teppaz
Angel Diva
I paid $106 with taxes for three days of last season's demos at LMS, so about $35 a day. Well worth it.
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Big Sky, MT in late Feb 2019, cold and snowy
- Thread starter marzNC
- Start date
marzNC
Angel Diva
For people who don't need slopeside lodging, the area called Meadow Village (Big Sky on map below) in the valley close to US191 has a lot of condos for rent. Meadow Village has clearly been growing in recent years. There is a hospital, Grizzly Outfitters ski shop, a supermarket, assorted restaurants and shops, an outdoor skating rink, and a movie theater. Also more than one gas station.
Rental rates for condos/houses are noticeably less in Meadow Village compared to Mountain Village or Moonlight. Can find some good deals if start looking before November. Can be harder to find 2BR units compared to 3BR units.
The drive from Meadow Village up to Mountain Village or Madison Village isn't far. But it's a good idea to have AWD/4WD. When it snows, the roads are plowed and sanded pretty well, but still likely not to be driving on pavement. In the neighborhood for our condo, the road was plowed but not really sanded.
It takes an hour to drive the 45 miles from the Bozeman airport (actually in Belgrade) to Meadow Village, assuming good road conditions. Just about the same if coming from Bozeman since there is no need to get on I-90. If staying in Big Sky for a week, doing a day trip to Bridger is worth considering. Although my preference is to stay in Bozeman to ski Bridger before Big Sky and then move to Big Sky for 5-7 days.
When we went to eat at the Lotus Pad, I was confused because it had moved into one of the new buildings since I was there in 2012. Back then there were two little grocery stores that were the size of convenience stores. Roxy's Market is a full service supermarket with deli food, pizza, and meals that can be heated up in a microwave or oven for folks who don't want to eat out but aren't really interested in cooking either.
Rental rates for condos/houses are noticeably less in Meadow Village compared to Mountain Village or Moonlight. Can find some good deals if start looking before November. Can be harder to find 2BR units compared to 3BR units.
The drive from Meadow Village up to Mountain Village or Madison Village isn't far. But it's a good idea to have AWD/4WD. When it snows, the roads are plowed and sanded pretty well, but still likely not to be driving on pavement. In the neighborhood for our condo, the road was plowed but not really sanded.
It takes an hour to drive the 45 miles from the Bozeman airport (actually in Belgrade) to Meadow Village, assuming good road conditions. Just about the same if coming from Bozeman since there is no need to get on I-90. If staying in Big Sky for a week, doing a day trip to Bridger is worth considering. Although my preference is to stay in Bozeman to ski Bridger before Big Sky and then move to Big Sky for 5-7 days.
When we went to eat at the Lotus Pad, I was confused because it had moved into one of the new buildings since I was there in 2012. Back then there were two little grocery stores that were the size of convenience stores. Roxy's Market is a full service supermarket with deli food, pizza, and meals that can be heated up in a microwave or oven for folks who don't want to eat out but aren't really interested in cooking either.
marzNC
Angel Diva
As for terrain at Big Sky . . . it's a huge place with a lot of variety at all ability levels. Total skiable acreage is 5800 acres, spread across 7-10 sections depending on how you want to count. Taking a free mountain tour is well worth considering at the beginning of a trip for first-timers. Bill and I did that in 2012. The tour covered several areas in two hours and it was well worth it, even though the skiing was all on blue groomers. They do tours at different levels from green to blue. The "blue blue" groups move pretty fast. Bill did another tour this time one morning. The group had to decide whether to do North or South. North seems to mean Moonlight Basin, while South means more of Andesite Mtn. Tours start at 10:45 and 1:00 near the main base ski school.
For intermediates, starting with Ramcharger 8 up Andesite is a good approach. Taking it easy by checking out a green that leads to the Southern Comfort lift is worth considering for folks not yet adjusted to higher altitude. The blues called Lizette and Pomp (harder) are good fun. Although most of the terrain is 7500-10,000 not too high compared to Colorado. The other side of Andesite has Elk Park Ridge and Elk Park Meadow, plus nice black tree runs that are relatively short. The third section of Andesite has fun blue bump runs like Africa and Congo. In short, it's easy to spend an entire day just on Andesite. Even advanced/expert skiers won't feel bored staying on Ram8 and Thunder Wolf if the upper mountain is socked in or has high wind issues.
