Great Northern Powder Guides
Great Northern Powder Guides
4.5
Full view
Top ways to experience nearby attractions
The area
Address
Contribute
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
63 reviews
Excellent
53
Very good
3
Average
1
Poor
3
Terrible
3
Peter in New York
2 contributions
This was my first experience CAT skiing and I was by myself for the day, so i thought. The team I was with inclusive of Alex and Ken made the overall experience anxiety free and a %&*$-ton of fun. From checking in first thing in the morning with Kylanne to loading up on the CAT the morning was organized and well choregraphed.
Once loaded on the CAT the guide was very interactive and getting the whole group talking and knowing each other, rather than a quiet ride it was informative, friendly and great to get to know everyone we were with.
Up on the mountain was a quick stop to Aquent everyone with using the Avalanche Beacon, the second stop was a short run to warm our legs up and get the feel of the snow we were going to enjoy for the day.
The next series of runs were in awesome snow and terrain, a few long runs with shorter runs mixed in to let us recover lead us to lunch at the yurt. Jay was grilling the burgers while we ate some good chili and dried some of our gear. This was not some canned food heated up, it was home cooked and delicious.
Post lunch runs were the same snow leading up to a long run out to a very special spot that I will not ruin for any of you :).
Overall the day exceeded my expectations, and look forward to skiing with them in 2021 and when the family is ready these will be the folks that I will charter a private cat with to enjoy their first time..
Thank you GNPG's for the day'
-Peter in New York
Once loaded on the CAT the guide was very interactive and getting the whole group talking and knowing each other, rather than a quiet ride it was informative, friendly and great to get to know everyone we were with.
Up on the mountain was a quick stop to Aquent everyone with using the Avalanche Beacon, the second stop was a short run to warm our legs up and get the feel of the snow we were going to enjoy for the day.
The next series of runs were in awesome snow and terrain, a few long runs with shorter runs mixed in to let us recover lead us to lunch at the yurt. Jay was grilling the burgers while we ate some good chili and dried some of our gear. This was not some canned food heated up, it was home cooked and delicious.
Post lunch runs were the same snow leading up to a long run out to a very special spot that I will not ruin for any of you :).
Overall the day exceeded my expectations, and look forward to skiing with them in 2021 and when the family is ready these will be the folks that I will charter a private cat with to enjoy their first time..
Thank you GNPG's for the day'
-Peter in New York
Written November 29, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Doug K
2 contributions
We skied two separate days with Great Northern in fantastic snow and great terrain. Our guides Kira and Colton and driver Connor were awesome. They were so great that we requested them for our second day and had no problem with making that happen. For the hours that we shredded the great back country snow with Kira and Colton, it was almost as though Covid never even happened. I would highly recommend this to anybody with strong back country skiing skills and with a love of steep tree skiing. Kira loves snowboard jokes to study up before going. The town of Whitefish and the resort also enhanced our overall ski trip. For a bunch of Coloradoans, my hat is off to Great Northern and Montana in general. Thanks you all!
Written March 5, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Nate K
1 contribution
Friends
My friends and I were extremely impressed with the knowledgable guides and the variety of terrain that they put us in. We booked the powder cat option, but they still were able to get us in some of the steep and deep terrain which was a huge bonus. I recommend this to any advanced to expert skier or snowboarder; you will not be one bit disappointed. I will be back!!!!
Written February 18, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Aaron L
Port Orchard, WA1 contribution
I've done several cat ski trips. This one was probably my worst. The snow was good, the guides were cool, the cat's themselves were very nice and comfortable. My problem was they wasted the first half of our day taking us into tightly treed terrain on south facing slopes (denser snow). Finally after lunch they took us onto north facing slopes with light and deep snow with some open spaces so I could finally make a few consecutive powder turns without getting funneled into trails between trees and playing follow the leader like we did all morning. If they had taken us right to the good stuff in the morning, this would be a five star review. My suspicion is they intentionally do this to preserve the good stuff for other cats/customers to get some each day. My advice would be to not book more customers than you have fresh snow for. I paid for two seats on the cat to ski fresh snow all day, so half of my $900 was wasted skiing tracked up snow in the trees all morning. I'm giving two stars because I feel like this trip was worth 2/5 of the money I paid. We skied good terrain for 1 1/2 hours of the day. That's all.
