Whitefish Mountain Resort photo

The Daily Interlake reports total skier visits were up 11% when compared to last year, helped in large part by early season snow that allowed the resort to be up to full operations before Christmas. Total skier visits include season pass sales as well as daily ski lift tickets. 

The two busiest days turned out to be December 29th, when a new record was set, only to be broken the following day when more than 7,100 skiers and 'boarders hit the slopes. That was the busiest day ever at Whitefish Mountain. 

After Saturday's popular pond skimming event, Sunday was the last day of skiing until next fall. 

Flathead Avalanche Center graphic

The skier from Missoula was caught int the slide that carried him some 800' down the mountain above the Middle Fork of the Flathead drainage. He wasn't wearing an avalanche beacon, but his partner heard his cries and was able to dig him out. He suffered some broken bones, but they both managed to make it out to meet a rescue party. 

According to a new report and story on Montana News Now, the pair had actually seen one slide on their ascent of the mountain in the same vicinity. The completed report says that might have been natural, or human-caused, but conditions of high winds and heavy snow on a frozen crust were perfect to creating a "considerable" avalanche risk. 

The Flathead Avalanche Center says new snow that started pushing into the region on Sunday brought heavy, wet snow to the mountains. That snow is landing on top of the crusty snow that formed during last week's cold snap, and the warm temperatures and wind have increased the risk, especially at mid and upper level elevations. 

Those conditions prompted avalanche forecasters to raise the risk to "considerable", saying natural avalanches are "possible", and human triggered avalanches are "likely", with a chance for "very large avalanches in isolated areas."

Forecasters are warning backcountry users to avoid steep, open terrain until conditions settle again. 

In the Missoula area, the West Central Montana Avalanche Center raised the avalanche danger to "moderate" on Tuesday because of the new, wet snow and high winds. 

The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center has also increased the avalanche risk to "considerable" and "moderate" in the Madison and Gallatin ranges, and the popular Lionhead area near West Yellowstone as well as Cooke City. 

The Bridger Range and the Northern Gallatins have a "moderate" avalanche danger on wind-loaded slopes. 

Photo shows location of Hourglass slide- Ben Moore photo via Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center

The dry, cold weather of the past week allowed the chance of human-caused avalanches to ease in many areas. The West Central Montana Avalanche Center reported the danger as "low" in the latest check of conditions Friday. Drier air and high pressure combined with sun and warm temperatures created crusted snow with some hoar frost. But avalanche experts say backcountry travelers should watch to see how new snow arriving this week "binds" to the old snow. 

Avalanche conditions are a little more hazardous in Northwest Montana, where the Flathead Avalanche Center reports the risk of slides was "moderate" on Saturday, but could worsen as new snow moves into the region this coming week. 

The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center reported the avalanche danger in the ranges of Southwest Mountain remains "low", with the exception of the Bridger Range north of Bozeman, where the risk is "moderate." The center reported a skier triggered a slide in the Hourglass Chute just north of Bridger Bowl Thursday, and although he was only partial buried and not injured, the slide that caught him was sizable, measuring 75-wide and covering about 1,000-vertical feet. 

The Gallatin Center is also warning that the changing temperatures the past few days have created a weak layer of snow that could become more hazardous as new snow falls in the backcountry areas this week. 

City of Rossland photo

The magazine developed a list of 32-premier ski resorts across North America based on several criteria, including not only slope conditions and facilities, but also the atmosphere of the towns attached to those ski areas. 

Whitefish and Bozeman both made that cut, with Whitefish pulling a surprise upset in the first round by topping Whistler, B.C., the famous venue from the Vancouver Winter Olympics in the first round of voting on Facebook. 

But the B.C. ski industry got it's revenge in the next round when the Rossland'Nelson ski area knocked Whitefish out of the running. However, Bozeman continued in another bracket of the competition, climbing into the final "throwdown" against Nelson this past week. 

In the end, Nelson's powder, what the magazine called "cute hippy chicks" and food like "yam fries" helped it defeat Bozeman by over 900-votes. Rossland/Nelson had ranked 4th in the magazine's "Powder per Person" ratio earlier in the season. 

