Big Sky Resort Blog

In reality the similarities between a trip to Big Sky and the movie "Vacation" are few and far between. At least for this family.
 
There's not a big moose out front telling you, "Sorry folks, ski hill's closed."  And you don't have to take a lift operator hostage and force him to fire up the quads.
 
Quite the opposite this week.
 
All the lifts were running and a little bit of snow fell almost every night. Then a whole bunch of snow -- fell on three consecutive days. No one's (not even John Candy) going to get sick jetting around the mountains on that.
 
No need to plunk a few quarters into a vibrating bed and popping open a bottle of champagne. The mood was set by watching illuminated snow flakes flutter down through the lights from the night sky, then blasting over and through them the next day.
 
The booming explosions each morning to set off avalanches are far enough away that they won't cause deafness.  The mother-in-law didn't bring her rabid dog along to mistakenly be left attached to the car bumper when we drove off.  If you take a wrong turn you don't end up in a rough neighborhood.
 
The buses, of course, get you were you need to be on time. Being late, however, isn't a problem since lift lines are non-existant and you can't not get enough runs in.
 
No one even asked me to loan them some money and offered some tacky, white shoes in exchange. Dangle some stylin' white-framed sunglasses on the other hand and I might float someone a few bucks.
 
In the end it's hard to go wrong on a vacation to Big Sky or any ski hill for that matter.  Afterall, if there's not snow, there's apres skiing. If it's too cold, there's apres skiing.  If you're pooped out, there's apres skiing. You can even apres ski before it's apres.
 
Yes, all good things must come to an end and so I leave you with this:
Clark Griswold: I just want you to ask yourself one thing. If you were... if you were me, wouldn't you do the same thing for your children?
Roy Walley (amusement park owner): No.
 
Tom Stuber worked for 18 years at the Helena Independent Record and is on a permanent vacation from that job.

Oh deepness this week, if you hadn’t already heard from all your friends Facebooking and Tweeting of the epic conditions we’ve had.  With snow that just won’t stop, every day just keeps refilling from the day before. 

From time to time I get requests from folks to not just focus on the over the shoulder blower snow I find on Lone Peak from the Tram, they want to know about some of the lower mountain terrain they like to ski.  As it turned out my last tour will get to tell that story, after all, my words pale in comparison to the amazing video we’re now putting on the home page (check out late January BSPN).

Plus, for this story, I get to share how diverse our terrain can be, even on the same run!  You’ll see.

I met with Grace who is visiting from NYC, she has been to most every major Rocky Mountain Resort and absolutely loves the snow and terrain that the mountains in the west get.  I wanted to give her a full exploration of the different terrain we have, I picked up a grooming report and we started up the Ramcharger Chair.  For the first run we hit El Dorado off the back side of Andesite.  This run is absolutely huge, width that is.  I liken it to a guilty pleasure and with the fresh, soft corduroy; Grace exclaimed this is hero snow!  She was right.

From there we spun up Southern Comfort for a lap on Deep South, at this time it might have been about 11 a.m., yet I rarely crossed another ski track with the perfectly manicured grooves holding my edges with confidence.  We tilted the pitch for the next couple of runs for some blue squares, we hit Elk Park Ridge with the bottom of Thunderwolf in sight, I could shoot right and grab the soft, powder snow while Grace could stay up on the ridge and keep skiing the groomed.  We met at the bottom about the same time and we went up for a Big Horn.  Here again the groomers courteously left the left edge natural, so I could ski powder and Grace could ski machine groomed, all while skiing the same run.
 
We hit Ambush to work our way down to lunch, this time I opted to stick on the steep groomed slope myself to get the legs moving on the several headwalls that run offers.  We filled up at Whiskey Jacks, the Gringo Gut Buster can’t be beat when it comes to sustenance through a ski day. 

Big Sky continues to impress me, sure we have some of the biggest, orneriest black diamond terrain you can reach with a lift, but it’s the variety for everyone that makes the place unique. 

Don’t worry powderhounds, I’ll get my face shots in due time, there’s plenty of season left and like I said, the snow keeps coming!

We’ll see you out there,

Dax

A lot has been written about powder skiing, extreme skiing, mogul skiing, and competitive skiing, but what about family skiing?

