Northern Rockies/Alberta Best Time to Visit Big Sky?

[BS Slarver]

Check VRBO for a condo in the meadows, firelight.... I believe it’s called. Some sleep 8 -10 and right on the bus route.
Skip the drive to the parking lot and a few more food and drink options.

 

[ejj]

One option: stay at the Huntley lodge for 2 nights. Pack in to the rooms. They run decent deals for stay/ski with big breakfast. Then head up to Boze/Bridge. Tickets are costly and difficult to obtain any deals on them.

 

[TonyPlush]

You are correct on the Challenger Ridge being the divider, but that is also an advantage. If you can ski bumps getting back and forth from from Moonlight & Big Sky is pretty easy. Up Challenger and then down Moonlight or Outer Limits to Comet to the top of the Six Shooter. Coming back is go up the Headwaters lift and a choice a few runs like Highway, Country Club, St Alphonse Trees and the like back to Big Sky.

Does Ramcharger get noticeable lift lines at opening?

I've heard Big Horn and Elk Park Ridge make for great warm-up cruisers in the morning sun. But if staying in the Moonlight Lodge area, it looks like you'd have to take Pony Express --> Iron Horse --> Ski down to Mountain Village and wait in a Ramcharger morning lift line. That could probably eat up 30-45 minutes of the morning.

We usually park at Madison but ski The Big Sky side. Getting back and forth is much faster and easier than , say getting from Blue Sky Basin to Vail Village or getting from Arrowhead to Beaver Creek.

From Madison base to Mountain Village it is one lift (six-shooter) and a five minute run at most to the Village. Going back it’s two lifts(Swifty and Iron Horse) and two quick runs. We usually throw a run off Powderseeker in the mix also. I like skiing the terrain off of Ironhorse, especially when the base lift lines get a little long so don’t overlook that area.

Good info, and that was going to be my next question. From the map it doesn't look like the top of Iron Horse connectes to the Six Shooter runs, but I'm guessing there must be a way to unload from Iron Horse and access all those long blues and blacks in the Six Shooter area.

 

[Talisman]

Does Ramcharger get noticeable lift lines at opening? Unless there is a big ski race Ram Charger doesn't get much of a lift line and remember this is MT so lift lines here are typically short. Unless you are very slow on cat tracks it won't take 45 minutes to go from Moonlight to the Ramcharger. Big Horn isn't a trail that really catches the morning sun the way Elk Park does, but both are long cruisers.


Good info, and that was going to be my next question. From the map it doesn't look like the top of Iron Horse connectes to the Six Shooter runs, but I'm guessing there must be a way to unload from Iron Horse and access all those long blues and blacks in the Six Shooter area.

Snake Bite and Elk Horn connect to the Six Shooter trails.

 

[skidrew]

Does Ramcharger get noticeable lift lines at opening?

I've heard Big Horn and Elk Park Ridge make for great warm-up cruisers in the morning sun. But if staying in the Moonlight Lodge area, it looks like you'd have to take Pony Express --> Iron Horse --> Ski down to Mountain Village and wait in a Ramcharger morning lift line. That could probably eat up 30-45 minutes of the morning.

There are no lift lines at Big Sky! More seriously, there are rarely meaningful lift lines on Ramcharger even at opening. Most folks looking to ski from the bell head up Swiftcurrent so they can get up to the tram.

Good info, and that was going to be my next question. From the map it doesn't look like the top of Iron Horse connectes to the Six Shooter runs, but I'm guessing there must be a way to unload from Iron Horse and access all those long blues and blacks in the Six Shooter area.

Cinnabar is the easy way down. You can ski over to Elkhorn as well, and take that down (it's more an advanced intermediate). In other words, the top of Iron Horse is a little flat so you can get over a touch - the map doesn't really show that. [edited to add after recent visit - it's actually downhill from the top of Iron Horse to the top of Elkhorn and Snakebite, plus the other blacks shown, but you can't get to the trails on the other side (right on map) of Sixshooter without going up the Sixshooter lift]

 

[SShore]

Cinnabar takes you to the Madison base area. Elkhorn takes you to the Sixshooter, which is well below the base area, requiring another lift ride to ski back to the base.

 

[focker]

Check VRBO for a condo in the meadows, firelight.... I believe it’s called. Some sleep 8 -10 and right on the bus route.
Skip the drive to the parking lot and a few more food and drink options.

Does the bus run regularly enough to make staying the meadows easy? boot up in the Condo and jump on the bus with all your stuff type of a deal?

