Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Even though Glacier is the focal point, the Flathead and the surrounding area presents boundless activities, talk about it here.

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Fairbanks142
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Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by Fairbanks142 »

Hi all, it's been quite a long time since I've been on this forum. Good to see that it's still going strong! In recent years we've been doing trips in Colorado, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Sequoia....but Glacier is the all-time favorite, and we'll be back! Meanwhile, we're planning a ski vacation to Whitefish in late December / early January. Airfare to Kalispell or anywhere close is really expensive. Calgary is the cheapest. For those of you that are familiar with the area in winter, any advice on driving from Calgary vs. Spokane to Whitefish in the winter? Thanks! -Scott
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by teapot57 »

I've never driven from Spokane to Whitefish so can't speak to that route, but have driven from Calgary to Whitefish many times. Crossing the Divide on the Canadian side through Crowsnest Pass and Fernie is our preferred route in the winter time. This would lead you to the border crossing at Eureka, MT, then you would only have about an hour's drive to Whitefish.

As much as I love the drive along the east side of Glacier Park, we have often encountered blowing snow and icy roads traveling this route. Also, this route has less services along the way, which is more of a factor for me in winter versus summer. If you do decide to cross at the Piegan border and drive the East side of Glacier, take the Duck Lake Road to Highway 2. Hwy 89 can be treacherous, especially the section just south of St Mary before Divide Mountain- there is always snow or blowing snow.

With all that being said, we usually watch the road conditions as well as the weather forecast before making a final decision on which route to take.


Montana Road Conditions: http://www.mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/map/mtmap_frame.html

BC Highway Cams: http://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwaycam/p ... w/131.html

Alberta Road Reports: https://511.alberta.ca
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by llholmes1948 »

One possibility that we have used on a trip to Glacier is to fly to Seattle and take the train overnight to Whitefish and later take the train overnight from Whitefish back to Seattle. You would have to factor in the cost of the flight to Seattle and the train fare which may turn out to be more than the flight to Kalispell.

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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by Pizza Bob »

To expand on Lyman's suggestion, you can fly to Seattle or Portland or Spokane and take the train overnight.
Roads do get closed in the winter due to weather conditions -- I would not risk it.

The Whitefish Amtrak station is serviced by Hertz at the station year round, and I think Budget and Dollar
will also deliver rentals cars to the station.
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by PeteE »

I will have to disagree with Lyman and PizzaBob.
And agree with Tina on this subject

Are y'all forgetting that thousands of people drive between both Spokane/Calcary and NW Montana every day of the year?
Canadians drive to Whitefish all winter long. My ex g/f and I used to drive from Missoula to Spokane all year long to shop! arrrgggggg !! :evil:

Traffic doesn't stop around here just because it's winter.
Scott is trying to save money; you guys want to increase his cost by adding a train ride to an already expensive transportation bill.
How much extra cost and time will a round trip train ticket to Seattle or Spokane add to his expenses?
The train wasn't all that cheap the last I looked.

Sure a snow storm might happen the day you arrive.
And imo, it's just as likely the train will have problems and be late as well.

My advice is to get the best deal you can to either Spokane or Calgary and don't worry about the snow.
The only exception I might make would be for someone who has no experience in winter driving conditions.
If that's the case, fly direct to Kalispell and take a cab to Whitefish. If you're skiing, you won't need a car.
The Snow Bus is free and stops at or near all the major hotels.

And there's always trip insurance for the freak things that happen.

pete :wink:

PS
Question, since I don't know.
Does flying to Calgary or Spokane really save that much money when you factor in rental car, meals, and possible motel stay(s) over...
Flying to Kalispell and using cabs and/or free transport provided by the Snow Bus as well as the transport services offered by many of the hotel/motels?
And thus not having to rent a car and spend all that time driving?
A rental car is a waste of money if all you are going to do is come to ski.
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by llholmes1948 »

The only reason I suggested looking at Seattle and the train from there to Whitefish is that it is sometimes dramatically cheaper to fly to Seattle than to Kalispell or Spokane.

You just have to look at the various costs and conveniences or inconveniences and see what works out.

Lyman
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by Jen »

llholmes1948 wrote:The only reason I suggested looking at Seattle and the train from there to Whitefish is that it is sometimes dramatically cheaper to fly to Seattle than to Kalispell or Spokane.

You just have to look at the various costs and conveniences or inconveniences and see what works out.

