Big Sky Resort Blog

Hmmm, winter is well on its way and off to a great start with a September 30th storm blanketing the base area with 5 inches with even more up top.  Remember to watch this feature as we get ready for opening day on November 26th where we'll share all the secrets and stories from the mountain from a first person perspective. 

We'll see you out there,

Dax

The last TWISI for the 08-09 season, it certainly finished with a bang, thousands of people flocked to Big Sky for the pond skim for a record closing weekend!  We hosted Glen Plake, had perfect blue-bird conditions and the spring skiing was amazing.

I’ll combine a few days, because each one was a blast as I booted up Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  We were hosting Glen Plake for a television show and he likes to ski big terrain, our first run of the day was the Big Couloir and after some turns in the Bowl, we all went zip-lining to fly through the tree tops.  We hosted a party in the Whiskey Jack’s that was truly memorable while Plake signed autographs all through the afternoon and evening.

Saturday was even bigger, all the overflow parking filled up as we have officially created a “can’t miss” event with the Spring Run-Off.  With tons of terrain open, the mountain spread everyone out and we skied off of TU, just to the right of 6th Gully.  I had never skied that terrain before, but spring snow has a nice way of sticking to the steeps when we have the big, late snowfalls of the past 2 seasons.  I got through clean and Glen was giving me advice on how to better keep my skis to the ground in exposed terrain.  Quite honestly, lessons from Glen are appreciated and flattering, but I’m not sure standing above cliffs below a giant cornice is exactly the place to try “new things”.  We finished the day slurping up springy corn on Elk Park Ridge, Congo and Blackfoot. 

For the afternoon it was the big show to the double ponds, Chad hosted a spectacularly successful event and with the team of Lindsey, Chris, Jenny, Anthony and the MC talent of Brandon Bang, it couldn’t have went better or smoother while people were swimming in the icy waters under the blue sky.  The terrain park crew really outdid themselves with two giant ponds (the second one was a step down from the first).  They did an amazing job all season and definitely had their finest work for the crowds to ooh and ahh for the finishing event.

Glen even joined in the fun for a ballet act in the run-in, then to a successful skim across the first pond and a crowd pleasing flip straight into the second one.  Following the pond skim action, the crowd went to the plaza for the live band, Politician, playing a solid show.

Sunday was more sunshine and we went toward the A-Z chutes and the Pinnacles as the sun would be softening up the snow to a perfect corn consistency.  With the film crew in tow, we were greeted with amazing views and Glen took the time for photos and fist pumps to all the folks walking by.  With the corn, we finished the season with a couple of Challenger laps, and you’ve heard me say before, I find spring snow to be a close second to deep powder, something about how well you can edge really ups the fun factor for me.

We finished with Logan joining us for some ballet lessons down Mr. K.  I’ll be honest I did not take to it immediately, but I suspect Logan was enough of a natural that we should not be surprised to see him pull a few moves with his Tram friends next season.

We’d like to thank everyone for making it such a memorable season, I’m hopeful you enjoyed reading about our days on the mountain and hope you’re already making plans to join us next year for the biggest skiing in America.

We’ll see you out there,

Dax

Ahh, now is the time to be outside skiing, the sun is shining bright, the temperature is comfortable and the snowpack is the deepest it will be all season.  After a season of making efforts to coordinate a ski with Jules from our accounting team, I actually made a meeting request to make sure today would be the day.  Jules is enjoying his first winter in Big Sky having moved here from Westchester, PA.  This guy is serious about skiing, getting out every day that he can.  Just a short 10 years ago, I had a similar position to what Jules does today.

We started up Swift Current and the day was absolutely gorgeous, but don’t forget the sunscreen with the deep blue skies.  We rolled to the Triple and took a South Wall bowl lap to get the legs warmed up.  The snow was really nice to sink an edge into and we blasted down the run.  We were watching people screaming down the gullies so we made that our next mission.  The Tram line was jovial seeing many friends from Victor, to Barb (the newest Tram junky of the 08-09 season), Lee, Heiselman and on and on.  It was all smiles while losing track of time visiting and before we knew it we were loading onto the tram dock and were on top of the world.  Today was one when you could see the Tetons and a great look at Cedar. (see right)

We skied Otter Slide which was nice and chalky and completely clean, then off to upper Marx for the Gullies traverse.  I took 2nd from the top and made the late season decision to try out 3rd gully to the bottom.  As good as the top was, I couldn’t quite keep my rhythm and got myself constricted in the constriction, but that’s OK, I made my way through and we snuck off toward the Turkey Traverse for another South Wall route.
 
We decided to go all the way to Exit Chute and then cut that hard right to the final turns above the Jay Walk.  At the top we decided that we had better work our way back to our offices, but I was completely surprised to find really creamy, winter powder on that section.  It was so good I had to call Jules in for a change of game plans to do it one more time.  We spun around and Jules took the lead off the traverse.  This guy is charging way bigger lines than anything I would have considered doing 10 years ago, he’s already skied the Big Couloir in his first season, something that might have taken me five years to muster up the courage.  I like his aggressive style, perfect complement to this mountain and its lines.

I took him to my favorite finish which is Rice Bowl to Buffalo Jump, as expected, we found more powder on the north facing wall of steeps through the trees and then were greeted with spring time softening cream for the kickers in Buffalo Jump.

There are only five days left on this season, you’d be crazy not to finish strong, I know I plan to.

We’ll see you out there,

Dax

            This week has been a whirlwind of powder, sunshine and more powder.  Starting on Saturday night and on into Sunday we received upward of 20 inches on the upper mountain and the snow just hasn’t stopped falling.  As of Thursday night we have received what I estimate to be close to 4ft in the past five days and more is expected overnight.  Is there such a thing as too much snow? Absolutely not, but I can tell you that everyone that has been skiing here for the past week, including myself, has turned into zombies with Jello for legs after tearing through feet after feet of new snow.

           Tuesday was an incredible day with good friends, great snow and a little sunshine.  The forecast had been calling for only an inch overnight, but lone peak got lucky and got about 10 inches.  I spent the day on Challenger with skiers Kyle and Chris, along with fellow boarders RC and Cameron.  We headed straight for Outer Limits (which was untouched) and then above the Moonlight Cliffs.  With RC in position taking photos I went first and boosted a nice sized drop straight into thigh deep snow and immediately tumbled down the run out.  Next, Cameron dropped the same cliff that I just ate it on and rode away smooth, making it look much easier then I did.  Up next was Chris who without hesitation launched the cliff straight to an epic faceplant.  The powder was so deep that Chris was all smiles even after going face first into the snow upon landing a 20ft+ drop. 

               We stayed over on challenger for the remainder of the day, riding up an empty lift and skiing down empty powder runs.  It was a very relaxing powder day as there was no pressure to ski something before others got to it simply because there was too much snow and too few skiers.  We ended the day with a run down the Pinnacles, which is an absolutely breathtaking run do to the incredible rock formations from top to bottom.  I often think of the Pinnacles as a fun run due to the views, but not necessarily for the deepest snow as it sloughs out a lot.  But today was different, the snow was deep from the get go as I watched the guys make nearly waist deep turns around upper set of pinnacles.  The snow was good enough that I decided to take one of my favorite lines on the mountain, the short but super narrow chute at the bottom skiers left of the Pinnacles.  After a sketchy second of commitment the chute opens open into a powder field above Upper Morning Star where you can make some hero turns and comfortable slow yourself down. More...