Celebrating Winter

Winter Carnival in Whitefish, Montana is one of my favorite celebrations. For the past couple of years I've made it a long weekend of skiing, beer drinking, and general celebration of all the things I love about Montana and winter. I have been lucky enough to ski at Big Mountain (I just can't call it Whitefish Mountain Resort) frequently for the past few years. The terrain, scenery, and snow are some of the best in the state, in my opinion.

If you've ever skied Big, you know that there is commonly a serious inversion of fog that can make it nearly impossible to see on some days. All the days of inversion and fog are worth it when you get a bluebird day on the mountain which happened on Saturday. So. Extremely. Happy.

Glacier National Park is one of my favorite places in the world to begin with, but seeing it from the top of Big Mountain covered in snow was just amazing. Friday and Saturday were both a balmy -5 degrees which was manageable with this view and several pit stops to drink a PBR with the group of Yeti's and Team Canada.

The only let down this year was that the beer barter was cancelled. Typically the event is a talent show after the parade with beer provided and sold by Great Northern Brewing Company. I was pretty bummed to see this event cancelled. Fingers crossed for next year. To those who haven't been before or went this year and didn't get to experience the beer barter, here is a photo from last year where we were watching from the roof of Great Northern Brewing Company:

During my three day getaway I was able to visit several eateries and bars to enjoy some of my old and new favorite items.

My go-to's:
1) Bacon cheeseburger and fries - The Bulldog Saloon. You can't beat watching the Winter Olympics and eating burgers with a pitcher of PBR after a cold day on the mountain. 
2) Green smoothies and Americanos - Cowgirl Coffee. 
3) Breakfast Burritos- Alpine Village Market

New favorites:
1) Bluebird Double IPA- Great Northern Brewing Company
2) The Vespa- Latitude 48. Gin and champagne in the same drink, yes please.
3) Chubbie Yuppie scramble - Loula's

Overall it was a successful long weekend to Whitefish for Winter Carnival full of great friends, good beer, and mountains. Until next time.