Page 90 - PureMontana // 2016

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DISCOVER BIG SKY SKIING
A skier takes on powder at Big Sky. RYAN DAY THOMPSON
Whether it’s at Big Sky Resort, the Yellowstone Club, or the Spanish Peaks Mountain Club, you’ ll nd untouched snow, uncrowd- ed slopes, and an authentic skiing experience
BIG SKY RESORT
During winter, the whole town revolves around this quintessential ski resort. Between the joined forces of Big Sky Resort and Moonlight Basin, the sprawling ski area o ers more than 5,800 acres of skiable terrain, 4,350 ver- tical feet, 23 chair lifts, and 10 surface lifts—the Biggest Skiing in America. Over 400 feet of light powder, called Montana “cold smoke,” falls every year. Big Sky’s personality sits somewhere
at the crossroads between traditional Montana ruggedness and the cutting edge of the ski industry.
Once upon a time, in 1973, when the resort opened, just four lifts ran up its slopes. Big Sky was the vision of NBC News anchorman Chet Huntley, a Montana native who came back to his home state after airing his last broadcast in 1970. He passed away before the ski area opened, but his vision for a magni - cent resort that would draw visitors from across the globe to Southwest Montana has endured.
In 1995, Big Sky installed the Lone Peak Tram, an engineering marvel. ough industry critics didn’t think it was possible, a tram now provides access to the top of towering Lone Peak, the mountain’s tallest point at 11,166 feet. e installation took over 3,000 heli- copter ights and hundreds of special- ized high-altitude workers who had to disassemble and reassemble heavy
construction equipment on the hill. But it was worth it. e tram expanded the resort’s skiable terrain by 50 percent, opening up some of Big Sky’s most extreme skiing and cementing it as a legendary ski area.
THE YELLOWSTONE CLUB
ere’s nothing like the Yellowstone Club. Renowned as the nation’s most exclusive ski resort, it o ers its members the kind of powder skiing that people y across the world in search of, and the sol- itude that people ski miles into the back- country for. Its rustic luxury experience attracts members like Warren Miller, ski industry royalty who popularized skiing lms, and Scot Schmidt, a professional extreme skier.
e 13,600-acre private residential community is a neighbor to Big Sky Resort, but the ski experience is com- pletely di erent. You thought Big Sky had epic lines and wide-open terrain—at
90 PURE MONTANA // PureWestRealEstate.com // 2016