I left Calgary about 6:45 and arrived Belgrade, near BZN, about 8 1/2 hrs later at 3:15. There were some interesting effects before and during the sunrise over the plains.
I checked into motel before my wife arrived on Alaska via PDX. It’s about 500 miles, but almost all 4 lane. The slow lane was usually clear, but passing trucks required using snow-packed lane.
The speed limit on a lot of I-15 in Montana is 80, but I was good going about 10 under and went a little slower after Helena where road crosses some hills, even though it generally follows the Missouri River. Calgary was single digits below 0F as was most of my trip. The only sliding I did was exiting I-90 in Belgrade where it was snowing hard.
Since it was my wife’s first day of the year and we thought it would be cold, we did not leave motel in Belgrade until 9. There was some traffic to the Big Sky turnoff and the access road was slower. We probably should have turned into and parked at the Lodge at Big Sky, where we were staying for two nights. Day parking was full all the way to the Q lots which required a shuttle that quickly arrived, filled and dropped us a base. It was 11 AM before we got to the top of the most advanced lifts in the world, Ramcharger 8-pack with heated seats, blue cover and footrests that automatically raise a couple of feet before unloading.
- Picture was taken about 3:45 PM on 2/28 when clouds cleared over Lone Peak
We skied one run that returned to the chair base, then one to base of longer with more vertical Thunder? Wolf chair. At the top we returned to the base and rode Swift Current where we finally found a somewhat groomed run, Calamity Jane, that my wife enjoyed more than other runs that had a lot of new snow. We went into and eventually found where the Pugski group had conference room, but my wife had to return to Mountain Mall to get something to eat.
After a long for me break, I went out and joined a Canadian/Boston group of about 5 skiers and one snowboarder where I was usually holding down the tail spot. I was skiing my powder skis and they were a lot of work in tight trees and chopped up powder that we skied on the Moonlight side. My watch counted 13 runs and 17K. We joined group at poker table in rear of Montana Jack for a beer or two before I caught which may have been last shuttle to parking at 5. While taking off my boots, I heard and saw the rebound from a hard crash between SUV exiting parking and pickup truck going down the road. Since they were blocking the exit, I found another way back to base to get my wife.
The rest of this will be quick summary. Big Sky had 12” new the day before we arrived and reported 11/7/5” new the three days we skied. Upper lifts including the tram did not run on Tues or Wed. My highlights on Thursday were being at the right end of the rope raise getting first tracks into Steep and Deep under the Powder Seeker chair (a 6-pack with cover and heated seats), and catching tram with short line and sun at the top a little after 2. Only Liberty Bowl was open and I found I few rocks skiing deep snow along right edge. I had 17K before lunch and finished with over 28.5K. Sorry, but rest of my report and pictures will have to wait as we are in West Yellowstone, where it is -3, and have a snowmobile tour to Old Faithful to catch.
