Big Sky Conditions

[snoloco]

I got to know Big Sky from the week I spent there in 2019, and the fact that it is very frequently discussed in the lift community, due to all the new lifts they are getting.

As for the trail name changes, I don't really know when or why they were done. I was naming trails based on the current map. I know many old timers call trails by old names, like at Killington, they call Reason by its original name of East Glade.

When you're referring to Shedhorn having lines, is that with the current high speed quad, or the original double chair? The double had a capacity of only 600 per hour, the quad is 1600. I assume most people are just taking laps. The tram does not send enough people in that direction to have any real impact on the line. When I was there, it was warm and sunny the whole week. Full on spring skiing. I loved it, but apparently that was considered bad conditions.

I get what you're saying about an infill lift from Chuck's Run to the top of Swifty. It was in their master plan at one point. I don't think it makes much sense now, since it would be sandwiched between two detachables. Most of the skiing public is going to take Shedhorn and then exit the area on Duck Walk or ski directly to the base on Skittles Road.

 

[tirolski]

Yes, three lifts and three hours.

I’d be done by the time I got to the top.
3-4 hours on the bump hills around here is plenty now.
Used to ski Gore pretty much all day bell ta bell as it took ~2.2 hrs to get there. Took a couple warm ups in the saddle and/or Gondi.

 

[tirolski]

As for the trail name changes, I don't really know when or why they were done. I was naming trails based on the current map. I know many old timers call trails by old names, like at Killington, they call Reason by its original name of East Glade.

A rose by any other name is still a rose.
Still don’t know the names of some of the trails around here and they haven’t changed em.
Might be just another old timers thingy.

 

[tirolski]

. Even if they didn't have capacity issues, that tram is still on borrowed time. The bottom terminal is situated on a rock glacier. That means there's several feet of rock on top of ice, and it moves like a glacier. The terminal has actually slid several feet downhill and started to lean.

Do they teach that in engineering skool?
Ya can sell more new lifts that way, so maybe.

 

[Ripitz]

I did ride it when I was there, just for the credit.

Is that a “lift community” thing? The All-Lift-Race I mentioned was one of the craziest things I’ve ever done. It was teams of four and the three other guys on my team were serious rippers. Funny, none of us had ever skied together before but we all knew of each other. You start at base and have to get a ticket from the top shack of each lift. Fastest team back to base wins. I won most lifts on my team but we all had our own winning moments. We straight lined everything, balls to the wall, as they say. Surprisingly, the scariest one was Southern Comfort which is one of the easiest. Those sneaky rollers send you a lot farther than you expect. You can take any combination of trails and lifts so you really have to know the mountain well. Are there races like that at other places that you know of? Also, are you keeping count of all the lifts you’ve rode? If so, how many are you up to? Just curious.

 

[snoloco]

It's a roller coaster term. If you ride the roller coaster, then you get the credit. Some roller coaster enthusiats have literally thousands of credits. It's nothing official, just something you keep track of. I applied the same thing to lifts. I have a spreadsheet somewhere with all the lifts I've ever been on. I don't know the exact number because I haven't updated it in a while, but I know I have well over 250 credits. Could be closer to 300 now. When I visit a ski area for the first time, I try to ride every lift in order to get all the credits.

 

[Ripitz]

Try doing it as fast as you can next time.

 

[snoloco]

I'm actually gaming out how to do that at Killington, which has the biggest lift fleet in the Northeast.

 

[Ripitz]

Post up your time so I can try to crush it.

 

[tirolski]

... BS shit ...

Does that take it to the second power, ya know, new math?
I’d vote yes.