Snowy delights

With 30 inches at summit, Big Mountain will partially open early

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

Let's hear it for winter.

The Big Mountain ski resort will partially open a full week early. The resort had originally planned to open on Nov. 24, but with good early season snowfall and a 30-inch settled base at the summit, resort management decided to begin limited operations on Nov. 19, five days earlier than originally planned.

Limited skiing and snowboarding will be available from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Chair 7 (North Face, Big Creek Express) with 10 marked runs. There is a 12-inch settled base at the bottom of Chair 7. No beginner access is available at this point, and the resort will open additional trails and lifts as conditions permit, the resort said in a prepared release.

Snow has been streaming into the high country since the beginning of the month, but made it to the valley floor Monday. Columbia Falls saw about an inch. Higher elevations, however, were measuring it by the foot.

Many of Glacier National Park's roads are now closed down to winter locations. The Many Glacier and Two Medicine Roads are now closed at the Park boundary as the east side of the Park was seeing blowing and drifting snow.

Late last week the Park had actually reopened the Many Glacier Road because snow had melted off of it. It also had the Two Medicine Road open to Running Eagle Falls as weather moderated. That changed over the weekend.

The Sun Road, as of presstime, was closed at the foot of St. Mary Lake, but was still open to Avalanche Creek on the west side. The Avalanche opening was due in part to the need for a contractor to get up to the Loop. Avalanche had about two inches of snow, said Park spokeswoman Amy Vanderbilt.

A front blew in Sunday, dumping more snow on the Park, particularly in the high country.

There still isn't enough snow to ski on at lower elevations, but it's getting there. West Glacier was a winter wonderland on Sunday, with more snow dumping in.

There's quite a bit of snow in the higher elevations in Glacier. The West Flattop Snotel inside the Park measured about 27 inches of snow and the Many Glacier Snotel recorded about 5 inches of snow on the ground, though more was falling Monday, with winter storm warnings along the Rocky Mountain Front.

The weekend forecast calls for a chance of freezing fog in the valleys in the morning and partly cloudy skies, with highs in the mid-30s.