Lyman
I flew to Spokane in 2012 (September) because the cost was significantly less than FCA.
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by PeteE »

dpratt wrote:I've always found that the flight to Spokane was about $200 less than Kalispell from Chicago's O'Hare. $200 is a lot of money, but to me not nearly worth the 4 hour one-way drive and additional rental car costs. Whether it is worth it or not is a very personal decision that only the specific traveler can make.

Exactly right Doug. People "fixate" on just the airline fare. I, like you, feel my time is worth "something".
And there is also the "marginal cost" issue. I suspect that anyone flying here for Christmas/New Years will be spending several thousand dollars when it's all said and done. So "net net" the $200.00 airfare savings minus any additional expenses, may actually mean saving less than $200. So is the reduced savings dollar amount, a small fraction compared to a couple thousand dollars overall really worth flying to Spokane or Calgary?

You're right though, it is a personal decision.


I personally think that road conditions here in the winter are pretty good. Even during a snow storm, we don't have the traffic that large metro areas do, so you can take it slow and steady and not worry about everyone sliding into you. My commute here on 8 inches of fresh snow on an unplowed road is much less stressful than it was on a nice day in July in the Chicago area. Granted once you hit the Flathead Valley, traffic congestion increases.
And right again about the roads and driving here in the Winter. NW Montana isn't the Yukon Territory. :)
I remember when I moved here from Virginia and first started working for the casino asking, "Are we going to move all those machines and stuff tomorrow? It's going to snow like hell!"
I got a real patient look from my work mate as he said, "If people here waited for the snow to stop, we'd never get anything done.


Just sayin' 8)

pete :wink:
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by here-we-go »

dpratt wrote:I've always found that the flight to Spokane was about $200 less than Kalispell from Chicago's O'Hare. $200 is a lot of money, but to me not nearly worth the 4 hour one-way drive and additional rental car costs. Whether it is worth it or not is a very personal decision that only the specific traveler can make.
It also depends if you are traveling alone or if that $200 savings is x 2 or more people, it adds up.

We are flying to Spokane for our trip in 2½ weeks. It was something like $384 per person on SW to Spokane or well over $600 to Kalispell. Added to that is that the itineraries were terrible time-wise. If we choose the flight itinerary that got us to Apgar at the time we wanted, it was over $700 per ticket. Even adding in 1 add'l night, we came out about $600 ahead and we'll be in Glacier exactly when we'd hoped.
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by PeteE »

here-we-go wrote:
dpratt wrote:I've always found that the flight to Spokane was about $200 less than Kalispell from Chicago's O'Hare. $200 is a lot of money, but to me not nearly worth the 4 hour one-way drive and additional rental car costs. Whether it is worth it or not is a very personal decision that only the specific traveler can make.
It also depends if you are traveling alone or if that $200 savings is x 2 or more people, it adds up.

We are flying to Spokane for our trip in 2½ weeks. It was something like $384 per person on SW to Spokane or well over $600 to Kalispell. Added to that is that the itineraries were terrible time-wise. If we choose the flight itinerary that got us to Apgar at the time we wanted, it was over $700 per ticket. Even adding in 1 add'l night, we came out about $600 ahead and we'll be in Glacier exactly when we'd hoped.
Good point about multiple people. I tend to forget that being single 8)

And It matters quite a bit where you are flying from and the time of year
I flew to Orlando from Kalispell last fall for $510.
Airline fares defy logic at times.

pete :wink:
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by Pizza Bob »

There are certainly many parameters involved in selecting your travel options. Cost
and time are two of the biggies. Risk is another factor to also consider, which is
why I tend to consider Amtrak. While "locals" are able to get thru snowy roads in the winter,
they also are equipped with 4WD vehicles with snow tires and carrying chains, a shovel,
water and a sleeping bag. Folks flying in are at the mercy of what the rental car agency
has in stock -- "but I reserved a 4WD vehicle!!" does not guarantee you will get one.

There was also the time I flew in to FCA a few days before Christmas, or should I say
almost flew in. The flight left Seattle, scheduled to arrive around midnight. We hovered
for half an hour over FCA while the snow plows worked frantically, and turned back and
landed in Seattle at 12:30am . While accomadated on a flight the next day, I still had
to find a hotel near that airport at 1am and pay for it myself (airlines do not compensate
for weather issues).

