Trip Report- Big Sky, Montana

It’s the only resort with triple black diamond ski runs which I thought was just a tourist gimmick, but Big Sky resort has some of the most exposed and gnarliest skiing I have ever experienced, in or out of bounds. Garrett, my boyfriend (who has skied some seriously steep and high consequence terrain) had to butt scooch down a section of a line! We spent a short amount of time in Big Sky, but three long days have left us sore, battered, and grinning from ear to ear.

BIG SKY STOKE

We arrived in Big Sky a week after they had a solid 3-5 inches of fresh snow overnight- The temps were cold, but we layered up, pulled our Buffs high on our faces, and made our way to the base. The whole drive up, Garrett and I were vibrating with stoke, so when we finally made it to the base of Lone Mountain we were bursting with energy and hit the slopes hard. We zoomed down the fresh snow and hit every side hit and powder stash we could find. We were very curious to check out Big Couloir, so we made our way toward the top of the mountain. At the top of Powder Seeker lift, you have a great view of Big Couloir and we saw a party coming down. Conditions looked good!Big Sky is a different resort in a lot of ways, but one of the most significant is they have runs and terrain you have to check out with ski patrol to go ski; The Big Couloir and North Snowfield are the runs that were open for check out while we were there; both routes are accessed from the summit of Lone Mountain. When we reached the top of Powder Seeker we saw the line for the tram to the top of Lone Mountain snaked through the maze, so we decided to check out some of the terrain off Challenger lift and see just how gnarly Big Sky could get. I was also curious to see what Big Sky called a double black since they had triple black diamonds. At the top of the lift, we ran into a ski patroller and asked where he was headed, knowing he could point us in a good direction. "I am going to check out Lower Pinnacles, see how it is riding." Garrett and I looked at each other and knew we were going to check that run out, so we followed ski patrol across but lost them on the traverse since we're slow snowboarders. Garrett was in front of me, and once he made it to the ridge crest I saw him take out his camera-I knew the run had to be a looker.

There were big snow-covered rock spires, with thin chutes in between them. "Which one are you going down," Garrett said, hungry to find his own line down on of these chutes. The chutes looked challenging-probably rocky and with mandatory straight lines and we also had no idea what the terrain was like below. So, I chose the obvious one in front of me. There was a mandatory straight line, but if snow conditions were bad, I could heel edge the whole way down. Garrett chose the line to the left, an unknown, much smaller chute. I made it down my chute in great conditions, granted there were a few rocks on my right side, but I took it slow and in control and was rewarded with exhilarating turns. I came out of the chute and stopped below a cliff band to wait for Garrett. His line tapered out into a small chute you can barely squeeze through. It was also rocky. There was an avalanche bomb hole directly below his line so he couldn’t straight line it out. And there was a cliff band I was standing under that if he turned too quickly to the left he would topple over. And To the right, the spire continued on; Finally, Garrett had met his match! He tentatively made his way down on his heel edge and then his butt before committing to a wide, fast turn out of the chute.“Dude if that is what they call double black diamond, we suck at snowboarding,” I joked as we enjoyed the powder turns back to the lift.

LOCAL HOSPITALITY

On the tram ride up to the top of Lone Peak, Garrett and I were eyeing the Big Couloir hard, hoping we could put our name on the list to ski down. It was later in the afternoon and once we made our way to the disheveled shack to sign out, we discovered Big Couloir was booked, but N. Snowfield had a group going out in fifteen minutes. “Done,” Garrett said and put our names down. “Take a look at the map if you would like,” the ski patroller pointed down to a clipboard with an image of the line we just signed up for. It looked involved: you had to navigate around cliffs, terrain to the far left was closed and out of bounds, there were two traverses just before the bottom that if you missed them you would get stuck above an 80 ft rock face. A little nervous, we tried to get to know the people we would be skiing the line with and took a big sigh of relief when they told us they were locals from Bozeman and had skied this line before. They said N. Snowfield was skiing the best it had all season- we were psyched.

Thanks to the group of locals we skied the line in great style, saw spectacular views and shredded even more spectacular snow. The best part was, we were the only 4 people on the whole run, you couldn’t see a soul for miles. For a short 30 minutes, we had Big Sky to ourselves. After we finished the hard, steep skiing it was a big party lap back to the lifts and our new, local friends invited us to a makeshift hut for a beer. We hunkered in and chatted for a while about good lines in Montana and good lines in Utah. We all grumbled a bit about the good ol' days of skiing- something we had just been experiencing for the last hour: no crowds, no lines, no expensive hotels, and no heated chairlifts. We finished our beers and parted ways.

We never did catch the names of the two locals who let us in on what makes Big Sky special, but they helped set the tone for the rest of the trip. Thanks to another local couple we met getting a drink, we found a great place for dinner. Thanks to a local schoolteacher, we got an Airbnb right in town. And after reaching out to an old friend who suggested a line, I had the scariest and biggest tomahawk of my life. Honestly, I left Big Sky knowing that this place has some of the craziest skiing around, but what really makes the place special are the amazing people. I hope to spend more time there soon.