It’s hard to believe that we have already been in Whitefish for a month and a half. We continue to have a great time here and fall further in love with this area each day. We have continued to ski a lot but have also had time to make new friends and explore the area further. Living in a ski town this winter has also provided us with opportunities to try new things we likely would have never done in Virginia. Here are the top ten.
Snowshoeing
We decided to take a day off from skiing one day to try snowshoeing. Several friends have told us how fun snowshoeing was, so we were really looking forward to giving it a try. They were right – we all loved it. We went on a ranger-led hike in Glacier National Park and had a great time. It was snowing the entire time we were hiking, so we were surrounded by a beautiful winter wonderland. We were not able to see the towering peaks of the Livingston Range above Lake McDonald but we could sense the vastness of the park around us. We cannot wait to snowshoe again and to visit the park in the summer (hopefully not at the same time!).
Ice Skating
We have made some great new friends here who were also traveling full time in an RV before deciding to stay in this area. They have two kids the same age as Smith and Archer that ice skate a lot. They invited Smith and Archer to go skating one day. Smith and Archer have only skated “on wax” at a mall back in Virginia, so they were excited to give real ice skating a try for the first time here in Whitefish. They ended up doing great. Jamie also gave it a shot and only ended up on her butt once. When I asked Archer how mom did, her response was, “Amaze-balls.”
Nordic Skiing
Nordic skiing is what you call cross country skiing when you live in the mountains (or you want to sound cool). At least, that’s what I think it is. Either way, there is a Nordic skiing club on a golf course about a mile from the house we are renting for the winter in Whitefish. We all decided to give it a try for the first time ever and had a blast. Sliding around on those skinny skis is not as easy as it looks but I think we all did great. It’s great exercise and provides a great excuse to get outside in the cold. The kids liked it enough that they now want their own sets of cross country skis and want to join the group to ski every week next year.
Snowboarding
There is only one person in this family crazy and brave enough to try making the switch from skiing to snowboarding and her name isn’t dad. Archer decided that the grass was greener in snowboarding land, so she rented a board and took two days of lessons. She ended up doing great and looked really cool carving down the mountain. However, she picked a powder day to learn how to snowboard and she knew Smith and I were up higher on the mountain diving into the deep stuff. That quickly brought her back to skiing. I would be she gets back on a board before it’s all over for us in Whitefish though.
Trail Running in Snow
At first, I was worried about spending ten weeks in a place where snow stays on the ground all winter. I love running, especially on trails. It is even safe to say that I am pretty much addicted to running. As Archer told me today, “You get crazy if you don’t get to go running for a while.” I have run in the snow before but not on trails. There is a great trail, the Whitefish Trail, about three quarters of a mile from where we are staying, so I figured I would give it a shot. It turns out that I love running on snow-covered trails. I use little spikes on my shoes, Yaktrax, to help me stick to the snow and ice so I haven’t busted my butt yet. The grizzlies are still asleep too, so winter trail running sounds pretty safe to me.
Tree Skiing and Powder
Jamie and the kids have skied, almost exclusively, in the east until this year. Their idea of powder skiing in trees was wandering a couple feet off a groomed run after a couple inches of snow in West Virginia. I shared the same view until some friends dragged me into some trees in Jackson Hole while it was snowing a foot a day. Whitefish is known for its huge areas of tree skiing and there is plenty of powder to go around here. There were only four days where it didn’t snow on the ski hill this January..
Smith and Archer have quickly taken to tree skiing and really love it. They are becoming really good skiers and I know that the day I can no longer keep up with them is near. Some of the best skiing I have ever experienced has been in the trees at Whitefish on a powder day. Jamie does not yet have the desire to drop into anything steep, deep or full of trees. Tree skiing is not always sunshine and unicorns, though. Tree wells (the unconsolidated snow around the base of a tree that can suck you in like a trap and suffocate you) are a big concern here in Whitefish, so we take every chance we can to remind and teach the kids about them. The kids have also been to a couple ski patrol demonstrations to learn more about tree wells too. Now all we have to do is convince Jamie to get out there in the powdery trees.