The other area that's good for adventurous intermediates or advanced skiers more interested in trees than chutes is over at Moonlight Basin. Takes a little while to ski over (20-30 min) from Mountain Village so better to commit to staying there for a while. The tricky part to Moonlight is that the Madison Base is above the high-speed Six Shooter lift. Can take the Derringer quad up to Madison from the base of Six Shooter but that's a slow beginner lift. At least there is a couple porta-potties at the top of Six Shooter.
@lisamamot showed me Single Jack (black) off Lookout Ridge (blue). Great fun! Bill liked Marshall (black) off Lookout. Horseshoe (blue) is a long, long groomer. Was a bit of an adventure to get across the top off Lone Tree lift because of strong gusts and blowing snow the morning I took some folks that way, but it was worth the effort. The trail was empty, no wind, mostly groomed with 4-5 inches of fresh untracked snow on the sides.
Didn't ski the Bowl right under Lone Peak at all this time. Too much snow, too little visibility after the first day so the Bowl was closed when I made it over there even though Powder Seeker (6-seater bubble lift) was open.
Did make it to Dakota again after the snow started a few days after the little tour by @Skisailor on Sat afternoon. I was headed that way solo and wasn't sure what I would do when I got there. Met a woman on the slow section of the cat track on the way to the Shedhorn lift. Struck up a conversation. She turned out to be solo as well. Wanted to check out Dakota but had never been there. She was at Big Sky from Colorado for a Wildnerness Medicine conference. We skied together for the next 1.5 hours. I managed to find the same area in the Dakota #1 trees. It was DEEP and a bit heavy. Could have used skis wider than 103 underfoot. But the second run was better. Needed more speed. Definitely lucked out in finding a ski buddy or else I wouldn't have done more than a few turns in the trees before heading right out to Badlands (blue). The snow was boot deep on Badlands, which had been groomed at some point.
My favorite tree run after it started snowing was Shady Chute on Andesite. I skied it when the snow was still light and fluffy. Knee deep in places with very few tracks. Bill and I spent an afternoon checking out most of the blacks off Silver Knife (steep blue) after the first snowy day. Blackfoot (black) is another good one for people starting to explore bumps because it's easy to bail out on either side to a groomer. Can do 4-5 turns or 10-12 before deciding whether or not to go all the way. Colter's Hell is a more open black that's more bumps than glade and a little shorter than Blackfoot.
Silver Knife is the way to get to The Cabin, the restaurant above Lone Mountain Sports.
Turns out the Lobo (blue) off the Swifty (Swift Current) lift has a good view of the front side of Andesite, meaning from Africa (blue) over to Ram8.
Even with an entire week, it's hard to cover much more than a few sections of Big Sky. I can see why some people just keep going back and aren't really that interested in skiing elsewhere.
For intermediates, starting with Ramcharger 8 up Andesite is a good approach. Taking it easy by checking out a green that leads to the Southern Comfort lift is worth considering for folks not yet adjusted to higher altitude. The blues called Lizette and Pomp (harder) are good fun. Although most of the terrain is 7500-10,000 not too high compared to Colorado. The other side of Andesite has Elk Park Ridge and Elk Park Meadow, plus nice black tree runs that are relatively short. The third section of Andesite has fun blue bump runs like Africa and Congo. In short, it's easy to spend an entire day just on Andesite. Even advanced/expert skiers won't feel bored staying on Ram8 and Thunder Wolf if the upper mountain is socked in or has high wind issues.
The other area that's good for adventurous intermediates or advanced skiers more interested in trees than chutes is over at Moonlight Basin. Takes a little while to ski over (20-30 min) from Mountain Village so better to commit to staying there for a while. The tricky part to Moonlight is that the Madison Base is above the high-speed Six Shooter lift. Can take the Derringer quad up to Madison from the base of Six Shooter but that's a slow beginner lift. At least there is a couple porta-potties at the top of Six Shooter.
@lisamamot showed me Single Jack (black) off Lookout Ridge (blue). Great fun! Bill liked Marshall (black) off Lookout. Horseshoe (blue) is a long, long groomer. Was a bit of an adventure to get across the top off Lone Tree lift because of strong gusts and blowing snow the morning I took some folks that way, but it was worth the effort. The trail was empty, no wind, mostly groomed with 4-5 inches of fresh untracked snow on the sides.