Nelson had shown strong support throughout the voting, defeating not only Bozeman and Whitefish, but legendary ski towns like Crested Butte, Colorado and Sugarloaf, Maine as well as Sandpoint, Idaho during the semi-finals in the competition. 

Bozeman had topped Fernie, B.C. in the semi-finals before Christmas. 

Photo shows thin, weak snow layers in North Bridgers- Gallatin NF Avalanche Center photo

Avalanche danger has been climbing the past few weeks, as snow pack continues to build in the high country. However, so far the risk of slides has remained "moderate".

The Missoula Avalanche Center reported earlier this week that the chance of slides was "moderate" on wind-loaded slopes steeper than 35-degrees and "low" in other mountain locations. However, the forecasters reminder skiers, snowmobilers and others that it's still possible to trigger a slide that starts a fracture within a weak layer which could start an avalanche. They say during conditions like this natural slides are unlikely, but people can still trigger a slide. 

For Northwest Montana, the Flathead Avalanche Center has also been reporting "moderate" avalanche risk for the Flathead and Glacier National Park backcountry, as well as the Kootenai. 

Both centers are assessing conditions today and will issue an updated forecast on Friday. 

In Southwest Montana, the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center was also reporting "moderate" avalanche danger on Thursday morning, but warning people to stay off steep slopes because of the changing conditions. 

The Daily Interlake reports the resort is seeing a 14% jump in business so far this season, with early season snow helping to get the mountain off to a robust start in the weeks leading up to the important Christmas break. 

By Friday morning, the resort had more than five feet of snow at the summit, with more snow forecast right before Christmas. 

Day passes at Whitefish Mountain Resort are $67 this year, although resort managers say many people take advantage of a variety of discounts. But even at that price, Whitefish Mountain is still considerably cheaper than other ski resorts in the West, including across the border in British Columbia, which is drawing an increasing number of Canadian skiers to Whitefish. 

Lookout Pass photo

Skiers had been hoping to hit the slopes first thing Sunday morning, but the power shut operations down until about 2:30 in the afternoon. Lookout managers say Avista, which provides power to the resort, had problems to work out, but managed to get electricity restored by early afternoon. That allowed some skiing before darkness fell. 

On the resort's Facebook page, Lookout operators say they gave out vouchers who had purchased lift tickets for the day but weren't able to ski because of the outage. And they advised anyone who didn't receive a voucher to contact the resort. 

Lookout managers say they expect full operations, with several inches more of new snow in the forecast Monday with all lifts set to operate. The resort's Christmas season, with openings every day, starts December 19th and runs through January 7th. 

Snowmobiling has been a popular activity in Yellowstone for decades, but that's about to change next year- YNP photo by Jim Peaco

Saturday the park opened for the winter season following an operating plan that's identical to the approach that's been taken the last 3-years while park administrators try and hammer out a new policy for over-snow travel into the park during the winter months. Under the rule, that allows for up to 318-commercially guided, "best available technology" snowmobiles and as many as 78-commercial snow coaches into the park each day. 

But the new rules are expected to go into effect for next year. Yellowstone administrators plan to issue a Final Environmental Impact Statement and proposed rules that would begin for the 2013-2014 winter season a year from now. 

Under the winter operations, snowmobiles and coaches can enter the park's interior from the North, West and South entrances. Facilities at Old Faithful opened this weekend, with the snow lodge and cabins opening on December 18th. Mammoth Hot Springs will open on the 20th. 

This fall's competition is pitting 32 of the best ski resorts in North American against one another in an effort to find the best place to ski, as voted by the magazine's readers. The runoff is setup similar to the NCAA's college basketball brackets with four regions, Big East, Rocky Mountain West, Far West and the Great White North.

Whitefish Mountain is competing in the "Back-Scratcher Region" against none other than the legendary Whistler Resort in British Columbia. Not only is Whitefish considerably smaller, but doesn't have the noterity Whistler gained hosting the Winter Olympics.

But Whitefish Mountain isn't giving up easily, having launched a it's own "point by point" attack on Facebook. The benefits run from the cost of a season pass to receiving snow instead of rain.

Voting runs Wednesday and Thursday in the Whitefish versus Whistler bracket on the Powder Magazine page.