Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

August 26, 2019

2073m

Whitefish, MT

The official name of the highest summit near Whitefish ski resort is “Big Mountain”, even though these peaks are rather just large hills. The summit does offer some nice views of the west side of Glacier National Park, and the flat ground of Whitefish and Kalispell to the south. Adam and I decided to pay 17 dollars and take the chairlift to the false summit and walk the last bits to the highest point, on what’s supposed to be the only rest day in between Mt. Stimson and Mt. Cleveland. The hike would require over 600 m elevation gain that we figured would be “too much”.

The decision was spontaneous in the afternoon and we had to rush a bit in order to beat the closing time at 5:30 pm. We made to the ski resort at just after 4:30 pm and purchased the sightseeing tickets. It wasn’t my first time taking a chairlift or tramway to bag a peak. This might considered as “cheating” by most, but my understanding of peak-bagging is to reach the summits by any mean. I don’t care about how I get there, as long as I get there, so using mechanical support is perfectly acceptable. The ride on the chairlift was actually very scenic because we were “lifted” above the trees.

At the upper station we briefly joined the hordes of tourists to check out a viewpoint to get some shots of Mt. Stimson, and then quickly hiked out of the ski resort boundary. On the way up to the true summit we just followed the service roads, but on the way down we found a trail running along the ridge so took a short-cut. The ascent took no more than 20 minutes of round trip.

The ride down was uneventful and then we went straight for a free campground near a river. Adam had spotted that site on the Google satellite images and it turned out to be much better than some official campsites. Connor would join us later that evening to prepare for Mt. Merritt and Mt. Cleveland in the following few days.