Montana Skiing Guide
Big Sky Ski Resort

Big Sky Resort : Skiing Lone Peak - p. 2

Looking up at the Lone Peak Summit from the Tram station.

On the previous page information was provided about skiing down from Lone Peak Summit at Big Sky Ski Resort. Additionally, ski trails directly underneat the Lone Peak Tram were looked at. This page will explore other ski routes down from the summit of Lone Peak at Big Sky Resort.

We'll first look at skiing perhaps the most popular route down from the Lone Peak Summit, the "South Face" and the "South Wall."

Summit Route 2 : The “South Face” and the “South Wall”

Skiing down the south side of the summit of Lone Peak is by far the most popular route from the summit, as it provides access to two gorgeous double diamond skiing areas. And while the skiing is true double diamond, it is not quite as death defying as heading down on the ski trails found right below the tram. Moreover, there are far more ski trails off this side of Lone Peak. The two areas that skiing down the south side of Lone Peak provides access to is known as the “South Face” and the “South Wall”, both of which are covered below.

The “South Face” is a splendid area located directly on, appropriately enough, the south face of Lone Peak. The “South Face” is essentially another big bowl, consisting of two ridges on either side of the bowl with an open, steep descent into the head of the bowl from the summit. An advanced skier can choose to either make their way down the ridges on each side of the bowl, dropping down into the bowl through the many chutes that are found – or they can elect to ski down the more open, but steep, trails found at the head of the bowl. Thus, what is nice about the “South Face” is that it provides experts with a huge choice of ski terrain – either steep, open bowl terrain or narrow, rocky chute type terrain.

The “South Wall”, by contrast, provides true chute skiing. The “South Wall” is the knifelike ridgeline that is to your left when you are in “The Bowl” at the top of the gondola lift or when riding the Lone Peak Triple Chair. The “South Wall” at Big Sky is characterized by very steep terrain that begins on top of the ridge and works its way down, through a multitude of chutes, into “The Bowl” (or back to where the Lone Peak Triple Chair is located).

See Map of the South Face and the South Wall

Getting to the top of the “South Wall” requires some careful sign reading during good weather and excellent navigational skills during foul weather. The reason for this is that you access the top of the “South Wall” by one of two traverses that snake their way down and over from the summit. These traverses are called Yeti Traverse and Gulles Traverse. If you aren’t careful, especially in cloudy weather, it is all too easy to miss these traverses – or more likely getting inadvertently off them before you want to.

Chutes on the "South Wall" at Big Sky Resort.

The Yeti Traverse leads to a section on the “South Wall” that is known as The Gullies. The Gullies are true double-diamond terrain that is both incredibly steep and very narrow. In other words, The Gullies provides true expert level chute skiing. If you happen to make your way to the top of this area and get psyched out by the difficulty, you aren’t completely up the creek without a paddle since you can still pick your way down the top of the ridge of the “South Wall”, eventually meeting up with Gulles Traverse.

Summit Route 3 : Liberty Bowl

Liberty Bowl is a ski trail that also heads down the south side of the Lone Peak summit at Big Sky Resort. The reason it is discussed separately is because unlike every other ski trail off the summit of Lone Peak, Liberty Bowl is a single black diamond trail. As such, Liberty Bowl is the easiest way down from the summit.

Looking up Liberty Bowl, seen from the bottom of it. The bare patches were caused due to an early spring and low snow during the year.

Liberty Bowl is one of the most beautiful ski trails at Big Sky in my own opinion. But don’t let the “easy” way fool you. The top half of Liberty Bowl is remarkably and deceptively steep. However, the good news is that there are no rocks, gullies or chutes to contend with. Instead, you just have a very nice, wide open trail that also happens to be very steep on the top half.

As there is few reference points on this trail (no trees, no rocks), when standing at the top of Liberty Bowl the ski run seems fairly short and easy. However, once you start making your way down it you begin to realize that Liberty Bowl is a pretty demanding trail. Not only is it consistently steep – it is long, too. Unlike many steep trails at other ski areas, where the “steep” part only lasts for a couple hundred of vertical feet – the Liberty Bowl trail at Big Sky resort is easily 1500 vertical feet of solidly steep skiing.

After this 1500 vertical feet, the trail begins to level off somewhat, taking on more of an intermediate grade. Soon after flattening out, the Liberty Bowl ski trail reaches the tree line and begins to resemble a more typical ski trail.

Several other trails, some intermediate level and some expert level, also branch off from the Liberty Bowl trail once you reach the tree line. Each of these branch trails, along with the Liberty Bowl trail itself, lead down to the bottom of the “South Face”. As mentioned previously, the lower half of the “South Face” is served by a double chair, the Shedhorn Lift.

As a complete side note, the ski area you see when heading down Liberty Bowl is called Yellowstone Ski Area. Your look at this ski area from the Liberty Bowl ski trail is as close as you are likely to ever get to it, though, so enjoy it. The reason is because Yellowstone Ski Area is a completely private ski area. Only if you have several million dollars in the bank, can afford to build a multi-million dollar home, have an impeccable credit and criminal record and can afford the yearly association dues of like $200,000 will you ever likely to be able to ski at Yellowstone Ski Area.

Skiing the Lone Peak Summit : Summary

If this page made any sense, hopefully you have come away with the feeling that skiing down from the summit at Big Sky is not easy. Only diamond and double-diamond expert trails are located at or anywhere near the summit. As such, if you are an intermediate or beginner skier, don’t even think of trying to ski down from the summit. Instead, just take your skis off at the lower tram station and take the tram up for the views and then take the tram back down so you don’t get hurt.

But, if you do plan on skiing down from the summit, here’s a quick overview of the options. The first option is to ski down right beneath the tram, which has the steepest and scariest skiing at Big Sky. The second option is to ski down the “South Face” or the “South Wall”. The “South Face” is a mix of steep, open bowl terrain in the middle with narrow, chute terrain found on the sides. In contrast, the “South Wall”, which is the knife-edge ridgeline that lies to the south of “The Bowl”, consists almost exclusively of steep chute skiing. The third option, which is also the easiest way down from the summit, is to ski down the Liberty Trail. This is a beautiful trail that will, eventually, lead you down to the very bottom of the “South Face”, where you then pick up the Shedhorn double chair.

Next Page : Skiing the Rest of Lone Peak

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