I just got back from my trip to Big sky, so as requested by
@marzNC... here’s my report:
It was COLD!! We got in Saturday evening and decided before we got there to not ski Sunday but just get our bearings. We were both severely sleep deprived even before the full day of travel to get there. It snowed a lot on Sunday, sometimes heavily, and at the end of the day some others were talking about white out conditions and falling because of not being able to see.
Monday was great. I don’t remember the exact temperature, but it didn’t feel as cold as the thermometer made me expect, even based on my experience with Colorado feeling much warmer than the east coast at the same thermometer reading. My bf is recovering from back surgery- can’t feel his left foot and has bad tendonitis in his right hip, so we didn’t want to wander too far in case he suddenly realized he didn’t have anything left. So we rode up the new Ramcharger 8 and hung out around that area, skiing back down various runs and then spending the afternoon on the back side riding the Southern Comfort lift and checking out the trails it serves. That lift line, El Dorado, was really fun, despite being a green. It was deep and soft and fast all in different areas. And the lift itself is relatively low to the ground which my bad (who HATES ski lifts) was a big fan of. There was something like 14” of new snow, which wasn’t exactly powder, more heavy and chewed up, at least where I was, but still soft and fun and awesome. Tuesday started out Sunny and beautiful (cold, but still not too bad) with conditions a lot like Monday. It started snowing really hard around 2pm and we headed in, not being that adventurous. (My biggest fear skiing is not being able to see where I’m going.)
Wednesday was our day off to snowmobile in Yellowstone National Park. The day started out -9°F but warmed up to a balmy 5° for a little while in the afternoon. Even in the down jumpsuit provided by the tour company I was COLD! Not sure what the slopes were like.
Thursday started out really cold again... I think it was -14°? Just walking out the door I could feel the hairs inside my nose freezing together, and by the time I had my skis on at the base area the water vapor from my nose had frozen on the hairs on my upper lip. I rode up the swift current lift and by the time I got to the top, my fingers and toes were very cold. I was wearing my warmest clothes, that kept me toasty in Banff last year, and still even my arms and legs were chilly. I found the conditions to be completely different from earlier in the week - not sure if it’s because I was in a different area or just because there hadn’t been as much snow as recently, but when I headed up around 9, there were not too many people and lots of fresh courderoy. I was glad I got a chance to ski that as well. I only wish it hadn’t been so cold. I got a few runs in but called it quits early due to not being able to feel half my body parts and to skiing alone, which isn’t my fave... the bad hip had had enough by that point, and we were leaving later that afternoon.
Overall I didn’t ski quite as much as I hoped, and really didn’t explore very much either, which I’m a little disappointed in, but I did have fun and the conditions were great. If I go back someday with a healthy partner, I’ll look forward to seeing more of the mountain.
Oh, and amazing views! I’ve never attached a photo before, but I’m going to try...
Shoot. The photos on my phone are too big. I’ll try resizing them on my computer and making another post
