on the road that leads up to the mountain and only one block from the Snow Bus. The Snow Bus is a free shuttle that runs back and forth between town and the ski resort. The location was nice and the rent was reasonable but it was a mess too. This place was available to move in immediately. I almost took it on the spot as I was getting tired of sleeping in my car at night. A few hours later, I called him back and said I would take the room but would move in the following day. I wasn’t that thrilled with the living situation but at least it was a roof over my head. I spent one last night in my car. Around 11pm I received an email response to the add I placed on Craigslist from a girl who was looking to share her house. I called her first thing in the morning and within an hour I was out to look at it. She had recently moved here from Louisiana after coming out to Glacier National Park on a photography outing. She liked Whitefish so much that she decided to rent a house and was now looking for someone to share it with. After meeting Kelie and seeing the house, I decided this was where I was going to live!

It’s a pretty sweet A-frame cabin deep in the woods. It’s about 5 miles outside of town. A little farther than I was hoping but the remoteness and country setting more than makes up for it. The house is about seven miles from Whitefish Mountain and three miles from the Snow Bus / pub / tavern. The inside of the house is small and void of much of anything but a single chair in the living room. Both Kelie and I came from far away with only the necessities that would fit in our cars. The house sits on an acre of property and has lots of inside potential. Oh, and she adopted a 7-year old Australian Sheppard two weeks ago. He’s super friendly but deaf as a doorknob. Apparently his real name is Jingles but Kelie renamed him Rhette. Normally, you wouldn’t go changing a dog’s name, for the dog's sake, but he would never know the difference anyway.

Well, things are falling into place. I now live in Montana! Today I purchased my season pass and the mountain opens tomorrow (Saturday). There’s about 18 inches of snow in the yard and it’s been snowing almost nonstop for the past few days. Things are working out just fine!