Big Sky Resort Opens Explorer Gondola and Kircliff, Completing Big Sky 2025
BIG SKY, Mont., December 20, 2025 – Big Sky Resort today celebrated the grand opening of the Explorer Gondola and Kircliff, marking the completion of Big Sky 2025 and cementing the resort’s position as home to North America's most technologically advanced lift network.
"Today marks the completion of a decade-long vision that has transformed this mountain and community," said Troy Nedved, president and COO of Big Sky Resort. "In ten years, Big Sky has welcomed 20 new lifts thanks to a common vision amongst our partners to deliver the most significant transformation in North American skiing history.”
The Explorer Gondola replaces the resort's last original chairlift, honoring Big Sky's origins where resort founder Chet Huntley first built a lift in 1973. Built on Doppelmayr's next-generation D-Line platform, Explorer is the fastest 10-person gondola in the world, featuring 83 spacious Omega V cabins with heated seats and floor-to-ceiling windows. Uphill capacity more than doubles to 2,850 skiers per hour, preserving the uncrowded conditions that have become synonymous with the Big Sky experience. A mid-mountain station provides convenient access to premier beginner terrain, creating seamless connectivity for families and ski groups.
The gondola's upper terminal connects directly to the lower terminal of the iconic 75-passenger Lone Peak Tram, enabling a seamless fifteen-minute journey from valley floor to summit.
Perched at 11,166 feet atop Lone Peak, Kircliff debuts as an alpine observatory unlike anything else in the American West. The striking glass structure, cantilevered over the mountain's edge, delivers sweeping 360-degree vistas across three states and two national parks, from Yellowstone to the Tetons. A dramatic transparent floor creates the sensation of floating above Lone Peak's legendary terrain, where the immensity of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem unfolds in breathtaking panorama.
Together, the new infrastructure enables scenic guest passage from base to summit for the first time in resort history.
“What makes this truly special is the accessibility it unlocks,” Nedved added. “For the first time in Big Sky’s history, anyone can reach the summit of Lone Peak in winter. No skis required.”
Inside, visitors encounter The Mountain, a custom installation by acclaimed artist Anthony James, whose illuminated geometric sculptures have appeared at Art Basel, the Saatchi Gallery, and in the film Glass Onion. James, the first visual artist to exhibit on all seven continents, created the piece specifically for Kircliff, continuing his practice of placing transcendent works in extraordinary natural settings.
Big Sky 2025 has transformed more than just the mountain. Elevated dining experiences and landmark lodging investments throughout the Big Sky community are redefining what the American mountain experience can be. This winter, M by The Alinea Group, a four-month culinary residency led by acclaimed chef Grant Achatz, brings a bold new dimension to Big Sky's culinary scene.
The completion of Big Sky 2025 comes as the resort has earned unprecedented recognition: the #1 ski resort in the West by SKI Magazine's Reader Survey Awards, #2 ski resort in the U.S. in Condé Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards, and designation as the 2026 Expedia Destination of the Year.
"In December 1973, Chet Huntley opened this resort with a gondola and a vision. My father arrived three years later and our family has never stopped building on it," said Stephen Kircher, president and CEO of Boyne Resorts. "Today, 77 years into our company's journey, we've completed Big Sky 2025, but we're just getting started. This base-to-summit infrastructure unlocks new gathering places, new experiences, and transforms the Mountain Village itself. At Boyne, we think in decades, not quarters. The next chapter is already being written."
