Skiing the Rest of Lone Peak.gif)
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| Looking
up at the Lone Peak Summit from the lower mountain. |
On the
previous two pages, the skiing and snowboarding possibilities
that are available from the summit of Lone Peak were discussed.
If you are an intermediate or beginner skier, most likely
you came away with an impression – hopefully – that
this area at Big Sky Resort is not for you!
Happily,
the vast majority of the remaining area at Big Sky Ski
Resort (the Lone Peak summit routes are only a portion
of the total size of Big Sky) contains a huge mix of nice
intermediate and beginner trails, with some nice expert terrain
thrown in as well. This page will cover the
rest of the skiing that is found on Lone Peak that IS NOT
accessed from the summit.
The
skiing areas on Lone Peak beneath the summit are essentially
divided into four distinct areas. Each of these main areas
will be discussed separately for clarity purposes. The first
area, called the “Lower Mountain”, is the huge
portion of Lone Peak that lies between the top of the Swift
Current Express Quad and the base area down in the Mountain
Village. The second section consists of the famous “Bowl” which
lies beneath the summit but which does not require summit
access to reach – thankfully! The third section consists
of the very nice, expert level terrain accessed off the top
of the Challenger double lift. And the fourth area discussed
is the Iron Horse area (which is also the northern most area
at Big Sky).
Area 1 : Lower Mountain
The lower half
of Lone Peak contains some of the best intermediate
and beginner terrain at Big Sky resort. For clarity, the
lower half is defined as that part of the mountain between
the top of the Gondola and Swift Current Express chairlift
and the Mountain Village area. The vertical on this section
of the mountain is roughly 1600 feet, depending on what lift
you take up to the top (the express quad gives you about
100 extra vertical feet over the Gondola).
Both intermediate and beginner skiers will enjoy the very
wide variety terrain found on this section of Big Sky. The
best intermediate skiing will be found to the east of the
express quad chairlift. Good intermediate ski trails to take
include Calamity Jane and Lobo. Intermediate skiers will
generally want to take the Swift Current Express Quad instead
of the Gondola to the top since this will give you a bit
more vertical and easier access to the intermediate ski trails.
Beginner
skiers, meanwhile, will want to ski the many trails that
are found to the east of the Gondola lift. The beginner
runs on this section are all well groomed (except during
a snowstorm, of course), wide and have a gentle gradient.
One nice thing about the beginner ski runs found on this
section at Big Sky is that they are quite long – pushing
about 2 miles in length. As such, these beginner skiing trails
are excellent runs for new skiers to quickly learn the basics
on.
 See
Map of Lower Lone Peak
One
thing should be noted about the lower mountain section.
The very bottom of the mountain is quite flat. All the intermediate
trails require a rather long, flat run off to get back down
to the base area. During cold weather, this is not a problem.
However, during warmer weather when the snow is soft – be
sure to keep up some speed and to expect to have to do some
poling as the gradient is not quite steep enough to allow
for decent speed in wet, sticky snow.
Area
2 : “The Bowl” at Big Sky Resort
“The Bowl” provides
some of the finest expert skiing at Big Sky in an absolute stunning environment. “The
Bowl” is a massive bowl that has two
steep ridge lines
on either side with the summit of Lone Peak at the head.
Skiing in “The Bowl” is truly a beautiful and
stunning place to ski. “The Bowl” is characterized
by a mix of steep and moderately steep terrain in a completely
open environment as it lies above tree line.
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| "The
Bowl" at Big Sky Resort - expert skiing paradise. |
“The Bowl” gets slammed with tons of snow each
year. This is due to two reasons. First, “The Bowl” sits
at a very high elevation. As such, it gets lots of snow and
the higher, colder elevation prevents it from melting. And
secondly, huge amounts of snow get deposited into “The
Bowl” due to the wind blowing snow off the summit and
ridgelines around it and then dropping it into the sheltered
confines of “The Bowl”. For this reason, “The
Bowl” is an excellent place to powder ski during periods
of snow.
See
Map of "The Bowl"
See
Another Map of "The Bowl" Area
The
skiing in “The Bowl” is accessed off of
one chairlift, the Lone Peak Triple, which has a vertical
rise 830 feet. There is only a handful of designated trails
in “The Bowl”, but don’t let that fool
you. From the top of the Lone Peak Triple chair, you can
ski virtually anywhere you want to go. And if you want to
hit the real steep terrain without having to come down from
the summit, take the Turkey Traverse along the South Wall
and then drop down wherever you want.
There
is only one intermediate trail back in the bowl, Upper
Morningstar. This trail, which is generally groomed, is
a
nice trail that less advanced skiers will be comfortable
using. That said, there are better intermediate ski trails
at Big Sky than this time – although none are as scenic!
