Glacier National Park New Year’s Trip

Essex, MT
Dec. 29, 2025 – Jan. 2, 2026, Mon – Fri
All Abilities

Imagine cross-country skiing in the Glacier National Park area over New Years! Imagine leaving your car at home over this busy holiday and taking Amtrak overnight to Montana. Imagine the opportunity to do track skiing and/or backcountry skiing! Imagine doing this with your new and old ONC friends! That is what the ONC-PDX Glacier National Park trip to Essex, Montana, is all about!

If you have such an imagination, you should join the New Year’s Montana ski trip from December 29 to January 1.

We will take Amtrak overnight to Essex, Montana, adjacent to Glacier National Park, for a wonderful ski vacation! We will leave Portland on Monday late afternoon, December 29, and arrive Tuesday morning to (hopefully) sparkling snow and the completely remodeled Loge Glacier (formerly Izaak Walton Inn) with new comfortable beds and private bathrooms. From Tuesday through Thursday, we will ski or snowshoe on the 30 km of groomed trails or explore the backcountry in the Magnificent Dickey Bowl or possibly Marias Pass and other trails. Relax in the Finnish sauna or Olympic-size hot tub. Each night, we can enjoy a gourmet meal in the restaurant, read a good book by the fire, participate in exciting ONC board games, have a drink in the bar, or relax. A New Year’s Eve party is supposedly planned by Loge Glacier. On Thursday night, January 1, we will board the westbound overnight train back to Portland in the evening. As we pull back into the train station in Portland on Friday, January 2, you will wonder why you waited so long to take this trip.

Trip limit:  18 participants including trip leaders
Cost:  Singles – $525, Couples – $995 (for 2 people in one bed); or Co-ed – $435 each (in a family room). Includes three days of skiing (trail passes included!), Amtrak coach train transportation, two nights lodging occupancy at the Loge Glacier. Meals on the train and at Loge Glacier are available for purchase at an additional cost. Sleeper accommodations may also be available on Amtrak for an outlandish additional cost – contact the leaders
Travel miles:  Relax and ride the Empire Builder
Trip Leader:  Ted Schienman, tedskier@gmail.com
Co-Leader: Rick Grote, rgrote@gmail.com