It has felt like spring lately, but the 2021-22 ski season is almost here. Whitefish Mountain Resort is scheduled to start spinning its lifts on Tuesday, Dec. 7.

Resort officials are hopeful that despite recent warm weather that has left the lower slopes of Big Mountain dry, there will be enough snow to start the season on time. Fortunately, a robust snowstorm arrived Saturday and was expected to deliver up to a foot of powder in the mountains — possibly enough to keep the resort on track.

“It’s a little disappointing at the moment, to be honest,” Public Relations Manager Chad Sokol said on Wednesday as record temperatures soared into the upper 50s. “We’re definitely expecting to start making snow again once the temperatures drop.”

As is often the case on opening day, Sokol expects only a few of the lifts will be running on Tuesday, most likely Chairs 7 and possibly 11. Chair 1 probably will be used to download skiers and boarders on the front side of Big Mountain, Sokol predicted.

He urged the public to stay tuned on the Whitefish Mountain Resort website and social media pages for updates regarding opening day.

Although the weak snowpack has put a damper on the start of the season this year, Sokol was excited to share many changes that are taking place at Whitefish Mountain Resort this season.

“We have all kinds of new improvements that we are very excited to unveil this season,” he said.

Probably the most notable is the relocation of Chair 8 serving the Hellroaring Basin.

Over the summer, crews, including a helicopter, moved Chair 8 so that the base is now at Grand Junction and the top of the lift now sits at the intersection of Toni Matt and Big Ravine.

“We think that will really improve overall mountain flow,” Sokol said.

In its new location, Chair 8 gives skiers and riders the chance to either turn back into Hellroaring Basin or access other areas of the mountain. In its old location, there was no way to return directly to the basin from Chair 8.

The reconfiguration of Chair 8 cost the resort $2 million.

As part of the effort to improve the Hellroaring Basin experience, two more runs have been added to the area. The bottom of Hellfire, which used to be an icy outrun, has been eliminated by the new location of the chairlift base.

“We think people will like the new location,” Sokol said. “We’re definitely excited about that.”

WHITEFISH MOUNTAIN Resort sold a record number of season passes for the sixth season in a row this year. As the mountain’s popularity continues to grow, Whitefish is preparing to add its largest chairlift yet: Chair 4, Big Mountain’s first six-pack chair, is expected to be operational for the 2022-2023 season.

Sokol said crews “laid some groundwork” for the new chair over the summer, mostly by moving dirt between the existing Chair 4, Chair 10 and the Big Easy Conveyor Carpet.

The high-speed “Snow Ghost Express” will be the first lift to carry riders directly from the Base Lodge to the top of the mountain.

Other changes for this season are taking place off the slopes.

Sokol said the resort cleared space for roughly 180 new parking spots spread between the Aspen and Willowtail lots.

The mountain also added five new snow-making guns, four of them under Chair 6 on the Chipmunk run to create good conditions for beginners learning to ski in that area.

One final adjustment this season will be changes to the mountain’s Covid-19 policies: the singles line will be back after a hiatus last season, and masks will be “strongly encouraged,” but not required, in crowded spaces such as lift lines.

Sokol called the approach a “return to normal.”

IN LAKESIDE, the ski experience also is expected to stay relatively normal this season, despite major changes in Blacktail Mountain Ski Area’s administration.

Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort in Washington purchased Blacktail at the end of November and placed longtime employee Jessica Wood in the general manager position.

Blacktail also got a new marketing director, Karie Helms, who said that despite these changes, “everything will stay the same this year.”

Helms said passes and lift tickets won’t see any price increases this season, and all pre-purchased passes from before the sale will be honored.

All of the staff at Blacktail will be staying on, too, Helms said.

“We’re operating as usual,” she stressed.

The only change is a passholder benefit for Blacktail skiers, who can now use their passes at Mission Ridge in Wenatchee, Washington.

In Lakeside, meanwhile, Helms said opening day is targeted for Dec. 22, but the lifts could start running as early as Dec. 17, weather permitting.

Blacktail is “all organic,” she explained; the ski area doesn’t use any artificial snow-making. As a result, Helms said, “we’re very much dependent on Mother Nature.”

As for Covid-19 protocols on Blacktail, Helms said “Jessie [Wood] is very adamant about following CDC guidelines.”

Right now, masks won’t be required, but Helms said Blacktail will enforce whatever guidelines are most up-to-date when opening day comes around.

BLACKTAIL’S NORDIC neighbor, the North Shore Nordic Club, is optimistic about the upcoming cross-country ski season in spite of the current conditions.

“It should be a great ski season,” predicted Don Bauder, who runs the organization with Dave Hadden.

The club grooms trails on Blacktail Mountain and at the Bigfork Community Nordic Center. Bauder said they moved their grooming equipment up to the trail on Blacktail last week, and they’re hopeful cross-country skiing could get underway at the higher elevations in the next week.

The Bigfork trails don’t look like they’ll open anytime soon, Hadden said, but he expects them to be popular once the season gets underway. Last year, he said, the pandemic spurred immense interest in cross-country skiing.

Now, Hadden hopes that interest carries over into supporting the club, which runs on donations and volunteer work.

Hadden said the North Shore Nordic Club is in its 15th season, but multiple board members are looking to retire.

“We could really use people who have some extra time and are dedicated to making sure this continues,” Hadden said.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at 406-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.