Resort Review: Big Sky, Big Sky Montana

Andrew Terpstra


Pulling up to the resort all you can see is the giant mountain, with nothing surrounding it but blue sky. It even slightly resembles the Paramount Pictures mountain. There’s a reason why this place is called Lone Mountain—it’s the only mountain you can see.

The Big Sky Lone Mountain Resort is one where I have spent many winters. The mountain itself stands with an intimidating 4,350 foot vertical, with 16 different chair lifts. The resort covers 85 miles with 150 named runs that span over three separate mountains.

The terrain is about as varied as it can be. The easy runs are always groomed well and are very open. The intermediates have the occasional groom and they are just as wide as the easy runs—just steeper. The expert runs have every kind of obstacle known to man.
These obstacles vary from trees, to rocks, to boulders, to cliffs, to 8-foot wide chutes through rock walls.
The resort itself has a vast amount of lodging options both on and around the mountain. Condominiums are everywhere, hotels line the base of the mountain, and cabins and homes are located on the outskirts of the resort property. All of the close to mountain lodgings however, are a bit expensive.

The snow at Big Sky is always phenomenal if you make the trip during late December through all of January. As of late however, not many places have been getting much snow because of good ole’ global warming. But when Big Sky gets the snow, there is no place that can top it.