fuk dat, i ski all the time. There is Marshall which is about 15 mins away from town, snowbowl; half an hour away. Lolo pass which has pristine backcountry about 45 mins away and you can hike until your heart explodes. The bitteroot area has alot of backcountry accessible gnarly terrain. And then to top it all off, Big Mtn is 3 hrs away. plus, my friend has a tight cabin in whitefish to stay at during the weekends.
Personally, i think the skiing is better here. If your not afraid to hike, you can get alot of skiing for free.
If you are a racer, go to bozeman. If you are all about freeskiing and rippin up the park and backcountry skiing, go to missoula for college.
Are you fucking kidding me. Let's see, no, no, and um, NO. I'm sure that there is some decent skiing near Missoula, but Bridger and Big Sky are the shit, and we also have loads of backcountry here...again, no.