2019 - Big Sky

It has been 23 years since our last trip to Montana. We thought it might have been 15, but as usual, we tend to greatly underestimate how long ago things happened. We remembered the thermal vandalism, the antelope puking but not much else. And the mountain has expanded to 5800 acres - supposedly biggest in north america. We arrived in bozeman after 3 feet of snow over the prior 7 days, to find ourselves car-less with fink stuck in denver and our hotwire reservation unable to be changed. Fink did arrive, we got a crappy 2-wheel drive Chevy, which only made it up to our condo about 60% of the time, and we were off to ski.

First day was sunny with lots of powder, much of it untracked off southern comfort lift. We got a tour of the mountain from Mike, highlighted by runs off the Dakota chair, finding untracked powder without hiking late in the day. The next day it snowed all day - around 6" and found lots of fresh snow off the old lone moose triple. Day 3 in the morning we spent in the powdery woods off the six shooter lift, then some nice runs off challenger with our new ski bunny friend (fink). Day 4 was a mix of sun, some remaining good snow and some windblown eastern-style skiing. Never did make it up the tram as we didn't want to wait an hour+. Lowlight of food was the brewpub with the clueless waiter, and menu with nothing available. New bar for trips- separate bathrooms for all?