Headed up there for a couple weeks in Jan. Never been to this part of MT or skied Whitefish. Anyone have comments/suggestions on the area and/or mountain?

Only been in the summer so I can help you as far as skiing but its one of my favorite places ever. Lot of great places to eat right there in town and definitely hit up Great Northern Brewing Company for some damn good beer after a day on the slopes. I'm in the early stages of planning going back there and by that I mean deciding if I want to do another summer trip up there or go in the winter this next time.

Consider me jealous.

I'm staying four nights in Columbia Falls next summer

Trying to figure out where I should spend each day

Considering whitefish mntn and maybe Telly Lake on one of the days.. or I could head north to Polebridge area for the day

Any suggestions since you have been up there in the summer?

I also posted in another thread in this travel section regarding glacier national Park .. appreciate any advice or ideas you can offer

Histag10 is banned and asked me to post this for her. She said her boss recommends: The Original Ciao Mambo for REALLY GREAT italian.

Great Northern Bar. He has seen many celebrities in there, but its pretty laid back, and a great atmosphere

If staying at the Grouse Mountain Lodge, they have a shuttle that runs to the downtown area every 30 minutes or so for free, so you can easily get to the bars and restaurants, and have a free ride home. You can call and they will pick you up for free too

He also said that it has the best skiing in Montana, and is similar to Jackson Hole, but larger with fewer crowds.

I can really only speak to the Whitefish area because thats where we stayed the whole time and drove to Glacier each day. Its not far at all and Whitefish had all we ever needed.

Don't know if you already have lodging but if not look into the Garden Wall Inn. If if you do I would say to look into it. The place itself is small and cozy but the 2 innkeepers make it awesome. The breakfast are unreal and Chris can tell you anything you need to know about hiking Glacier, get you reservations at places around town etc. They even have bear spray you can borrow (hopefully not use). Even if you cant stay there the whole time 2 days would be worth it. We also stayed in the Good Medicine Lodge part of the time and it was nice as well but Garden Wall is in a league of its own. Good Medicine looks like its in the country on the website but its in the middle of town and neighborhood if that matters. That being said There was nice 8 point buck right behind the wooden fence we watched from our 2nd floor room. They also have a nice hot tub with a good view of the mountain.

The main street in town has some cool bars and places to eat. You really cant go wrong at any of them if you walk down the street and drop in when you see something you like. Some of our favorites which were more casual were Cr**** Range and Buffalo Grill (which isn't on that main street but not far). There are some nicer places like Tupelo Grill and Cafe Kandahar as well as several others. One day we went over to the other side of the park and went to Two Sister's Cafe in Babb. If over on that side I recommend it. I believe the owners have an Aggie connection as well. There was definitely some Aggie stuff in there which was cool. The coffee place on main street also had very good stuff.

As I mentioned before we loved Great Northern Brewing. Its a very cool building with good beer. I still look for ways to get it down here to me in Texas. Casey's was also a pretty cool place. The bartender or somebody (got a little hazy) told us that one of the owners of facebook or another big website like that (again, hazy) was a part owner. If you want what felt like a more local scene go to Bulldog's it's more of dive but we had a good time.

We drove up to resort one afternoon and I walked around the lake in the morning and had the place to myself. Saw a lot of deer. I played golf one day at Whitefish Lake Golf Club and had a great time. I played as a single about midday and had the place to myself. Some cool views of the mountain and a lot of wildlife including another nice buck going down a fairway.

As far as Glacier, there was a lot of good info on the other thread as well as older ones. I would also say though it will be a little more crowded than some others I thought the hike from Sun Rift Gorge to Victoria Falls was awesome and worth a little more of the crowds. Start at the gorge which was cool in itself then past some smaller falls, around the lake with some great views and you can go right down to the water and cool/cold off, then on to Columbia Falls and on to Victoria Falls which is a pretty awesome site. The picture of my wife and I standing at the bottom is still the wallpaper on my desktop.

So not knowing exactly what your looking for there are some of my recommendations. If I can help with anything else just ask. As you can tell I loved it am ready to go back. Looking forward to the report on the winter trip as it may help me make my decision on when to go back.

Thanks for all the info, that mainly hits what I'm looking for (food/bars) My wife has a rich uncle who rents a ski in/out house every year where we'll be staying. We'll be there for 2 weeks. Planning on skiing everyday as this will probably be my only days in the mountains this year since I left Colorado, but might look for something to do if I take a day or two off. Might have to look into snowmobiling.
Wade, you can't mention a banning without sharing what the offense was.

