Whitefish, Montana...

Mon 13 Dec - we left Ralston and drove to Whitefish, Montana, USA in 7 hours with a few stops on the way. The drive was fairly painless as the roads were so empty. We arrived at the house we have hired on Big Mountain at 7pm and friends Noo and Richard kindly had tea ready for us all. After a tour round the house, which is brilliant and very comfortable, we ate supper and jumped into the hot tub. The house has 6 levels going from the garage to boot room/den/bedroom/washroom to lounge/kitchen/dinning room to king bedroom to gallery & 2nd king bedroom - more than enough room for us all. Together with 3 balconies and small patio with hot tub where you can ski from our backdoor onto the slopes.

Unfortunately Tue was a day of rain so it became our admin day and food shop. Kalispell is approx 20mins down the road and has all the large shops that you need, along with Churches for every religion. Whitefish is also a lovely town with many boutiques and local small shops.

Wed we were up and ready for skiing, although the lifts do not open until 9.30am so a reasonable start to the day. We spent several hours on Chipmunk (green run) in order to get our ski legs back and then took several high runs including Home Again which took us to our back door - fantastic.

So we have skied Wed/Thu/Fri and the weather each day has improved - today we skied in glorious sunshine still with not many people on the slopes. All the lift guys are really helpful and friendly and the amenities are great, along with gorgeous scenery. Tomorrow it is Tegan's birthday so a surprise party has been ordered by the 6year old going on 7!!!