Didn't ski the Bowl right under Lone Peak at all this time. Too much snow, too little visibility after the first day so the Bowl was closed when I made it over there even though Powder Seeker (6-seater bubble lift) was open.
Did make it to Dakota again after the snow started a few days after the little tour by @Skisailor on Sat afternoon. I was headed that way solo and wasn't sure what I would do when I got there. Met a woman on the slow section of the cat track on the way to the Shedhorn lift. Struck up a conversation. She turned out to be solo as well. Wanted to check out Dakota but had never been there. She was at Big Sky from Colorado for a Wildnerness Medicine conference. We skied together for the next 1.5 hours. I managed to find the same area in the Dakota #1 trees. It was DEEP and a bit heavy. Could have used skis wider than 103 underfoot. But the second run was better. Needed more speed. Definitely lucked out in finding a ski buddy or else I wouldn't have done more than a few turns in the trees before heading right out to Badlands (blue). The snow was boot deep on Badlands, which had been groomed at some point.
My favorite tree run after it started snowing was Shady Chute on Andesite. I skied it when the snow was still light and fluffy. Knee deep in places with very few tracks. Bill and I spent an afternoon checking out most of the blacks off Silver Knife (steep blue) after the first snowy day. Blackfoot (black) is another good one for people starting to explore bumps because it's easy to bail out on either side to a groomer. Can do 4-5 turns or 10-12 before deciding whether or not to go all the way. Colter's Hell is a more open black that's more bumps than glade and a little shorter than Blackfoot.
Silver Knife is the way to get to The Cabin, the restaurant above Lone Mountain Sports.
Turns out the Lobo (blue) off the Swifty (Swift Current) lift has a good view of the front side of Andesite, meaning from Africa (blue) over to Ram8.
Even with an entire week, it's hard to cover much more than a few sections of Big Sky. I can see why some people just keep going back and aren't really that interested in skiing elsewhere.
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marzNC
Angel Diva
Thanks! Hope you are able to keep warm enough the next few days.
One aspect of Big Sky that could be improved in the future is having more places mid-mountain to stop and sit down with a hot chocolate to warm up. The ones that exist are pretty small, like the yurt that is the Shedhorn Grill or the little Black Kettle Burrito cabin.
At least the restroom building at the top of Ram8 has a nice heated entry room with a couple benches. Don't remember that before. Same general idea as the restroom building near the base of Powder Seeker 6-seater lift near the tram base. Although on Andesite Mtn. it's worth the extra effort to go use the restrooms inside Everette's. Could use that at the top of Six Shooter too. Porta-potties are better than nothing but certainly not good for warming up when the wind is blowing on the lifts over at Moonlight.
bsskier
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I agree. The lack of easily accessible restrooms and places to warm up on mountain makes for continued commentary. Why Boyle hasn’t caught on is a mystery. There was a porta potty next to burrito shack in January, but has since been removed, thank goodness. Not only was it unsightly, but there’s a restroom building not far down, across from Black Kettle. At Moonlight, I think there’s still a porta potty at Six Shooter and/or Lone Tree Four. I know there were plans to build Tyrol-style eateries with restrooms attached at MB, but that was pre-acquisition. The fact I’m even talking about porta potties on the mountain is frustrating.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Dealing with Moonlight infrastructure will take a while. The priority for Boyne Resorts has to be the terrain at Big Sky. Since Moonlight was developed independently by another company, Boyne inherited a design that was set up for a completely different situation. For my first two trips to Big Sky/Moonlight, the Moonlight Lodge was public. So that was a good place to stop in to warm up and/or use the restroom, as well as have a nice lunch in the cafe. But needed to know how to get between Big Sky and Moonlight without buying a second lift ticket. Now that it's private, that changes with situation quite a bit. Especially since the Madison base is NOT where the Six Shooter and Derringer lifts load.