She referenced something on the GB about another poster's family that is referenced quite often (the poster even quoted it laughing about it), and staff sent her to banned camp until Friday.

Jock 07 said:

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Thanks for all the info, that mainly hits what I'm looking for (food/bars) My wife has a rich uncle who rents a ski in/out house every year where we'll be staying. We'll be there for 2 weeks. Planning on skiing everyday as this will probably be my only days in the mountains this year since I left Colorado, but might look for something to do if I take a day or two off. Might have to look into snowmobiling.
Wade, you can't mention a banning without sharing what the offense was.

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That'll be a helluva trip! Make sure and let us know about when you get back.

Also just noticed my post was edited, not that you couldn't figure it out but the place is Cr a g g y Range.

Jock as a fellow poster on the beer thread I think you'll really enjoy Great Northern Brewing. Cool place to hang out, good beers, and cool people. Plus you'll get to have some of the winter seasonals which sounded good but obviously weren't there when I was.

There was another brewery that was just getting opened when we were there and we went to see it but it wasn't open. Not sure if its still around or what but it was in a little strip mall type place. I'll see if I can find out if its still around or what. The grocery store had a decent selection too and you can probably find places with even more selection that I just never needed to.

Looks like its called Bonsai and they have an actual place now. Don't know much other than that. There facebook page looks . . . interesting.

Jock, my boss also said that while it is a small town (5-7k), Whitefish has a ton of restaurants and bars in all price ranges.

He said it's the best skiing in Montana, and is one of the least known places. Not too trendy, but not too old/retired

Sweet really looking forward to it. Only skied red lodge and big sky when I was living in ND. Absolutely loved big sky.

Enjoyed the trip for the most part. Apparently the mountain is prone to low visibility at the top. Started out damn cold, high around 3 with lows -teens with wind chills even lower. Then inexplicably it warmed up to above freezing right before I left and even rained. Was above the clouds up top a couple times which was pretty cool. I'd go back to big sky before whitefish if I was planning the trip. The ski in/ski out lodging was nice. Never really made it down into town other than to the grocery store and to buy beer. Pretty much ate most of our meals either on the mountain or at the house so can't speak to the restaurants.

I took a guys trip to whitefish a number of years ago and really enjoyed it. An Aggie buddy used to be their director of marketing. Really enjoyed the mountain but I agree that there could be some visibility issues at times. But it's a great lesser known mountain that's wide open once you get up there. I enjoyed Kalispell but we too mostly stayed on the mountain once we got beer and groceries and one nice meal in town.

There's a good bar at the base that's a perfect apres ski, complete around in your boots and pound pitchers kind of bar. Good burgers too.

MW13 said:

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As far as Glacier, there was a lot of good info on the other thread as well as older ones. I would also say though it will be a little more crowded than some others I thought the hike from Sun Rift Gorge to Victoria Falls was awesome and worth a little more of the crowds. Start at the gorge which was cool in itself then past some smaller falls, around the lake with some great views and you can go right down to the water and cool/cold off, then on to Columbia Falls and on to Victoria Falls which is a pretty awesome site. The picture of my wife and I standing at the bottom is still the wallpaper on my desktop.

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Hi there,

I'm still finalizing my plans for our trip in July - but very interested in this hike. Tried to find it but not sure where it is..
I found Sunrift Gorge on google maps - on the NW side of Saint Mary Lake. But couldn't figure out where the falls were - I see Baring Falls and Baring creek that takes you to the lake area.. is that the right direction?

Also - about how long is this hike? We are hoping to find 2-4 hour hikes (4 kids ages 9-15) with us so too long might be too much.

Appreciate the advice - definitely looking for a photo that would be good enough to look at as desktop wallpaper!

Sorry its Virginia Falls not Victoria not sure why I typed that.

If you start at Sunrift Gorge (which I thought was cool and I'd recommend) its pretty easy to follow the park map. I also think it would be great for the ages you mentioned.

This should help too.

Enjoy your trip. It will be awesome.

awesome - I've got it on my agenda - will check out Sun Point Nature Trail near there as well.
If you know of other parts of Glacier - especially Two Medicine or Waterton - I'm still figuring out our plans there.. (and on the road between West and East Glacier.. I think there are some pull offs to check out but not sure which are the best)