After many months of planning and anticipation, Maggie and I embarked on a rambunctious road trip with 11 friends from New Mexico. In search of better snow, we did the reverse snow bird migration to Big Sky Montana. Spoiler: the snow wasn’t any better… but the trip was a blast!
With the car loaded up with ski and camping gear, Maggie and I got a head start from the group, departing Friday for Durango, CO. We stayed with Holden, a friend of mine from college, and his fiance Amanda. They also quit their jobs recently, it was very exciting to hear about their plans for a year of freedom! After a quick fun run around Ft. Lewis college, we all sauntered down to Main St for beer and tacos. I love Durango, and having friends to visit makes it even better.
Next stop was SLC, which was only for splitting up the drive to Montana. Despite the 4 hour lead we had, our friends in Santa Fe beat us to Salt Lake. Retired life has a way of making any schedule a little more, shall we say, relaxed. We all had an uneventful evening of yelling at TV tuned in to USA v. Canada Olympic Curling. It was a real nail biter!
Super Bowl Sunday we made our way to Big Sky. Along the drive we briefly stopped in Idaho Falls to see my friend Clint, who graciously gave me a (super) bowl of chili for lunch in exchange for a bottle of whiskey and a jar of my homemade kimchi. This was a down payment for staying with Clint later in the week.
Other than one spooky slip on some ice, the drive up to Big Sky went without a hitch. We booked a massive and swanky AirBnb for the baker’s dozen of Santa Fe skiers and snowboarders, which was about 40 mins from the resort. We settled in for three days of Montana skiing. The group decided Valentine’s day would be our silly ski day – we took to the slopes outfitted in animal onesies from all corners of the zoo (fox, giraffe, cow, beaver, Appa sky bison, red panda, penguin, alligator, Psyduck, triceratops, Stich the alien, Winnie the Pooh, and dragon).
La Nina has not been kind to most intermountain ski resorts this year, Big Sky was no exception. Frankly it’s a miracle there is enough coverage to ski at all, but what snow has fallen was subjected to weeks of sun and melt/freeze, which equals ice, which equals less than ideal skiing. Nevertheless, we made our own fun. While skiing is a very personal experience, I find the best times are had with friends. There may be fewer runs, but in the end there are more laughs.
Our first run at Big Sky was decidedly horrible. I pondered my life choices and how much money had been spent while my edges slipped out beneath me on the ice. We persevered and found some fun runs, exploring a small fraciton of the 5,800 acres, and we hit approximately 5,800 rocks along the way. The group of 13 critters stayed together most of that first day, getting cheers and laughs from “normal” patrons.
Day two, a storm was a brewing, but it was a bit of a flop at 1-3 inches of fresh snow. Just enough to obscure all the rocks we skied over the previous day… Still better than nothing! Maggie and I peeled off from the group with our friend Amber, reaching the far corners of the resort. The base area felt like a typical ski resort, with anywhere from a 5-15 minute lift line and sharing descents with any number of skiers, but a few runs over we found solitude. Seriously, it felt like an entirely different resort! No lines, low speed lifts, and no one else on the runs. In all fairness, there wasn’t anything special about the terrain, but we were happy to escape some of the madness.
Day 3, the storm delivered 4-6 inches of fluffy goodness. While this dump was far from epic, it doesn’t take long to get separated on a powder day. Waiting at the base for friends while everyone else takes your fresh tracks is simply unacceptable. Having a better mental map of the mountain, Maggie and I knew where we wanted to ski. Becca joined us for some runs, while Ryan and Tony went for the Big Couloir on Lone Peak, perhaps the most iconic line at the resort. We watched them ski the couloir from below through the growing clouds, while avy dogs played in the snow nearby. One dog found a bottle of Bailey’s Irish cream buried in the snow! What a good dog… Ryan and Tony survived the long descent, and after a couple more runs, we gathered with the whole group for an apres ski beer, content with three full days playing in the snow.
Our Big Sky adventure was coming to a close, but our journey was far from over…
Distance Over Time 