Skinning
Whitefish is the first ski resort that I have been to where there are people skiing uphill most every day. It turns out that people climb the mountain and ski down before work every morning (before the resort even opens). Apparently, you appreciate skiing much more if you “earn your turns.” That all sounds pretty awesome to me, so I had to give it a try. I found a place in Kalispell, Rocky Mountain Outfitters, that rented alpine touring (AT) skis and boots. AT skis release the heel of your boot so you can ski uphill and allow you to lock it back down when skiing downhill. In order to climb uphill, you need to attach large pieces of felt to the bottom of your skis called skins that slide easily in one direction but grab the snow in the other. It’s amazing how well you stick with skins, even when going up steep slopes.
I was excited to try skinning up the mountain for the first time. The only problem I had was that I chose a powder day to try it out (the same day Archer tried snowboarding for the first time). Climbing the mountain was already hard work because it was steep. The deep snow made it even more challenging. I kept popping out of my bindings when my skis rotated and it was really hard to get them back on. In order to clip into an AT binding, you have to line two small metal pins on the binding up to two small holes in your boots. That is really hard to do when you are standing in snow halfway up your shins. I told the guys at the ski shop about this when I returned the skis and they asked, “Did you lock the front binding into touring mode?” My response, “What is touring mode?”, was a dead giveaway as to why it didn’t work out for me that day. Oh well, now I know for next time!
Hiking to Ski
One of the advantages of living in a ski town is that you have more time to explore the mountain. You don’t have to worry about squeezing in as many runs in a day as possible. That opens up new options like skinning uphill or hiking to find new terrain. One of my new friends in town I ski with took me on my first backcountry hike one day to find some fresh powder. We hiked up Hellroaring Peak adjacent to the resort. It was a bear hiking uphill in ski boots, but we followed a trail established by other skiers called a boot pack. We hiked for a half an hour, gaining 500 feet of vertical, and found a huge area of untouched snow. It was awesome. Too bad my ski caught the top of a tree under the snow causing me to fall, ass over teakettle, down a good portion of the best part!
I knew there were some smaller areas to hike that were in-bounds, so I asked Smith and Archer if they wanted to check it out one day. Smith was tired that day but Archer was definitely game for a new adventure. We hiked up an area some call Mount Lodi or the Enchanted Forest. The hike was only five or ten minutes but we found an area of great skiing with deep powder that hadn’t seen many people. Archer and I loved it and can’t wait to take Smith there. It is pretty neat to be skiing runs not on the trail map that have names the locals have come up with over the years.
Black Diamonds and More
We had all skied black diamonds (expert slopes) before coming out west but Jamie and the kids had only skied them back east. Black diamonds quickly become a different ballgame out west. The runs out here are steeper, longer, and more difficult than anything they had seen in the east. At first, Jamie was not a fan of the “Montana curve” of rating slopes as the intermediate runs felt like expert runs back home. She is now much more confident on skis, so it doesn’t bother her nearly as much. She has already skied a couple black diamonds here at Whitefish and I think she is slowly becoming a Montanan.
Smith and Archer’s skiing has really progressed this year. That’s probably a combination of the great instructor they have in their weekly development group classes and the 30+ days of skiing they have already gotten in this year. They regularly ski black diamonds with me now and seem to prefer them. I have even gotten them into more than that. As much as I want to think I have a good sense of direction, I don’t without a map. We went exploring one day and went through some gates to find some new territory. I quickly realized that the runs we were on were much harder than anything we had done yet. We got to ski areas of really steep and tight trees and chutes through some small clifflines. When we checked the trail map at the end of the day, we realized that we had skied two double black diamonds (no joke expert slopes). Smith and Archer did great and were psyched that they sent some of the hardest slopes on the mountain.
Deciding to Move
We are really glad that we chose to stay in Whitefish as we parked the Airstream for the winter. Jamie and I have commented to one another on several occasions that this place just feels like our kind of place – it just feels right. So, last but not least first, we decided to go out on a limb and buy a house and stay here. We did this without a ton of planning (at least for me) and without jobs. Those that know me well will tell you that level of spontaneity is a pretty big first for me. Following your dreams feels great but, if I am being honest, it is also a bit scary sometimes.
Archer knew it all along as she would say that we were going to move here before any of us even saw it. We should have believed her months ago so I could start planning. We will continue our journey on the Airstream in the spring but, come June, she will be parked at our new home in Whitefish, Montana. Now, in the meantime, who’s hiring?!
Amazing J. Loved every word and hey the world is flat now. You can do just about anything from anywhere. Something amazing is going to show up for you!
I LOVE IT!!!!