Whitefish Mountain ranks No. 10 in SKI magazine guide
HEIDI DESCH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 10 months AGO
A skier at Whitefish Mountain Resort.
DEPUTY EDITOR, FEATURES Heidi Desch is the Deputy Editor at the Daily Inter Lake, overseeing coverage of arts, culture, lifestyle, community, and business. Desch leads reporters in developing stories that highlight the people, traditions, and events shaping Northwest Montana, guiding content across print and digital platforms. With more than 20 years of journalism experience, including serving as managing editor of the Whitefish Pilot, Desch is a graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism. She has received multiple Montana Newspaper Association awards, including part of the team leading the Daily Inter Lake to Best Daily Newspaper in Montana Award and the General Excellence Award in 2024 and 2025. IMPACT: Heidi’s work connects readers with stories that deepen the understanding of the community beyond daily news. | September 26, 2017 5:01 PM
SKI magazine has named Whitefish Mountain Resort the 10th best ski resort in its annual rankings.
This is the second top 10 raking for Whitefish, which earned No. 9 in 2015-16. The magazine uses a reader survey to calculate the results for its annual resort guide.
SKI points out that Whitefish Mountain Resort is modest, but growing as it celebrates its 70th anniversary this winter season and set a resort record last winter with 346,000 skier visits.
“It’s clear that Whitefish is in a resort’s sweet spot: still small enough to offer the intimacy that nurtures skiing’s most enduring traits, yet also growing at a pace that brings in enough cash and creative energy to upgrade the place just about every season,” the magazine notes.
Whitefish was the only Montana ski resort to make the top 10 list. Big Sky came in at No. 12.
Readers for SKI’s 30th Resort Guide ranked North American resorts in 10 different categories and provide comments on each resort’s strengths.
Whitefish placed No. 7 for both service and grooming, No. 8 for kid-friendliness, 10th for both character and lodging, No. 16 for dining, No. 20 for snow and challenge, No. 25 for variety and No. 26 for lifts.
Whitefish Mountain Resort CEO Dan Graves said it is an honor to make the top 10, especially considering the resorts included in the top 20 of the list.
“This ranking illustrates our commitment to providing a high level of service to our guests and the fact that our dedicated employees consistently make the experience personal and fun,” Graves said in a press release. “This devotion to service and depth of character extends beyond the resort to all the businesses throughout the community that take care of our visitors and go above and beyond to make them feel welcome.”
Whitefish Mountain Resort is scheduled to open for the 2017-18 season on Dec. 7.
A number of major upgrades are set to be completed for the for season as part of $2.6 million in capital improvements to the resort.
Upgrades include relocating Chair 5 from Ptarmigan Bowl to the East Rim for improved skier access.
The renovation of the historic Ed & Mully’s and Bierstube buildings are also set to improve the mountain’s upper village.
The resort’s previous top SKI magazine rankings were No. 11 in 2016-2017 and 2012-2013.
For more information, www.skiwhitefish.com.
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