As Pete indicated and as I readily agree, the roads are passable 95% of the time in the winter.
But when you only have a limited amount of vacation time, do you want to take the chance
you'll be impacted by that other 5% of the time? That is simply one of the things
to consider in your travels.
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by daveparker »

I have lived here for 20+ years now and made the trip to just about anywhere you can think of during just about anytime of the year. The drive from Spokane is not bad most of the time during the winter and it is less expensive, but just remember you are going to have to rent a car in Spokane and I have not seen many unlimited miles deals in this area for a couple of years now. So you have to take that into account. As far as the roads 99% of the time they are no problem, maybe once a year we will have a storm that becomes very difficult to navigate.

I would wait a couple of weeks, set up alerts so that you get updates when airfares go down, because they do after the summer travel season. My wife has traveled on the train quite a few times over the last 20 years and believe it or not, during the winter, the schedule gets messed up and delays happen more often than you think, if you are thinking train, go to Spokane and then catch the train in Spokane and pick a car up in Whitefish. Since the increase of oil and coal, Amtrak does get delayed quite often, and of course they have to clear the tracks of snow, just as they do with the roads, but Idaho, Montana and Eastern Washington are pretty good at doing their job, it has to be an exceptional dump to shut us down for a while.

But really sit down and add up the costs on what a car will cost to rent as opposed to flying into FCA and taking a shuttle to the place you are staying, if you keep watching prices, you might be pleasantly surprised at how close the costs really are.
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by here-we-go »

daveparker wrote:but just remember you are going to have to rent a car in Spokane and I have not seen many unlimited miles deals in this area for a couple of years now.
Whew -- I had to go back and double check my car reservation out of Spokane! I booked Hertz and it is unlimited free miles. I honestly can't recall the last time I booked a rental car w/o unlimited, but since I've never rented out of Spokane, I wanted to double check.
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by Fairbanks142 »

Thanks for all of the different perspectives and suggestions! There are 8 of us travelling, and it's over the holidays. So....OUCH! I expected it to be more expensive, but it's crazy....the airfare to FCA is over $1100 per ticket. I really like the idea of the train, but it will take more time and add more potential for delays.

The airfare to Missoula is around $650, and to Calgary it's $450. So we'll save $4000 in airfare overall if we fly to Missoula, and we'll save $5600 by flying to Calgary. (I'm dropping Spokane from consideration based on limited times and routes, and it's no cheaper than Missoula now.)

For the 8 of us, we can get a couple of SUVs for $500 each in either location, with unlimited miles. So for the cars, we'll spend $1000 total....but still save thousands by not flying to FCA. And a hotel in Missoula or Calgary on the front and back ends of the trip is cheaper than those additional nights in Whitefish.

I'm pretty sure we'll go with Missoula. Much less driving. And to the great point about winter driving experience....we're very experienced drivers in icy and snowy Midwest winters, and in the Rockies in winter -- we've been doing ski trips in Colorado every year for over 30 years, and we've experienced many hazardous conditions on those trips.

Thanks again for all of the responses and ideas!

-Scott
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Re: Getting to Whitefish in the Winter

Post by PeteE »

WOW!
Well shut my mouth!
I had no idea that the disparity in rates was that great.
One would think that the Big Mountain resort people, KGPI, and everyone in the area would lobby/question the airlines about that disparity in rates.
I guess demand is so high the airlines know they can get the higher fares and don't care.

Thanks for posting that information.
I'm sure folks here will appreciate it.

pete :wink:

PS
The drive from Missoula is a no brainer.
If the weather is nice and it's daylight, I would drive up here through the Seeley-Swan.
US93 sucks imo.
I drove back and forth from WF to Missoula a 100+ times over 5 years when dating a gal in Missoula---including all winter long.
I used to leave g/f's house at 0430 Monday mornings to make it back to work in time.
And yes, they keep it the road plowed for the school buses as well as other traffic.
Beautiful drive and adds about 20-30minutes to the trip. You can also avoid driving through Kalispell entirely.(If you want)
It'll be a zoo at Christmas time.

Go I-90 EAST from the Airport which is very close to I-90
Drive ~8 miles and then the Exit 109 for MT200 exit at Milltown.
Follow MT 200 to Clearwater Junction and turn North on MT 83.
The next 100+ miles will have NO traffic lights and very little traffic. The only slow spot will be five minutes in Seeley Lake. Maybe eat there.
MT200 and MT83 are good roads and speed limit is 70mph.
Watch for the animals. (Plenty of deer get whacked on US93 as well) MT 83 is no worse in that respect...imo.

Arriving at MT35 just North of Big Fork.
At that point you can follow the signs back to Kalispell and US93 to Whitefish.

just sayin' 8)
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