I would like to suggest one subtle change in how you think about Whitefish, and that is this: It has not gone from a mom-and-pop locals ski hill to a destination resort in the last few years. It has gone from a struggling and somewhat unsuccessful destination ski resort into a more successful one.

In 1947, the people of this town decided building a resort would be a good idea. A few of them were skiers, but most were simply interested in creating a tourism-based economy for the area to augment logging, trapping, and the railroad. The dreams of everyone, including that entire generation of locals, was for Whitefish to become one of the premier ski resorts in the country. We even hosted the National Championships of ski racing in 1949, just two years after opening the first lift. From the very beginning, resort management worked very hard to get people here from all over, pushing especially hard through a deep partnership with the Great Northern Railway to bring people on the train from points east and west. Since that time, this place has gone through countless management strategies and levels of success. It was profitable in part of the late 50s and 60s, declined in the 70s, overrun with Canadian bus tours in the 80s, and succumbed to the lure of outside real estate developers with promises of big money in the 90s before kicking them out.

The past three years here have been amazing for us. Visitation isn’t necessarily up, but it isn’t down, either, and that’s saying a lot in this economy. Employees are happier than ever before, things are running more smoothly, and we’re actually paying off debt instead of incurring more each season. Importantly, real estate development has been entirely erased from our current vision for the place. Our CEO has repeatedly stated that his goal is to make Whitefish Mountain Resort profitable operationally, without having to rely on real estate to make ends meet (which is how we survived many of the past decades). Amazingly, that now seems possible and we couldn’t be happier.

People around here tend to be nervous about what the intentions of the resort are. I think they worry that if we ever had the chance to completely forget about our local customers, we would. That couldn’t be farther from the truth, not only because they account for a solid half of our business, but because our locals are the best locals in the world. People from around the country (and world) come here for two things: amazing snow and terrain without crowds, and the best vibe in the industry.

I say that it has never been a mom and pop locals’ ski hill, but the thing that keeps people coming back is that it has always felt like one, so the mistake is understandable. Striking that delicate balance between success and ruining what we have is a tough job, but its importance is not lost on us.

We hope to be the smallest big resort in the counrty/the biggest little resort in the country for a long time coming.

Donnie Clapp
Public Relations Manager