The view from the 7,000-foot summit of Big Mountain is a 360-degree, full-sensory experience. A scattering of icy lakes glints to the south. Great swaths of dark forests march due west toward Idaho. And you can see, feel and smell the swell of high, cold mountains in every direction. Canada is only an hour's drive northwest, and the deep vastness of Glacier National Park is a similar distance to the northeast. "Fabulous scenery," one reader says, then adds "when you can actually see it." There is really only one consistent complaint about the resort, and skiers spell it "F-O-G," often followed by several exclamation points. One hardcore begrudgingly admits it's "not the sunniest place I've been to." Another reader is blunter, calling it "nasty, cloudy and gray." But the flip side is heaps of snow. Locals declare a drought if Big Mountain doesn't get eight inches a night (it averages 330 inches per year). This makes for endless powder in the trees of the North Side, great groomers like Inspiration and Russ' Street and enough coverage to open the saucy steeps of East Rim and Hell-Roaring Basin. Big Mountain's underused 3,000 acres of bounty is considered both "a best-kept secret" and an "excellent value" (lodging rates average less than $100/night for two, in high season, slopeside). Nearby Whitefish (15 minutes) is a charming and genuine frontier town that one reader compliments for its "quaint Western feel, like Aspen 30 years ago." Its many lodges, restaurants and bars keep prices competitive and fill in the village's gaps in amenities and nightlife.
