Back from Big Sky, MT

I got back home late monday evening. As I tweeted, we made it back on the early flight, but our bags did not so we waited at Harry Carry's before going back to retrieve them. Lucky for Jed, his plane was diverted to ORD because of fog at MDW, so we grabbed him too. 


The trip was great and everyone that gathered from around the country had a blast. We were well represented by California, Montana, Chicago and New York. We rented a great place for cheap (some benefits of a down economy) slope-side at Big Sky. 5 Bedrooms, great views and a hot tub for 6, though we routinely stuffed double that. We made dinner each night, mostly by chance. Some of the crew drove to Bozeman for an evening out/concert at the fairgrounds Friday night and came back with some pretty good stories (and a Hanna Montana table cloth...). One night we focused on entertaining ourselves with drinking games, Out Cold and other activities (thin mint toss for one).


What about the skiing? There is a very good review of Big Sky from First Tracks Online Ski Magazine.
It gives an accurate summary of the mountain and explains what we discovered: a huge mountain that doesn't ski huge. There is a lot of space and no crowds but there are almost two different hills to ski, the lower gentle slopes and the extreme steeps at the top of Lone Peak. The tram up to the Peak is pretty cool, and it was the only place you waited for a lift (about 20 mins, the tram, resembling a phone booth, only holds 15). The views are incredible, especially from the top. My sister reflected that Montana reminds her of the Midwest with lots of plains and gentle slopes, except for the 11,000ft peaks here and there. 

We skied hard each day and had great weather. The snow stays in good shape because MT is far north, at higher elevation and has many north facing slopes. We ventured up to the Peak 3 times and each time I successively skied a harder line than I had ever skied before. The steeps of the top are pretty incredible, and on the last day we splurged to buy the combined Moonlight/Big Sky pass so that we could go down the backside of Lone Peak. Before they let you do this you meet and sign out with the ski patrol at the top. They show you where to go and what to look for so that you don't take what they call "a slide for life." Yes, if you fall you could be going far and possibly off a cliff. Pretty crazy, but fun too. Another piece of advice they gave is that if you don't see someone else's line, there's probably a good reason for that. James later added, just because someone else skied that line, doesn't mean you can. All good words to live by. Anyway, we enjoyed our time, especially the crazy steeps at the stop of Lone Peak. It's probably not a mountain we will return to quickly, but I wanted to check it off my list. I had a great time with everyone that joined us and I look forward to planning our ski trip for next year (we're thinking Whistler...) 


Many people took pictures from the weekend. The links below are the albums: mine first, Michael's and then Dustin's. Facebook has them all.

Some of My Photos
Some other photos

More Photos (second half is Big Sky)