This does not surprise me.
The SkiTalk thread is full of people bemoaning that next year's Ikon has been available for over a month and this change at Big Sky was just announced this week.
I don't think that's the point. That tram's absurdly low capacity of 200 people per hour has been a chokepoint all along. I've had three visits to Big Sky and been fairly lucky. I had 8 runs in 3 days with NASJA in March 2001 and two runs in two days with Patrick in 2006 when I was tired. With Liz in 2013 the tram was down for weather one day but I had 5 runs over the other two days. I recall the lift lines I chose to wait in ranged from 20-35 minutes.
But it's gotten much worse in recent years, and of course got completely out of control with the pandemic capacity restriction of 2020-21. On a good day now you're getting one run up there and you may wait 2-3 hours for it.
The Lone Peak terrain is quite unique IMHO and Big Sky is a vast but not all that distinctive ski area without it. I fault management, which has been busy spending their $$$ on 8-packs and bubble chairs upgrading lifts that were never crowded. On good days people who have traveled far to ski Big Sky will still pay up for the tram as they do for the top tram at Grand Montets for example, and I thus see little relief to the consistently longest lift line in North America.
Yes that rocky terrain can only handle a certain volume, but capacity needs to be at increased by a factor of 5, which would bring it to the level of a 50-year-old Riblet double chair. A new tram would be ideal, but a slow lift up Liberty would be a reasonable option.
Last fall I identified Big Sky as the worst area to visit during the pandemic season. I doubt I will ever set foot on Big Sky again unless Lone Peak capacity is raised.
The SkiTalk thread is full of people bemoaning that next year's Ikon has been available for over a month and this change at Big Sky was just announced this week.
I don't think that's the point. That tram's absurdly low capacity of 200 people per hour has been a chokepoint all along. I've had three visits to Big Sky and been fairly lucky. I had 8 runs in 3 days with NASJA in March 2001 and two runs in two days with Patrick in 2006 when I was tired. With Liz in 2013 the tram was down for weather one day but I had 5 runs over the other two days. I recall the lift lines I chose to wait in ranged from 20-35 minutes.
But it's gotten much worse in recent years, and of course got completely out of control with the pandemic capacity restriction of 2020-21. On a good day now you're getting one run up there and you may wait 2-3 hours for it.
The Lone Peak terrain is quite unique IMHO and Big Sky is a vast but not all that distinctive ski area without it. I fault management, which has been busy spending their $$$ on 8-packs and bubble chairs upgrading lifts that were never crowded. On good days people who have traveled far to ski Big Sky will still pay up for the tram as they do for the top tram at Grand Montets for example, and I thus see little relief to the consistently longest lift line in North America.
Yes that rocky terrain can only handle a certain volume, but capacity needs to be at increased by a factor of 5, which would bring it to the level of a 50-year-old Riblet double chair. A new tram would be ideal, but a slow lift up Liberty would be a reasonable option.
Last fall I identified Big Sky as the worst area to visit during the pandemic season. I doubt I will ever set foot on Big Sky again unless Lone Peak capacity is raised.