I may make a pretty lame Clark Griswald for the first 24 hours of our annual vacation to Big Sky, but Chevy Chase has got nothing on me after that. Loading up the '94 Toyota pickup (a pretty fine ride compared to the Vacation's Family Truckster) and ditching the wife and kids (very unlike Clark) for the drive down from Helena is a snap.  In the upper lot by 2, it's more slip-into-a-phone-booth-for-a-quick-change-into-ski-clothes, than picking up Aunt Edna at Cousin Eddy's.

On the hill by 2:25 for eight quick laps on Andesite, then quickly into Whiskey Jack's for a few beers and watching the game (everyone enjoyed that Charger fan Sunday) before it's back to the pickup and the start of being Griswald.

Of course my, er Clark's, condo has 17 steps down, then 32 steps up.  There's three coolers of food, three ski bags, four totes of dry foods and clothes, four suitcases...you get the idea. Down, up. Down, up. Down, up. Down, up. Down, up.  And one more down, up.

Lock the keys in the truck and water is boiling over on the stove. Phone rings and it's the wife, "Where have you been?" Well, not exactly at the pool with Christy Brinkley.

The next morning it's time for a day on the slopes to burn up the next eight hours before the wife and kids arrive.  Yeah, it's off to The Tram. The sun is shining off the peak in typical Lone Mountain-fashion as I load for that always awesome ride to the top. Everything's cool, but then a thick cloud - now I'm thinking was that Eugene Levy loading me in the tramcar? - decides to hang onto the side of the mountain for the next 20 minutes.  I pick my way over to The Gullies and down, look back up and the cloud moves along. Figures.

All's good after that little episode as a couple inches of fresh snow blankets the rest of Big Sky and no more incidents for the day.  Turns out that it's the calm before the storm.

Dork that I am, I decide to wait outside at the turnoff for the family to pull in. Just thinking about how excited they'll be to see me standing anxiously awaiting their arrival. I'm singing the Wally World theme song "Morty Moose" only changing the words to Tommy Big Sky. "T-o-m-m-y!  B-i-g-S-k-y! Tommy Big Sky, Tommy Big Sky, Tommy Big Sky, guh-yuk, that's me!"

Here they come. I'm bouncing up-and-down, really giving it my all. The wife's car pulls closer. Something's wrong.  Where are the kids? Another car is right behind. They're in there with my MOTHER-IN-LAW! OK, she's not exactly Aunt Edna, but you get the picture.

"Are you ready to haul more stuff down and up those stairs?" she asks as only a mother-in-law can.  Yes, ma'am.  Our ninth annual trip to Big Sky is officially off and running.  Stay tuned for more . . . .

Tom Stuber spent 18 years as a sports writer for the Helena Independent Record and is hoping his new Family Truckster gives him an angle as ski writer.

Just one of the great things about living in Big Sky is that we get the chance to show off this giant mountain to people who haven’t been here before.  These were big mountain skiers who are in the industry and have skied most every place else but Big Sky had elusively missed their list, until now.  It was Mike and Dan, Dan who spends his winters in an unnamed Wyoming resort had heard plenty about Big Sky, but today was the day I’d get to show him exactly what the Biggest Skiing in America looks like.

Mike and Dan had explored the lower mountain earlier in the day while Brandon and I were going to catch up and show off the big stuff for the afternoon.  It was a perfect, blue-bird day and the temps were comfortable so we started our big ski tour by lounging on the plaza at the picnic tables eating delicious burgers from the Burger Bar outside, the servings were plentiful and we were fueled up to get to the top.

We rolled four wide up Swifty, then made our way to the Triple Chair.  When the mountains popping white and the sky is deep blue, skating around the corner of the Jay Walk unleashes the immensity of the Lone Mountain with a wide Bowl to the left, steep Gullies straight ahead and the ornery A-Z chutes finishing the cirque to the right.

We got to the top and even though we hadn’t seen Dan or Mike make a turn before, we knew they were adventurous and strong so we skied Otter Slide to the Dictator Chutes.  We positioned above the chutes, but before we pushed off, we took a moment to take in how big this terrain really is, not only are you standing 800 feet above a rollover cliff section, but looking straight out toward the Madison range with Cedar and Sphinx, and countless unnamed snowy peaks and faces, we all knew correctly that even though a lift got us to this point, this was real mountain skiing. 