I think any permanent structure at Big Sky requires a permitting process with the U.S. Forest Service. From what I know about how that works around Alta, means that it takes several years to get all the needed approvals even before it's worth spending money on a detailed construction plan. I don't know when the Big Sky 2020 plan was set up, but that's been replaced with Big Sky 2025.
bsskier
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Correction: Boyne. Autocorrect decided Boyne should be Boyle.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Remembered learning about the a city bus that runs between Bozeman and Big Sky. Learned the details from a man talking to a Big Sky host. He'd gotten the details from Guest Services since the host didn't know the answer to his question about whether or not he could bring a suitcase on the bus. The fare is $10 so would be $20 for the man and his wife, instead of $100 for Karst. They would get off at a Walmart parking lot in Bozeman. He was willing to make the walk from there to their motel. One reason the city bus was an option was that the couple they friends with a car going to the same motel who had room for their skis, but not two more people with suitcases.
I had fun chatting with that host. He was from NYC, retired from Wall Street, had been an instructor at Vail at some point, and had only recently decided to become a Big Sky host. I happened to see him at the top of Andesite leading a tour later in the week. Planned to join the tour but only did one run because I saw some friends who I hadn't talked to yet and joined them on a lift. The host was moving pretty fast on an Andesite blue headed towards the main base. His group was having trouble keeping up with him because it was snowing enough that day that the trail wasn't really a groomer any more. I could just keep up. He skied very smoothly so it was like following an instructor for practicing rhythm.
I had fun chatting with that host. He was from NYC, retired from Wall Street, had been an instructor at Vail at some point, and had only recently decided to become a Big Sky host. I happened to see him at the top of Andesite leading a tour later in the week. Planned to join the tour but only did one run because I saw some friends who I hadn't talked to yet and joined them on a lift. The host was moving pretty fast on an Andesite blue headed towards the main base. His group was having trouble keeping up with him because it was snowing enough that day that the trail wasn't really a groomer any more. I could just keep up. He skied very smoothly so it was like following an instructor for practicing rhythm.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Given the issues we had with not enough shuttles or parking on busy days, thought it was worth noting that Big Sky announced that 250 more parking spaces are going to be added for 2019-20. Plus more shuttle service.
https://bigskyresort.com/press-releases/big-sky-resort-announces-more-mountain-village-skier-parking
"Big Sky, Mont. (April 2, 2019) - Big Sky Resort will construct over 250 new parking spaces for the 2019-2020 ski season. The new parking spaces is phase one of a long-term parking plan to add over 500 parking spaces near the ski slopes.
This new parking will be located in Mountain Village, east of the current parking, located downhill from the existing lot. Skiers will have a choice of walking the short distance to the slopes, or taking the parking shuttle system.
Additionally, Big Sky Resort will increase shuttle capacity by 50 percent in conjunction with the parking expansion."
https://bigskyresort.com/press-releases/big-sky-resort-announces-more-mountain-village-skier-parking
"Big Sky, Mont. (April 2, 2019) - Big Sky Resort will construct over 250 new parking spaces for the 2019-2020 ski season. The new parking spaces is phase one of a long-term parking plan to add over 500 parking spaces near the ski slopes.
This new parking will be located in Mountain Village, east of the current parking, located downhill from the existing lot. Skiers will have a choice of walking the short distance to the slopes, or taking the parking shuttle system.
Additionally, Big Sky Resort will increase shuttle capacity by 50 percent in conjunction with the parking expansion."
marzNC
Angel Diva
For Divas with enough posts, there are a few notes and pictures of Divas in the MOTH (Meet On The Hill) thread for Feb 2019. That's where we discussed meeting up to ski together or eat together at Big Sky.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Since I'm not making it back to Big Sky in 2022, decided to update this TR with a recent article about the history of the lifts. The Swift Current 6-pack bubble lift is certainly going to make a difference for getting away from the main base. I'm hoping to plan a return in 2023.
November 1, 2021
A Lift to the Sky
The chairlifts that built Big Sky Resort’s character make way for new era
www.viewsbigsky.com
newbieM
Angel Diva
Big sky is on my 2023 wishlist! Thanks for this useful thread
Since I'm not making it back to Big Sky in 2022, decided to update this TR with a recent article about the history of the lifts. The Swift Current 6-pack bubble lift is certainly going to make a difference for getting away from the main base. I'm hoping to plan a return in 2023.
November 1, 2021
A Lift to the Sky
The chairlifts that built Big Sky Resort’s character make way for new era