Written February 28, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Brett C
1 contribution
Friends
Be careful with these guys. They write their contracts so that they can cancel for any reason and keep your money. They can decide they are too tired, or hung over, or anything, and you have zero recourse. They told me once I was on the plane to Montana that they were cancelling my weekend trip. They will offer you a credit to a trip the following year, but if costs go up (and you know they will), you have to pay the differe, and obviously you have the same risk that you fly to Montana and they just decide to cancel again. I've never encountered a business where I have to prepay for a service that they are not willing to deliver, and not willing to refund.
Written April 22, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
marcospinar
New York City, New York2 contributions
January 2020 was tough in Northern Montana with several warming trends screwing up the snow. But GNPG found the snow and we were SO glad we weren't on nearby Whitefish mountain.
There's tons of terrain and the Cats are the most comfortable I've been on.
We did the Steep and Deep which lived up to its name.
Ky was amazing in terms of making sure everybody was happy and got the best experience.
Had a blast with Ken and his team.
There's tons of terrain and the Cats are the most comfortable I've been on.
We did the Steep and Deep which lived up to its name.
Ky was amazing in terms of making sure everybody was happy and got the best experience.
Had a blast with Ken and his team.
Written February 8, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Eastpedro
Winthrop, WA91 contributions
Friends
I've done a lot of this type of skiing, whether from cat, helicopter or touring. Safety is the number one consideration...and these folks DON'T do it right. Conditions were sketchy, with great powder (15-18") over an ice layer. The lead guide, with lots of experience, took us down runs that he said would slide...and did...but took us anyway.
Two people were hurt, one pretty seriously (required hospital visit; unknown result) by being swept into trees by slides.
Other than that, I'd rate the terrain below average (nothing above tree line, tight trees & short runs) compared to cat operations in BC.
We skied interesting runs and had very good powder. The guides were friendly & engaging. Lunch was at their yurt, with burgers and soup, so that was a unique touch...though I prefer eat-on-the-go, in the cat, with sandwiches, etc. and lots of liquids. A beer for everyone, after the last run, was a nice touch.
Two people were hurt, one pretty seriously (required hospital visit; unknown result) by being swept into trees by slides.
Other than that, I'd rate the terrain below average (nothing above tree line, tight trees & short runs) compared to cat operations in BC.
We skied interesting runs and had very good powder. The guides were friendly & engaging. Lunch was at their yurt, with burgers and soup, so that was a unique touch...though I prefer eat-on-the-go, in the cat, with sandwiches, etc. and lots of liquids. A beer for everyone, after the last run, was a nice touch.
Written March 4, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
DRettler
New Germany, Minnesota2 contributions
Friends
Not worth the money, rather go to the Mountain. They track you up the hill for an hour then they complain about the snowmobiles, they actually blocked the trail for them causing an altercation, and they even argued with a group of sledders about how they own the mountain. The trail they took us on was very small and not worth the money. The guides are rude, and the day was long without a lot of skiing.
Written January 4, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
David Rettler, Perhaps you do not realize that your name is used in the posting of this review. You have never skied with us. You are not, nor have never been a guest of GNPG. You are a disgruntled snowmobiler who gives those of your sport a very bad name. It's people like you that give snowmobilers a bad reputation. It is a very small faction of sledders that purposefully shred terrain so our guests cannot ski untracked powder, flip our guests off and yes even vandalize our yurt. The majority of snowmobilers are decent, respectful people and realize that there is room for all of us to enjoy our beautiful Montana. WE are sledders too! The owner responded to your message on our facebook page as well as a follow up phone call. We try and will continue to try to play peacefully in our playground.