The snow was that really nice consistency of chalky, maybe 2 inches of grippable snow that had been nicely wind buffed smooth for steep, but easy turns.  We honked a left (by the way, as a guide they told me I say “honk left” and “honk right” a lot, so now I have a complex) and we worked our way to Lenin proper, only long enough to find the entry point back to the right underneath the cliffs we had just skied above.  From there our turns got deeper with barely touched lines that still kept us high enough to get above the unloading bullwheel of the Shedhorn lift.  We scooted quickly across the Duck Walk, glancing at the steep mountain side on our left and the steep drop off to the right to position ourselves for a second lap up the Tram. 

Now that we had showed them the technical steeps, now it was time for the big wide steeps that Marx provides with almost impossibly long vertical drop.  Our friends were loving it and even though the Tram was closing for the day, we still had a full hour of Challenger laps to explore.

By now with the short January sun, it was starting to dip and we would relish with the rays at the top of the legendary fixed grip double.  The snow was great and we hit our favorites like 17th Green, Moonlight and BRT North.  For Dan and Mike, who knew the next day we’d stretch out the Biggest Skiing even further with Moonlight Basin, I think they were beginning to think this area had no end, which in a lot of ways, it doesn’t while it continues to wrap around Lone Peak.

Just a few more satisfied Big Sky first-timers who pledged to come back.  I’ve determined there are two types of skiers out there, those who haven’t skied Big Sky, but talk about the plans to make the plans to someday make the trip, and those who have experienced the place and count the days to when they’ll be back. 

How many days do you have left?

We’ll see you out there,

Dax

Say Hey Snowriders; there's no better way to greet the New Year than with a half dozen tram laps on some fresh powder! Welcoming 2010 over the weekend proved spectacular for my flatlander friends visiting from South Dakota!  Roger and Ross were sure that the first run of the first day of the new decade needed to be from the top of Lone Peak @ 11,166'.  I knew that the snow was extremely soft and carvey on the south side of the peak, so I guided them down an exceptional Liberty Bowl run into the deep tree powder of the Bavarian Forest. We followed that up with a quick jaunt down Marx to get their legs warmed up for what ended up being a New Year's Day of fun over on the Challenger lift, Roger's favorite Big Sky Terrain.

We shot down the cat-track and dropped into the Magic Trees where the glade in the middle section yielded some of the best turns.  He really likes to put together a top to bottom Midnight / Moonlight nearly Outer Limits run that took us from the upper skiers-left shoulder of the run where the fluffy stuff was untracked, down into the Midnight glade and trees where there was more virgin snowfall awaiting our arrival.  It was so good ... we did it again.  By that time I had picked out a line down Bert's that was calling to me as we rode the lift. Finding the entrance incredibly smooth, I shot across to the right for some deep snow while my skier buddies took the left side for more vertical pitch. We were all well-pleased.  But on the next lap, it was Roger that was being called by the snow to take the top of the highway over to the edge of the trees right below the left. Spectacular! ... We knew our time investment needed to stay worthy before leaving for re-fuling at the base ... so we repeated the best run and headed for some soup.

We capped the day with a couple speed-runs over on Andisite, with Elk Park Ridge nearly bringing me to my knees in the powdery moguls on the left side while my buddies stayed up on the groomed flatlander-friendly highway of this 1700' vertical rush.  Something about that dog-leg that makes this run seem like the longest on the mountain... even though it pales against the bigger lift-accessed terrain!  We topped the day with a quick blitz through the Silver Knife tree-glade that apparently is a forgotten powder-field right in the middle of some of the most popular runs off the Andesite side. The guys were pleased and headed to Whiskey Jacks for some brews and nachos.  They wanted to meet up with some friends from the Black Hills that were experiencing their first trip to Big Sky.  Montana's best has apparently cured them of their Colorado addiction.  Nothing like no-lift lines and the biggest skiing in America to get your head screwed on straight!

By the next day the tram seemed to really want all our attention.  Marx and Lenin were skiing really good ... but the best shot of the day was definitely the Third Dictator chute, and by Sunday you could still take the hard right off Lenin just below the transition fence and get into the "Beard".  The run-out apron of snow was knee-deep, fresh and unscarred ... just pick your line of fun! We threw in a visit to the new Shedhorn Grill for a soup, sandwich and re-hydration break.  How awesome to have a yurt in the woods for the folks that want a break from their hard work without returning to the base!  Better get more seating, the food is great! Even though we got back on the hill to do a series of pick-up laps for missed terrain ... from Bad Dog to Erica's Glade we ran out of day before we ran out of mountain ...  Thanks to some blissfully warm mid-twenty temps and fairly continuous snowfall mixed with occasional shots of blue skies, my friends had an exceptional visit to Big Sky.  We've already got the dates in February for another visit and another 4 days to try to conquer this mountain!