 

[BS Slarver]

@focker I can check on Wednesday when I’m out there, it’s one of many things on my due diligence to research before buying a piece of property in the meadows.
I think it’s once an hour but it stops at the condos. The parking area up at the mountain is fairly easy to navigate as well.

 

[skidrew]

Bus schedule/map here: http://www.skylinebus.com/routes-schedules/winter-schedule/

 

[focker]

Bus schedule/map here: http://www.skylinebus.com/routes-schedules/winter-schedule/

Ok that's what I was hoping for. Looks like it would be pretty easy to catch a bus near a Condo and get up the main village with our ski stuff already on.

I did some searching on VRBO and there are nice condo options in the village that aren't really all that expensive compared to staying up in the main base area (which is insanely expensive FYI). I also found a few condo's off the 'white otter double' chair that are pretty reasonable ($120 per night!) for essentially being ski in/ski out with a short (~100') walk involved.

We don't really need ski in/ski out. As long as we can boot up at our condo we're fine. I just don't want to have to drive up the main area and then still have to hike from the parking lots.

This changes our trip logistics. We'll likely get a condo in Bridger for 2-3 nights then get one in Big Sky for 2 more.

 

[focker]

@focker I can check on Wednesday when I’m out there, it’s one of many things on my due diligence to research before buying a piece of property in the meadows.
I think it’s once an hour but it stops at the condos. The parking area up at the mountain is fairly easy to navigate as well.

I'm still trying to figure out these bus schedules (but not really hard since our trip is a long way out) but it appears the bus stops in the village once around every 15 minutes at peak times. It only goes way down the valley to places like Bucks T-4 once an hour though. I could be wrong however.

 

[skidrew]

I'm still trying to figure out these bus schedules (but not really hard since our trip is a long way out) but it appears the bus stops in the village once around every 15 minutes at peak times. It only goes way down the valley to places like Bucks T-4 once an hour though. I could be wrong however.

That's what it looks like to me - there are two routes: One that goes from the canyon (191) to the mountain(village). The other just loops around mountain village and madison base area. Plus there's one extra in the morning "the early commuter" that goes from the canyon up to the mountain village. I suspect that's designed for workers to get there more than skiers (and probably a way to get the loop bus up the hill).

 

[Doin1]

Does Ramcharger get noticeable lift lines at opening?

I've heard Big Horn and Elk Park Ridge make for great warm-up cruisers in the morning sun. But if staying in the Moonlight Lodge area, it looks like you'd have to take Pony Express --> Iron Horse --> Ski down to Mountain Village and wait in a Ramcharger morning lift line. That could probably eat up 30-45 minutes of the morning.

Good info, and that was going to be my next question. From the map it doesn't look like the top of Iron Horse connectes to the Six Shooter runs, but I'm guessing there must be a way to unload from Iron Horse and access all those long blues and blacks in the Six Shooter area.

As stated Big Sky lift lines are nonexistent. Just announced today Ramcharger will be the first 8 person chair in NA next year. You can all ride on the same chair. And heated.

 

[TonyPlush]

Still finalizing these trip details. Based on input from this thread, looking at the first week of March.

We may get a place walking/skiing distance in between Bear Back Poma and Thunderwolf lifts. My question - do both of those lifts open early?

We want to get the longest days possible, so ski in/out doesn't do us much good if say, we have to hike all the way to the main village to get first chair.

Thanks!

 

[SShore]

Still finalizing these trip details. Based on input from this thread, looking at the first week of March.

We may get a place walking/skiing distance in between Bear Back Poma and Thunderwolf lifts. My question - do both of those lifts open early?

We want to get the longest days possible, so ski in/out doesn't do us much good if say, we have to hike all the way to the main village to get first chair.

Thanks!

Thunder Wolf is open when the other front side lifts open. Don't know about the poma as it is mainly a residential lift that I have never paid any attention to.

 

[TonyPlush]

Thunder Wolf is open when the other front side lifts open. Don't know about the poma as it is mainly a residential lift that I have never paid any attention to.

Perfect! Thanks!

 

[Talisman]

We may get a place walking/skiing distance in between Bear Back Poma and Thunderwolf lifts.

There isn't a lot of places that are walking distance to the Thunderwolf lift. Low Dog road gets pretty flat in the run out to the Thunderwolf, but if you get creative you can ski from the Poma to T'wolf by skiing along the paved part of Low Dog road and then bombing the drop down to the flats.