Whitefish Mountain Resort

Whitefish Mountain Resort, aka Big Mountain, has been around for over 60 years and yet the majority of skiers (unlike EpicSki members) have never heard of it.  3000 acres of varied terrain, from beginner areas with a magic carpet, to long sweeping cruisers, to tree skiing for the timid or the zealot, should keep everyone happy.  A "real town", not a Walt Disney stage set, has great restaurants and night life.  The prices are incredibly low for a resort of this size as well.  Crowds of the kind seen at other areas are non-existent and even during the Christmas rush at the most popular lift you are unlikely to spend more than 10 minutes in line.  Outside of that period, the norm is skiing right onto the lift unless it's a powder day, when the whole town shows up and you might have to wait about 5 minutes.  Friendly locals, plus a free mountain tour make you feel welcome right from the beginning.

The downside is fog, but locals will tell you that you can conquer it by staying close to the tree side of the trail or staying in the trees themselves.  When it's a clear day, the views into Glacier National Park, Canada, and Idaho are truly outstanding. 

ADDENDUM FROM A THREAD AT A LATER DATE (Sorry for any redundancies):
 

Our snow is not always the light fluffy blow away stuff you can see in Utah.  Sometimes it is, but mostly it has a somewhat heavier, stay put, consistency.  On the other hand, it's not "Sierra cement".  It's dry most of the time, but not so dry that it blows away before you can get to ski it.

Crowds, aside from Christmas, are negligible.  We bitch if we have to wait for a chair AT ALL midweek.  Saturdays are busy, schedule your arrival and departure for Saturdays.  Sundays are not that bad at all, most folks locally are in church until noon or so. 

EXCELLENT place for intermediates (big category, however, you need to tie down your "level" (1-9) a bit).  There are long cruising runs 360 degrees off the summit.  The north side (back) always has outstanding snow conditions due to its exposure.  The main slope to get to that part of the mountain can be busy ("Fill Slope" or "Ant Hill"). 

EXCELLENT place to learn to ski in trees.  There are the little trees in the "tree farm" on the back -- gentle slope, widely spaced by January (the smaller trees are completely buried by then).  There are widely spaced trees with a bit of incline on Good Medicine, widely spaced trees with more incline on Elephant's Graveyard.  Much tighter trees in Windowpane, but islands of openness so that you can test them out.  Very tight trees in Connie's Coulee, Back Nine, Teepee Town, et al.

FOR THE THRILL SEEKERS, there is the East Rim area, east side of it has North Bowl Chute and some cliffs.  Then there is Picture Chutes over in Hellroaring Basin.  You can escape those cliffs by a detour over to Gray's Golf Course where there is steepness without the stone cliffs of PC.  Big Horn is for those who want the short thrill of the drop in, following by (I understand) tamer stuff. 

BUMPS are on Black Bear and Marmot.  Gentler bumps are on Middle Mully's.  Occasional bumps are on No Name and Heap Steep, depending on conditions.  

"Expert" terrain for intermediates is Moose, Heaven, Big Face.

There is a whole separate "terrain park" area, off its own chair, for those who like that.  However, there is no more superpipe.

There are also separate beginner areas.

I don't really know too much about slopeside accommodations, other than that they exist. Hibernation House is more of a hostel, then there are the private condos and Morning Eagle facility that are high end.  Most of the night action is in town, so you need to make a choice about staying slopeside or in town.  There is a Snow Bus if you would like to avoid a rental car, but it runs only every 1/2 to 1 hour. 

Transport to the area is flying into Glacier Park International airport (FCA) or by train.  The distance from Glacier in minutes to the ski area is 20-25 depending on road conditions, only about 15 minutes to the town of Whitefish.  The train stops right in Whitefish.  Some of the hotels have shuttle arrangements possible, as do some of the B&B's.  Two central booking efforts would be the mountain (which only books to its own facilities) or Flathead Travel (best to talk to them in person -- they have bulk airfares available as well). 

I don't know anything about the kids training, having a grown kid who came here as a racer.  They've got a Magic Carpet area for them, that's all I know. 

The "tone" of the place is NOT "Vail" or "Deer Valley".  It's NOT GLITZ.  Leave the fur and Bogner at home.  It's also not "cowboy" (we're logging history and trains, not cows).  We're more of the "functional" crowd.

Telemark skiing and backcountry skiing is big here, as is facial hair. 

Oh yeah, and we have FOG.  That can be a big issue for some, but it keeps the snow from being baked by sun, so the snow quality lasts longer.  When we don't have fog, we have spectacular scenery, with 360 degree views (see some of my pictures in the reviews section).  We also have these neat things called snowghosts, a product of the moisture in cold air freezing to anything in its vicinity.  The kids always enjoy that.