Let's Ride The Sky!

-Anonymous Knuckle-dragger

It started to snow around 11 a.m. and the flakes were getting bigger and bigger as the storm settled in, by 1 p.m. a few inches had fallen and I was set to meet with Friso and Meg visiting from NYC.  They were checking out Big Sky for the first time and have traveled to many other ski resorts the past few years.

Their first observation of skiing our area was both the size of the resort along with the relative lack of crowds, they always ski the Holiday week and even though Big Sky too had more people than average, the lift system kept people moving smoothly and with a few quick choices, you could find you’d have a run all to yourself with ease.

The stories I picked up from Meg and her husband told me they should be able to handle plenty of terrain, but for a starter for me to get warmed up I opted for a nice, long, rolling cruiser of Elk Park Ridge, one of our quintessential intermediate slopes that is lengthy and full of options.  The new snow was really nice as we worked our way on the run, I was pleasantly happy to glance over my shoulder and see them both right on my trail, they were both strong skiers and I knew our tour would be fun.  We stuck to the right side that was a mixture of the new snow, the groomed track along with some of the packed powder right off the ridge. 

We got to the bottom of Thunderwolf and skied right to the chair for our next lap, which I figured with their adventurous spirit could involve some trees.  I lead them toward Hangman’s where we caught the left road to find Congo.  By now the snow was really picking up (see the photo) and we stopped a few times to savor the perfect pitch and soft snow.

From the base we went up Swift Current, this time I figured to up the pitch a bit and we went toward Rice Bowl.  After getting about three quarters around the cirque, we jumped in to find really soft and creamy turns toward the bottom.  After popping out the trees we headed back to the hidden entrance to Buffalo Jump.  Friso was eyeing the rock outcroppings but I skied around the right side and we played in the playground of kickers and whoops through the sides and belly of Buffalo Jump.

We finished our afternoon tour with a run down Lobo that was the perfect finish for the afternoon.  They had been skiing all day and were starting to prepare for the après/dinner plans.  I was happy to explore the mountain and show off a few secrets that truly show the depth of how much variety we have in ski terrain.

We’ll see you out there,

Dax

My three brothers and I grew up skiing Big Sky together in the days before the Tram allowed access to the very top of Lone Peak.  Our family would drive out from Chicago for the holidays and it was always the highlight of the year.  It’s been a few years since we were all able to get together and ski the slopes of Big Sky, but this Christmas Eve it all fell into place.  I finished the morning Snowreport duties and headed out to meet my brother Pete, John and Pat.  Pete and Pat both live in the area and therefore own proper ski attire.  John on the other hand apparently lived in Northern Minnesota for a bit too long and has forgotten what publicly acceptable ski gear looks like.  He stuck out like a sore thumb wearing a one piece brown Carhartt suit that look like it belonged to a car mechanic from the 70’s, a bowling ball style helmet and old  goggles that were fit for a giant.  Pretending I didn’t know who John was, we all headed up swift current, and despite it being John’s first run of the season we made our way to the Tram.  

It had snowed about a foot the day before and it was now perfectly clear out, needless to say I was excited to get on the peak.  As I waited for the tram my eyes were glued to the A-Z’s , which are filling in remarkably for this time of year, while everyone in line couldn’t stop looking at John and his suit.  I am sure they were wondering if he was going to make it down alive.  At the top we took in the view of the Grand Teton peaking up over a few clouds and then strapped in.   We opted for Liberty Bowl which had great snow the day before.   After weaving through the snow gates we found that the right shoulder of Liberty was still super fresh as we made knee deep turns with occasional face shots all the way to screaming left.  Pete and Pat ripped turns with no problem , but what surprised me was how fluid my brother Johns skiing was for being his first run of the season, not to mention for how little he skies these days.

