It was a day of firsts for me, first Tram lap of the season, first Andesite for the season and then I was here at the right place at the right time to be involved with some of the first Marx turns for the season. We’re enjoying amazing ski conditions right now and the acreage keeps going up and up and up! 
Some might know me as a workaholic and occasionally I can be guilty of spending too much time in the office inside and not enough time in the field, outside. Well today I had the opportunity to combine the two as I was to lead Gerry, a journalist around the mountain. He was able to warm-up in the morning with local pro Mike Mannelin and we convened over delicious burritos at Whiskey Jacks to give me an opportunity to check things out, all while sharing the Big Sky story with Gerry.
Once we were satiated with food, we rolled up Ramcharger to get some groomer turns on Tippy’s Tumble, all I can say is . . . might have been a little cold earlier in the week, but sure made for ideal snowmaking conditions as this run was flawless with manmade. But you can ski manmade snow anywhere it gets chilly, the next lap was for the natural, mother nature softness in Congo. There might have been the occasional obstacle, but the pitch is perfect and the turns were fun. 
After the screamer out of Safari, we loaded onto Swift Current to make our way further up the mountain. After loading three wide on the Triple Chair, about half way up we spotted a little dot of a skier on Marx, perhaps it was a patroller, but then we saw three or four more! Could it be? Marx is opened to public early?!? Well only one way to find out and we skied over to the walk-on Tram and hopped in with a half full cabin. At the top the rope was down for Otter Slide, which I was hesitant at first, but we were following Mike and he hasn’t steered me wrong before (at least not this year yet). Amazingly it was a clean shot on this double black diamond section. What a feeling to tilt the earth and get the first big, steep, exposed "real deal" turns for the season.
We positioned to Marx and after picking our way through a small rock band, it was time to let them rip for this epic big mountain run. The snow was silky smooth through the middle section with perhaps 3-4 inches of softness for bounce. The bottom was a bit more chopped up, but equally fun. Once at the bottom, amazed with what we found we knew we had to go for one more lap! 
I achieved my last first of the day with a top to bottom Marx lap. Here all along from the beginning of the season I thought my summer mountain biking might have kept the legs in shape, but I’ll admit my legs were burning toward the bottom, but it was a good burn, something that will go away with more days on the mountain.
Thanks Gerry for swinging by and covering our resort, he did say he has skied all over Canada the past 30 days, including a few big ones I don’t need to mention and exclaimed that Marx was the best run he’s skied all season, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
We’ll see you out there,
Dax
By the way, we’ll be offering reports directly from the mountain if you follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/bigskyresort or at www.facebook.com/bigskyresort
