Copper Mountain or Whitefish?

Copper Mountain has no swimming worth the name. Its reservoirs are fed by snowmelt and stay cold even in July, so a dip in summer means a heated pool or a hot tub.

Whitefish has a real, if short, lake season. City Beach on Whitefish Lake has sand, a swimming dock and paddleboards, and the clear water of Flathead Lake has pebbly state park shores. From mid-July to late August, swimming there is a pleasant way to end an afternoon.

Neither is a food destination, but Whitefish has more of a local character. At Copper you eat in mid-mountain lodges and at a few pizza, Mexican and pub places, and many visitors cook in their condos.

Whitefish serves Montana beef, trout, elk and huckleberry pies and milkshakes along Central Avenue, and it has a few more ambitious dining rooms and craft breweries. A week there still means going back to the same handful of places. At Copper, a good dinner usually means driving to Frisco or Breckenridge.

Neither has much to see, but Whitefish has a little more. Its timber-framed Great Northern depot holds a small museum on the town's railway and logging past, and downtown has some early twentieth-century frontage. Copper is a modern village of condos and lodges. The Victorian mining heritage around it belongs to Breckenridge and Leadville, not to the resort itself.

Whitefish has a proper night out, by mountain standards. Its wooden saloons and taprooms mix ski bums, ranchers and visitors, and summer evenings fill the patios. At Copper, going out means après-ski at the base of the lifts in boots, and the village goes quiet by late evening and almost silent out of season. Neither has clubs.

Both are first-rate mountain country, and the difference is mainly in the season. Copper is above all a winter place. It has bowls above 3,600m, terrain that sorts itself by ability, and Vail and several Summit County ski areas within a short drive. In summer the Colorado Trail and the Vail Pass path take over, and fourteen-thousand-foot peaks such as Mount Elbert are within an hour.

Whitefish has a full ski area on Big Mountain, but its real strength is summer in Glacier National Park, whose west entrance is about forty minutes away. Lake McDonald and the start of the Going-to-the-Sun Road are on that side, while hikes such as Grinnell Glacier begin on the far east side, several hours' drive away. With grizzlies, mountain goats and the Bob Marshall Wilderness beyond, it is wilder country, but the high ground is reliably open only from July to September.

Copper Mountain has much better towns within reach. Breckenridge's Victorian main street and silver-boom Leadville are each about half an hour away, Vail is just over the pass, and Georgetown's narrow-gauge railway and Denver's museums are on the way to the airport.

From Whitefish, the town outings are modest. There is the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell, the galleries and orchards around Bigfork, and the mission church at St Ignatius, two hours away. Most days out from Whitefish go into the park instead.

Copper Mountain is more clearly built around families. It has a car-free core, a large children's ski school, and snow tubing, a mountain coaster and an indoor centre with foam pits for days off the slopes. The altitude, close to 3,000m, needs watching with very young children.

Whitefish suits outdoorsy families in summer. The zip line, alpine slide, City Beach and short flat trails like the Trail of the Cedars all work for younger children. Children who are not keen on hiking or paddling may get bored, though, and the drives into Glacier are long.

Copper Mountain is easier once you arrive. Walkways, lifts and a free shuttle link the village, and free county buses run to Frisco and on to Breckenridge and Keystone, so a car can stay parked for days. Getting there is the hard part: Denver airport is about two hours away on I-70, which can be slow in winter.

Whitefish has a walkable downtown and a long-distance train stop at the depot, which is rare for a mountain town. Beyond the ski shuttle, though, you need a car for Glacier, Flathead Lake and the trailheads.

Whitefish is the better place to browse. Central Avenue has outfitters, western-wear and boot shops, wildlife art galleries and Montana-made goods, enough for a relaxed afternoon. Copper's shops sell ski rental, gear and resort-branded clothing. For more, people drive to the Silverthorne outlets or Breckenridge.

Both are expensive resort towns, but Whitefish costs a bit less. At Copper, lift access, slope-side lodging, equipment rental and resort meals add up quickly in winter, and condos with kitchens or a base in Frisco or Silverthorne are the main ways to save.

Whitefish is still costly in July, August and ski weeks, and most visitors need a hire car. Staying in Kalispell or Columbia Falls helps, and once you are in Glacier, the park itself costs little.

Whitefish has more on stage for its size. A community performing arts centre, a professional summer theatre company and the valley symphony in Kalispell give it a modest calendar, and free concerts fill summer evenings. Copper offers plaza bands on summer weekends and acoustic sets at après-ski. For classical music or theatre, people drive to Breckenridge.

The two are much alike here: neither has thermal baths, and rest mostly comes from the quiet mountain setting. The difference is in what is on offer. At Copper, relaxing means an outdoor hot tub facing the slopes and the pools and massages of the athletic club. At nearly 3,000m, the first nights' sleep can be poor.

Whitefish adds lodge and resort spas, yoga studios in town and calm mornings by the lake. Its hot springs pools are a couple of hours away.