Written January 6, 2015
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Steve F
Portland, ME3 contributions
Family
I grew up in Steamboat Springs and have skied the last 41 years.
Also lived and skied the Cascades extensively. Similar with Maine and Vermont.
I have had many awesome POW runs over the years ... a few as good as the runs that I had with GNPG.
But I have never had them every run, run after run, for three days straight ! Every run was first tracks for the group with plenty for everyone. It just kept snowing and snowing, no bottom !
An epic father-son trip with my 12 yr old who now wants to move to the FV.
If you want Extreme, book your own cat with a group of ski buddies. The terrain will be limited by the least capable skier in the group, which would be typical for any cat skiing.
See you next year !
Also lived and skied the Cascades extensively. Similar with Maine and Vermont.
I have had many awesome POW runs over the years ... a few as good as the runs that I had with GNPG.
But I have never had them every run, run after run, for three days straight ! Every run was first tracks for the group with plenty for everyone. It just kept snowing and snowing, no bottom !
An epic father-son trip with my 12 yr old who now wants to move to the FV.
If you want Extreme, book your own cat with a group of ski buddies. The terrain will be limited by the least capable skier in the group, which would be typical for any cat skiing.
See you next year !
Written April 9, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Sully Stone
1 contribution
Solo
This operation is professional, but has serious terrain limitations. They have one track cut into their terrain that takes you 25 miles into the backcountry, and they drop you periodically to take short treed runs on the way. The terrain is tight with limited alleys to the pick up point. Our lead guide set a border track that was large enough for about 4 or 5 people to get fresh tracks; there were 9 guests on our cat. I had 2 or 3 turns on fresh snow per run.
We didn't have fresh snow, and they had no terrain to offer that was not crusty, or a mess of moguls, or a tight runout track for the bottom third of the run until we got to the very top of their terrain, 25 miles in.
We had 2 nice runs on north facing slopes after lunch at their yurt. Then we had to start heading back to base camp which took us back through all of all of the low elevation, south facing crud.
I have been on several cat trips and a heli trip. I have never sat out a run on any of them, until now. I sat out half of the runs on this trip. I must say, there were people on this trip who enjoyed it more than i did, but everyone agreed that some runs were just garbage.
I would suggest going when there is fresh snow. Of course this is difficult to predict, and this operation has the added bonus of no refunds for any reason and they WILL take you out in crud, so beware.
We didn't have fresh snow, and they had no terrain to offer that was not crusty, or a mess of moguls, or a tight runout track for the bottom third of the run until we got to the very top of their terrain, 25 miles in.
We had 2 nice runs on north facing slopes after lunch at their yurt. Then we had to start heading back to base camp which took us back through all of all of the low elevation, south facing crud.
I have been on several cat trips and a heli trip. I have never sat out a run on any of them, until now. I sat out half of the runs on this trip. I must say, there were people on this trip who enjoyed it more than i did, but everyone agreed that some runs were just garbage.
I would suggest going when there is fresh snow. Of course this is difficult to predict, and this operation has the added bonus of no refunds for any reason and they WILL take you out in crud, so beware.
Written March 26, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
No questions have been asked about this experience
Great Northern Powder Guides (Whitefish) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go
Frequently Asked Questions about Great Northern Powder Guides
- Hotels near Great Northern Powder Guides:
- (0.72 mi) Dog Creek Lodge
- (0.78 mi) Dog Creek Lodge; Luxury Lodge Near Whitefish, MT
- (0.87 mi) Dog Creek Lodge; Luxury Estate Near Whitefish, MT
- (8.97 mi) Riverfront farmhouse on 30 acres bordering the Stillwater River
- (9.10 mi) The Quiet Cabin-on A Meadow Surrounded By Forest Near Whitefish & Glacier Park