Timberline was the name given to the resort by the original developer, David Downs. Dave is a great guy but I still feel a rebranding would be useful. Big Mountain rebranded to Whitefish Mountain Resort and people hated it at first but I think now the name is more accepted given all the “Ski the Fish” bumper stickers I saw there on my last visit (which was in the fall). The Durango/Purgatory story did not go as well. But I believe the Canyons name change to PCMR has been good. Can anyone think of other rebrandings?
There were "Ski/Ride the Fish" stickers back when it was Big Mountain (back in the 90's Name change was 2007). That saying isn't new. And they do give stickers out free at ski movies. The name change was to shake off the confusion with Big Sky (people were always correcting me and telling me I was moving to Big Sky and you'd have to go through this long explanation of the history and that Big Mountain existed first).
Quick Facts.
And really, when I hear people calling Big Sky "The Big" it still drives me nuts. It was called "The Big" here decades earlier (40's). The oval bumper sticker reading TBM is also still popular. (The "The" used to be the part of the way marketing referred to it. The Big Mountain.) Then this newcomer (Big Sky, 1973) comes along with big pockets and big advertising and suddenly it's us changing our name. The license plates here read "Big Sky Country" from 67 to 75. Then that stopped, presumably because it was looking like free advertising by the state.
There's lots of places named Big in this state, Big Mountain (geographical name), Bigfork, Big Arm, Big Timber, Big Sandy, etc. And, oh yeah, Big Sky.
