Triple Black Diamonds at Big Sky

[Harvey]

Everett Kircher was the man! John was quite the playboy and had a vision all his own.

Awesome video. Inspiring.

Can you access those double blacks from the top? Or is there a double black route down from the summit? If I could get down that, I think it might take all day.

 

[MarzNC]

Can you access those double blacks from the top? Or is there a double black route down from the summit? If I could get down that, I think it might take all day.

The easiest route down from the top is called Liberty. It's on the backside. First time I did it took a long time for sure. Wouldn't have gone without my ski buddies. It was February 2011 and I'd only started to ski off-piste more than one run a day. Once we got below the fences I asked Bill to wait and be my sweeper. Making 4-5 turns where it was steepest at the time was about as many I could link before needing a stop to re-set. Jason (blue jacket in pic) had skied Liberty for the first time the day before with Ski Divas, following someone who knows Big Sky well. So he knew it was doable for me. The deal the day I went was that we would go as long as the clouds lifted enough, which they did right after lunch. The wait was only about 20 min. It was Day 4 (or 5?) so I was adjusted to the altitude and as warmed up as I was going to get that trip. It was work but also fun.

In Feb 2019, I had much more fun on Liberty. Combination of improved technique and we were following a Ski Diva who was a ski instructor at Big Sky. It was me, Bill, and a couple Divas. Also right after lunch and perhaps a 20 min wait. The clouds were thicker at the top, but there was more snow coverage.

Fences at the top, didn't take long to get below the clouds, Feb 2011

Yellowstone on the far peak

Can you see the dots (7, middle of photo)? Those are people on Liberty. Photo is taken from near the top of the Dakota lift

 

[Ripitz]

Edit (Ha! Marz, you beat me too it)

The easiest way down from the summit is Liberty Bowl which is advanced. I took my dad down it when he was in his seventies. It’s 6 miles back to base. One and done for him that day. When I asked him if he was going back up he said, “Why? It can’t get any better than that!” and went straight to the bar.

The map makes it look like half the mountain is black and 25% is triple black, so maybe that isn't good marketing.

The upper mountain is all black.
The lower has lots of terrain for beginners and intermediates.

 

[raisingarizona]

I didn’t know much about Big Sky’s changes regarding the Tram, other than seeing that Ikon didn't include Tram access. Turns out no passes include Tram access, everybody pays. Locals can add some kind of daily access option, which they can set up after buying a pack I think. I’d imagine that rate may be less than multi pack access.

I promise, I’m not a dirty tourist with an Ikon pass! I only have it because I was able to roll the four pack I didn’t use last year into an Ikon Base at renewal rates. Although I am excited at my prospects this season…..

Oh heck, I’m not judging. I’ve been looking at icon passes while daydreaming about having a few months off every winter. I need to get back to A-Basin and I’ve never been to big sky or Aspen to ski. I really want to spend some time at those places as well as Taos.

 

[MarzNC]

The tip that Bill and I got from the mountain host on the first day was that before committing to skiing Liberty, it was better to ski the far side of the Bowl. That's marked double-black. You go all the way out on the traverse. What she said was that if skiing that run felt okay, then Liberty would be fine . . . just a lot longer.

That tour covered a lot. We ended up in a blue-blue group that was mostly seniors from a New England ski club who had been skiing for decades. They weren't all that interested in trees or bumps any more since most were over 65 or 70. But they could ski plenty fast on blue groomers. Once the host made sure we could all keep up, she would fly between stops to tell us useful info. We started on Andesite, then went up Swifty. She told us about the Shedhorn and Dakota terrain. We took the old triple (only riding double) up to the Bowl and skied down the blue to the tram building. Then because the group had fast skiers she had time to show us how to get to Moonlight and back. Moonlight was still a separate resort back then. She told us how to get to the bump run off Challenger called Midnight. Jason and I managed to find it the next day. The hardest part was unloading the old Challenger lift. With low snow conditions, the landing zone was tiny and the ramp was steep! Then came the effort to get around all the rocks at the top.

Now there are two free tours. Either North or South, so it's not quite so rushed. But if a group can ski fast, the hosts don't hold back. Especially on a powder day when blue groomers . . . aren't really groomers.

 

[MarzNC]

The lower has lots of terrain for beginners and intermediates.

Those runs on Andesite are a lot longer than they look on the trail map. The lifts are Ramcharger 8, Thunder Wolf, and Southern Comfort. The mellow blue bump runs on the backside go on and on. Even non-stop it probably takes 10-15 to finish when enjoying the bumps at an intermediate pace. Pretty hard to keep going without any stops though.

 

[raisingarizona]

Money aside, requiring a separate ticket allows more control of the numbers on a given day for the tram. Seemed like the wait was getting to be over an hour on a regular basis. That's nuts!

Well sure, it’s a move for that and it increases profits. Brilliant! We are charging more for our customers! *boyne execs wink at each other and then break into evil laughter

 

[Ripitz]

Those runs on Andesite are a lot longer than they look on the trail map. The lifts are Ramcharger 8, Thunder Wolf, and Southern Comfort. The mellow blue bump runs on the backside go on and on. Even non-stop it probably takes 10-15 to finish when enjoying the bumps at an intermediate pace. Pretty hard to keep going without any stops though.

Andesite holds lots of secrets. On powder days when everyone is rushing to the upper mountain I would sometimes head there first. Elk Park meadows is great in powder, it has the most consistent pitch even though it’s a little off kilter. The Elk Park groomer is probably my favorite. Super fast. Rock Pocket and Marlboro Country have cliffs to drop with deep landings. Even Southern Comfort is a blast. Nice place to hide out in the sun. It has the lowest elevation so you have to be mindful of that. Sometimes if it hasn’t snowed in a while and there is a wind event the snow blows off the trees and fills it all in. People would wait on the tram line to clamor around the summit on wind blown boilerplate and we’d be banging laps skiing knee deep pow on Andy with no one around except a handful of tourists on the groomers. It’s big, lots of places to hide.

 

[raisingarizona]

Gone are the days of walk on tram laps. Back in the day I had the eerie pleasure of riding up by myself a few times. Those days are over.

I often talk about the walk on boxes in Jackson my first few seasons. Things have changed.

 

[Harvey]

I'm so tired of Facebook and trolls and division. This thread lifts me up!

I know there are hundreds of awesome mountains that would inspire me out west. I think about what I've seen and read about Wolf Creek a lot.

But man that tram video was inspiring. I honestly think I'd be terrified riding it up.