Big Sky Resort Review
Originally published in Global Traveler
Boasting bountiful snow, high-speed lifts and afternoon cookie service, Big Sky, Montana, is the ideal place to cap your ski season.
“Big Sky calls April ‘the secret season,’” said Chris Walch, a corporate lawyer turned tech entrepreneur, as well as my ski instructor for the day. “Most of our terrain is open, the snowfall is plentiful and the temperatures become milder to enjoy outdoor après ski.”
Arriving in Montana one April afternoon — the tail end of a nationwide dry spell — I didn’t know what I’d find. Aside from a sparse white cover topping the Rockies in the distance, the drive from Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport didn’t feel much different than the South Florida I’d left that morning.
After jettisoning my luggage at Summit Hotel in Mountain Village (part of Big Sky Resort) — a slope-side venue known for its easy access to high-speed lifts and eager ski valets looking to avail guests of their equipment — I snapped into my rental skis and surveyed the surprisingly fluffy powder unfurling across the mountain.
“Having a guide,” Walch added, “is good because one, you get to jump the line and two, the terrain isn’t necessarily intuitive.”
With 5,850 skiable acreage, Big Sky Resort boats hundreds of trails, 38 lifts and four peaks. The third-largest ski resort in the country, it features a mix of beginner, intermediate and advanced trails embellished with moguls, bowls, glades and icy rock.
Due to its colossal proportions, Big Sky invested heavily in updating its lift system to get a leg up on more fashionable resorts in Aspen, Jackson Hole and Deer Valley, as well as the spate of fancier options that sprouted in Big Sky’s own backyard. In December, Big Sky opened its 10-person, heated, ergonomic Explorer Gondola to transport guests from Mountain Village to the Lone Peak Tram up to the mountain’s highest skiable elevation, at 11,260 feet. At the summit is the glass-enclosed, cantilevered Kircliff viewing platform. On a clear day, its 360-degree vistas showcase three states and two national parks, Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Step on the transparent floor to feel as though you’re floating above the legendary terrain.
Afterward, stop for an Aperol spritz at Iglu, a bona fide mid-mountain ice cave. Then return to Mountain Village, leave your skis with the valet, and head inside for the hotel’s daily milk and cookies spread. A pair of all-electric Rivian house shuttles let guests gallivant to Big Sky’s high-energy roster of après ski options. Big Sky’s ski season runs Thanksgiving to late April.
50 Big Sky Resort Road
Big Sky, MT 59716
tel 800 548 4486