Big Sky Conditions

Andy_ROC said:
No but it's on our list of places to visit. We shall see.

I just hope there's enough places for working class people whom are residents--- the actual caretakers of a community so they live comfortably and not in high density employee barracks or living an hour away. But unfortunately that's fleeting as the wealthy and corps monopolize all the land.
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You would like the trails at Big Sky. Plenty of long, wide groomers without that many people. :)

Unlike Steamboat or Crested Butte, there wasn't a town at Big Sky before the first ski trails were cut in the 1970s. The original Big Sky terrain didn't include Moonlight Basin or Spanish Peaks. Fair to say that the number of people employed by the resort has grown quite a bit in the last decade. Boyne Resorts has been building employee housing in recent years. Unlike Taos or Telluride, there seems to be land in the valley available. Driving to Big Sky doesn't really require driving a steep mountain road.

The change I noticed as a traveler is that it's easier to fly into Bozeman than ten years ago. Most of my Big Sky trips involve meeting up with my primary ski buddy in SLC. Then we drive via Driggs and ski Grand Targhee for a few days on the way to Montana. I can even fly Southwest to/from Bozeman now, which wasn't an option before.

For sure lodging is more expensive in Big Sky and in Bozeman. The pandemic was a factor, although prices were going up after 2015 or so as demand increased. Ikon and MCP made a difference for travelers from the east and west coasts. Northeast folks with season passes to Loon or Sunday River or Sugarloaf, as well as midwest folks who ski Boyne Mountain or The Highlands get some sort of deal for Big Sky since those resorts are all owned and operated by Boyne Resorts.
 
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Tjf1967 said:
Ruin?? Ultra rich have the money it's for sale and they do what they want.
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Yes. Beautiful, but ruined for all but the top 0.1%. I live in a place that's gotten like that. Super super expensive homes on land that the middle class used to own. Homes that are now either investment properties occupied by AirBnB short term noisey partiers always on vacation or unoccupied for months at a time because the owners are so rich that they don't need no BnB renters. Only those with millions in assets or incomes of mid six figures can afford to buy a house. Those who actually work there can't live there. They grew up there but sold out cause when Mom died nobody could afford the property tax bill. The perfectly nice 2,000 sq foot house was taken down by the super tech mogel buyer whose put up a 20,000 sq foot monster that towers over his neighbors, whose he's never bothered to try to meet. Yeah, that's how it is in a middle class tourist town once its discovered by the super, duper rich. The town I live in in the middle of upstate NY. Its on a lake.
 
DHA said:
Yes. Beautiful, but ruined for all but the top 0.1%. I live in a place that's gotten like that. Super super expensive homes on land that the middle class used to own. Homes that are now either investment properties occupied by AirBnB short term noisey partiers always on vacation or unoccupied for months at a time because the owners are so rich that they don't need no BnB renters. Only those with millions in assets or incomes of mid six figures can afford to buy a house. Those who actually work there can't live there. They grew up there but sold out cause when Mom died nobody could afford the property tax bill. The perfectly nice 2,000 sq foot house was taken down by the super tech mogel buyer whose put up a 20,000 sq foot monster that towers over his neighbors, whose he's never bothered to try to meet. Yeah, that's how it is in a middle class tourist town once its discovered by the super, duper rich. The town I live in in the middle of upstate NY. Its on a lake.
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Sounds like Skinnyatlas.
 
Mike said:
Ripitz suggested that I post my pictures of my trip there in 1996 to visit my friend Bill Hickey who was the reigning King at the time. He is an old friend from back in the day at Sugarbush, and I hadn't seen him for a few years, it was the first year of the Tram.....
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This is good stuff. I’m glad I popped in here and found this.

This summer while working at Solitude I had a few younger ski area staff folks tell me that I was a 90’s skier. I had to ask what that meant exactly. They were referring to the monster cliff hucking and party like a rockstar lifestyle the mid to pate 90’s skiers embraced.

I guess that checks out but when I think of the 90’s I think of deep powder skiing and uncrowded ski areas and roll on chairs and trams. What a time to be a ski bum! If you were charging hard back then It’s hard not to be bitter these days. I’m not bitter but I’m not about to fight crowds and ski with the hordes. I just don’t have that in me.

Anyways. Thanks for posting the photos and a reminder of how things used to be.
 
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