Area 3 : Challenger Area
Big
Sky resort has no shortage of expert skiing. And if skiing
down from the summit of Lone Peak or hitting the beautiful
terrain of “The Bowl” isn’t enough, then
you can always head over and ski the all-expert terrain found
off the Challenger double chair. The expert terrain found
off the Challenger chair is excellent, containing a huge
mix of chutes, steeps, open terrain and glade skiing. It
needs to be noted that there are no intermediate or beginner
ski trails on this section!
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| The
terrain off the Challenger Chairlift. |
The
Challenger terrain has some significant vertical, all of
which is skiable, at more than 1600 vertical feet. For
expert skiers who want to ski some significant vertical,
have a wide variety of terrain and don’t want to wait
in line at the Tram, skiing off the Challenger chairlift
is an excellent place to go.
At the top of the Challenger chair, you have several options
on the direction to go.
See
Map of Challenger Terrain
If you
want to ski some chutes, take off to the left once at the
top, heading down Country
Club.
Initially, Country Club provides for some steep,
open terrain skiing. However, this terrain soon ends, giving
the skier
the option of cutting down the Little Gullies trail
or on another ski trail, Cache Trees. Cache Trees is
a mix of light tree skiing and some chutes, while Little Gullies contains
a number of steep, rocky chutes.
Glade skiing can also be found by heading to the left at
the top of Challenger. The Little Tree, Zucchini
Patch and
Highway ski trails all head down through gladed areas, although
open terrain skiing is also available just off these trails.
Little Tree is rated a double diamond while the other two
are rated a single diamond. Moreover, another excellent gladed
area lies just beneath these trails, called St. Alphonse
Trees. If you like tree skiing, be sure to take this trail.
Just be warned, the trees are thicker on St. Alphonse than
on the other gladed ski trails found above!
If the steeps are more your thing, you can head down right
back down beneath the lift, on the Big Rock Tongue trail.
This ski trail resembles a mini bowl in some ways and provides
for some very steep, open terrain skiing.
Additionally,
more terrain from the top of the Challenger lift opens
up by going to the right. The Moonlight and Midnight ski trails cut their way down the right side of this area
and are rated as a single diamond. You can also head off
into the trees, too, although the trees are a bit thick off
these ski trails in places. One thing to keep in mind, though,
is that if you take these two trails all the way to the bottom,
you’ll be unable to hop back onto the Challenger lift.
These two trails merge into another single diamond trail
called Bad Dog which then heads down to the bottom of the
Iron Horse Quad lift and the Moonlight Basin ski lodge.
Area 4 : Iron Horse Area
The
final area on the lower mountain at Big Sky resort is the
Iron Horse area. The Iron Horse area is served by the
Iron Horse Quad, which is a fixed-grip quad, not a high speed
one. The vertical of the Iron Horse area isn’t the
greatest – being only about 870 feet.
The
skiing in the Iron Horse area consists of a mixed variety
of single diamond and intermediate trails. The ski trails
off the Iron Horse lift are nice, but there isn’t many
of them – there are only really 5 trails served by
this lift. Intermediate skiers will want to take off the
right at the top of the lift, heading down the short but
nice intermediate ski trail named Powder River. Expert skiers
will want to cut left off the top of the chair, heading down
either the Bad Dog ski trail or the Iron Maiden ski trail.
It should
be noted that the Iron Horse chairlift is used by both
skiers of Big Sky resort and the new Moonlight Basin
ski area. At the top of the Iron Horse chair, be careful
about going to far to the right. While signs clearly mark
the border between Big Sky and Moonlight Basin, they can
be easy to miss in foul weather. Also, if you happen to be
over in the Iron Horse area, be sure to take your skis off
and pop into the Moonlight Basin ski lodge – it is
quite the lodge and from what I hear has excellent, if somewhat
pricey, food.
Summary : Lower Mountain
Skiing at Big Sky Resort
The
lower mountain at Big Sky resort offers a huge variety
of skiing that will keep any skier happy for many, many
days.
A beginner skier will find several excellent beginner runs
that are quite long. Intermediate skiers have a nice variety
of groomed trails to wander around. And expert skiers have
virtually unlimited skiing possibilities in “The Bowl” and
from the top of the Challenger double chairlift.
And
if all this wasn’t enough, Big Sky resort has
yet more skiing opportunities on Andesite Mountain, a small
mountain that rises rather abruptly up from the Mountain
Village area. The downhill skiing on Andesite Mountain at
Big Sky Resort is discussed on the next page.
 
Next Page : Skiing
Andesite Mountain
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