Really Big Mountain
Featured Review
Pros: Super terrain, no lift lines, lots of high speed quads
Cons: rocks, rocks, and did I say, rocks. A couple of lifts are almost useless.
Spent a week there Feb. 2010. Never stood in line once, even for the Lone Peak Tram. Rode every lift, took most of the lines off the middle of the hill, but couldn't cover every run even with 5 days to do it.
I took the Liberty Bowl off the Lone Peak tram every time. It was truely fun terrain, resembling Rendezvous Bowl at Jackson Hole except it's triple the vertical. The ride up the Lone Peak Tram is awesome, especially when it's not foggy. Challenger lift is slow and creaky, but accesses some true double diamond runs. I think my favorite run of the whole hill is Highway, with an occasional shift over to 17 Greens.
The base was about 40" mid-hill; I'm not sure if that is that far below average for February. Most of the mogul troughs had rocky surprises, even higher up on the hill. There are some definate rock bands that seem to defy snow coverage, and you need to carefully scope the terrain from the lift whenever possible to identify their nature. I found myself looking less down the slope and closer to the front of my skis in order to minimize rock encounters.
The Dakota lift is a mystery to me. The lifties gave us the advice on how to find it, "keep going until you feel lost, then keep going some more." Other than the Dakota gully, I'm not sure what runs it really accesses. One shouldn't have to bushwack to get to a lift. On the other end of the resort, the Lone Moose lift is also a mystery - two sloppy black diamonds and a green cruiser are all it services (probably there more for condo access).
I had some good meals at lunchtime, and some decent dinners too. It seems that there is no central 'town' of Big Sky, with the base area and the Meadows seeming to be the only shopping zones. I would think with the amount of homes in the area, there'd be some big box stores, but I never came across one. The stores seem to have the size of their facade limited to small unobtrusive lettering, ala Park City. I guess the locals go shopping in Bozeman for the essentials.
I spent a day at Moonlight Basin before the week in Big Sky. I was never tempted to buy an all-resort ticket after my first day at Big Sky.
I took the Liberty Bowl off the Lone Peak tram every time. It was truely fun terrain, resembling Rendezvous Bowl at Jackson Hole except it's triple the vertical. The ride up the Lone Peak Tram is awesome, especially when it's not foggy. Challenger lift is slow and creaky, but accesses some true double diamond runs. I think my favorite run of the whole hill is Highway, with an occasional shift over to 17 Greens.
The base was about 40" mid-hill; I'm not sure if that is that far below average for February. Most of the mogul troughs had rocky surprises, even higher up on the hill. There are some definate rock bands that seem to defy snow coverage, and you need to carefully scope the terrain from the lift whenever possible to identify their nature. I found myself looking less down the slope and closer to the front of my skis in order to minimize rock encounters.
The Dakota lift is a mystery to me. The lifties gave us the advice on how to find it, "keep going until you feel lost, then keep going some more." Other than the Dakota gully, I'm not sure what runs it really accesses. One shouldn't have to bushwack to get to a lift. On the other end of the resort, the Lone Moose lift is also a mystery - two sloppy black diamonds and a green cruiser are all it services (probably there more for condo access).
I had some good meals at lunchtime, and some decent dinners too. It seems that there is no central 'town' of Big Sky, with the base area and the Meadows seeming to be the only shopping zones. I would think with the amount of homes in the area, there'd be some big box stores, but I never came across one. The stores seem to have the size of their facade limited to small unobtrusive lettering, ala Park City. I guess the locals go shopping in Bozeman for the essentials.
I spent a day at Moonlight Basin before the week in Big Sky. I was never tempted to buy an all-resort ticket after my first day at Big Sky.