We noticed that Patrol had opened Bavarian Forest and the glades in that area.  We took some untracked lines through the trees then headed left for aspen meadows.  The snow was untouched and deep.  We stopped to get some video of the open trackless meadows then hopped on the Shedhorn Lift.  My first run on Shedhorn was as good as always.  We rode through Yellow Mule hitting all the jumps and wind lips along the way and finally ending up in Dude Park rolling over all the powdery dips and humps.  After a few more equally good laps on the tram I left my bros and returned to work to finish up for the day.

 

Christmas day was forecasted to be another beautiful sunny day; instead we were blessed with a Christmas miracle of 3-6 inches throughout the day.  I met up with the one and only Santa Claus to document his visit to Big Sky.  The jolly old man and I headed up Swifty looking for powder.  I was surprised at how talented of a skier Santa was, he ripped down Rice Bowl throwing up powder as he turned straight into massive airs off of the features on Crazy Horse.  At the Base I followed him into the Swifty 2.0 park as he wanted to show off his moves on the box.  Our next lap together was down Mr. K so he could give candy to all the kids and adults alike.  After skiing Santa was still not tired, even after his long night he had energy to test out Big Sky’s new Bungee Trampoline where he executed double back flip after double back flip.  I can’t think of a place I would rather be for the holidays then in Big Sky.   

Check out the end of the homepage’s video to see Santa rip it up.

Have fun out there,

Chris      

 

Skiing can do so much for so many.

For instance, you really can't thank our military enough, but when you do it in a way that their spouses and children can appreciate it really hits home for our men and women in the service. That was the case from December 18-20 at Big Sky, where over 650 lift tickets were given to active military members and close to 200 were given to their family members, for Military Appreciation Weekend.

"Whatever time they can ever get, as a family, to come together and spend time doing something like this - it's pretty rare," Colonel Kendall Switzer, said of the event at Big Sky, which was in its eighth year. "Having this provides a dart on the wall at the same time every year at Big Sky. We can say, 'let's do that, we can make that work.' It allows us to capitalize on that and let everyone know early on so they can have the leeway to schedule the trip."

And schedule they did, with many of the members also taking advantage of discounted room rates and free breakfast buffet at Huntley Lodge.

From the throng of military folks cheering on the Montana Grizzlies in the FCS Championship game at Whiskey Jack's and other resort bars on Friday night, to youngsters dawning ski gear and getting their first ski lessons, the Montana military members had a big presense all weekend. Camoflauge gear was back in style at least for a few days.

Colonel Switzer, who is the Vice-Chief of the Joint Staff Montana National Guard, noted that Big Sky isn't just any resort.

"It always is special to come here," he said. "I mean, gee whiz, look at Lone Mountain. How can you beat this? This probably shows the best of Montana, so that's a blessing."

Of the three missions for the Montana military set forth by Gov. Brian Schweitzer, the trip to Big Sky directly satisfies two of them. 1) Fully prepare the men and women to fight wars overseas or in Montana; 2) While members are is deployed, take care of their families; and 3) Integrate the men and women back in with their units.

The event has been in place since December of 2002 and has grown each year thanks in part to being held at roughly the same time every ski season. It was the brainchild of group of Big Sky employees, including general manager Taylor Middleton, Meg O'Leary and Dick Fast, who is a retired Air Force officer and a teacher in the Big Sky ski school. Taylor and Mr. Fast were recognized in a ceremony on the outdoor deck above the Mountain Mall.

"Eight years ago we saw American forces deploying overseas, and especially Montana units deploying overseas," Middleton, who accepted a plaque from the Montana National Guard expressing its appreciation to Big Sky Resort, said. "We started thinking about how we could help. A lot of Montanans were asking that same question.

"It makes me feel good, because a lot of us didn't serve in the military, but we want to honor the military. This makes me feel warm and it makes me feel like I'm doing some small part toward that greater mission."

The weekend was special other ways, too.

The conditions were perfect and the diversity of skiers from the aforementioned military crew to others that came to Big Sky to take in the Best Worst Ski Movie Festival, which paid homage to some old, not-so-classic, ski movies. If you sat in one spot for just a few minutes you might find yourself doing a double-take when you saw someone zip by in some sort of military garb and seconds later an 80s-style neon outfit would be doing a double-daffy off a small jump.

Whatever the case Military Apprciation Weekend is growing into one of Big Sky's most popular and unique annual events.

Tom Stuber was a sports writer for the Helena Independent Record for 18 years and is now attempting to dedicate his writing time to the ski world. If you have comments, he can be reached a stuberski@bresnan.net.