Big Sky Conditions

Looks like they’ll remove a big chunk of the summit for the new tram. They better carve a road to Liberty Bowl while they are at it. That is gonna be a bumped up disaster, it already is. Hate to say it but it’s time to send the groomers up it. Glad to see a gondola going to the bowl. I miss the original G1. It went out of the mall and you could chill at MR Hummers and watch people load through the windows. Never rode G2. It was replaced by Swifty the year we got there. Surprised they are going two stage. That’s a short first one. It’s gonna be good for the ski-wees though. Between these two lifts and the one Poole is putting in at Moonlight, you would have a hard time finding more ambitious lift projects anywhere.
Wondering what the locals are saying. What’s the deal @Big Deal?
 
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Mixed feelings. Mostly sad.
They announced the gondola 8 year’s ago and never came through with it. That should help a lot with base area congestion. We now have direct flights from Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville, Houston, etc . It sounds like we are in Mayberry at the base area. These people are, mostly, poor at understanding these newfangled lifts. The new, fastest chair ever never runs full speed and stops 5 times per ride because people fall, six at a time, every ride. But it does have a bubble and heated seats.
New Tram. They’re going to dump 75 people up there at a time. This will ruin the skiing on the peak. It’s big but not that big. 90% of people still go down Liberty. This will create a line on Shedhorn trying to get them out. More IKONers will bump out Marx and Lenin. Nobody in charge cares. Too much money to be worried about skiing. The growth expected around here is staggering. Moonlight plans on building a city there. The new Flat Iron project is looking to build another 750 units on Andesite. We are already struggling with water in, water out. BS straddles two counties. Madison County is rural and fairly poor so they green light anything that brings in tax revenue. Gallatin count is run by people who make money with growth.
Nobody cares if the skiing is good.
BTW, I paid $2000 bucks last Fall for this season’s pass. It gives me unlimited access to the tram. I am worried about the next increase to pay for a giant glass building. The tram line has been okay this year compared to the last few years. End of an era!
 
Surprised they are going two stage. That’s a short first one. It’s gonna be good for the ski-wees though.
I assumed the first stage was in order to provide a replacement for the slow Explorer chair. Good for little ones and cautious advanced beginners who are learning as adults.

When Alta replaced Cecret and the Supreme triple, the original plan was to have mid-station unloading. The the sensitive bog terrain where that would have been placed nixed the idea. Alta instructors were sad to lose the greens off Cecret for cautious adult beginners. The trails are still there but have to enter from the Rock N Roll gate. Works well for advance beginners and low intermediates though. I've seen instructors show their students the easiest way in.
 
I always thought Ennis was the place to be. A good friend who is a Queen (originally from EC, grew up skiing Peek’n Peak) lived there and commuted to the Meadow! Very few people have the combo to that gate. I guess there was an agreement made that the road can never be made public because of the elk migration. Yet they can make a whole town in the Poop Chute and the wolves munched most of them anyway. No road through Jack Creek made Poole a lot more money so he could sell his “preserve” lots and put a lot more traffic in an already dangerous canyon.
 
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Currently get from base to top of Lone... is that three lifts?
 
Yes, three lifts and three hours.
You're going to confuse Harv. It's only the line for the current tram that takes lots of patience. At least I don't think the wait for the bubble lifts--8-pack from the base, front-side Lone Peak 6-pack--have gotten that long . . . yet.

The scale of Big Sky is hard to describe to someone who hasn't skied in the Rockies much. Alta, Snowbird, Taos, Wolf Creek, Bridger are all on the order of 2000 acres. Big Sky is 5800 acres now that Moonlight and Spanish Peaks are included. Andesite Mountain would be a good size ski area out west by itself. That's accessed by the Ram8 from the base. With low visibility or high winds on Lone Peak, can spend a very enjoyable day on Andesite since it has terrain for all ability levels.
 
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