Explore Big Sky - November 28 to December 11, 2024
November 28 - December 11, 2024 Volume 15 // Issue 24
TOMMY MELLOTT, BOBCATS MAKE HISTORY
WINTER SEASON SNOW PREDICTIONS
MONTANA HEADWATERS LEGACY ACT ADVANCES TO SENATE FLOOR
ARTS COUNCIL PURCHASES FORMER CHOPPERS BUILDING
A LETTER FROM TROY NEDVED
PLUS: GIFT AND GEAR GUIDE
November 28 - December 11, 2024 Volume 15, Issue 24
Owned and published in Big Sky, Montana
PUBLISHER
Eric Ladd | eric@theoutlawpartners.com
EDITORIAL
VP MEDIA
Mira Brody | mira@theoutlawpartners.com
SENIOR EDITOR
Jack Reaney | jack@theoutlawpartners.com
STAFF WRITER
Jen Clancey | jen@theoutlawpartners.com
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
Leslie Kilgore | leslie@theoutlawpartners.com
DIGITAL MEDIA LEAD
Fischer Genau | fischer@theoutlawpartners.com
CREATIVE
LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER
ME Brown | maryelizabeth@theoutlawpartners.com
SALES AND OPERATIONS
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Josh Timon | josh@theoutlawpartners.com
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER
Megan Paulson | megan@theoutlawpartners.com
VP DESIGN & PRODUCTION
Hiller Higman | hiller@theoutlawpartners.com
DIRECTOR OF RELATIONSHIPS
Ersin Ozer | ersin@theoutlawpartners.com
MARKETING MANAGER
Tucker Harris | tucker@theoutlawpartners.com
CONTENT MARKETING LEAD
Taylor Owens | taylor.owens@theoutlawpartners.com
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT
Sara Sipe | sara@theoutlawpartners.com
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT LEAD
Patrick Mahoney | patrick@theoutlawpartners.com
ACCOUNT COORDINATOR
Ellie Boeschenstein | ellie@theoutlawpartners.com
Jason Bacaj, Mario Carr, Blake Hempstead, Rachel Hergett, Ian Hoyer, Jack Marshall III, Troy Nedved, Colter Nuanez, Benjamin Alva Polley, Nelson VanTassel CONTRIBUTORS
Big win for the Miners! The Ophir School fifth and sixth grade girls defeated Manhattan Christian School, 21-11, in a mid-November matchup in Big Sky. The Eagles have a well-respected basketball program and the Miners, coached by Heather Morris, Betsy Biggerstaff and Ryan Rothing, were thrilled with the victory.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WINTER SEASON SNOW PREDICTIONS
To make a prediction that’s more than just a hunch, Bob Ambrose, Montana and Canadian Rockies forecaster for OpenSnow, compares our current climate conditions with previous winter seasons under similar circumstances: a “weak La Niña” pattern that promises a snowy season. Ambrose is not alone in cautious optimism for the season ahead.
MONTANA HEADWATERS LEGACY ACT ADVANCES TO SENATE FLOOR
On Nov. 19, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources voted 10-9 to move the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act to the full Senate floor. Supporters hope the bill can be included in an end-of-year public lands package with other legislation across the U.S.
TOMMY MELLOTT, BOBCATS MAKE HISTORY
For the first time in program history, the Bobcats are ranked No. 1 heading into the FCS playoffs. With their 34-11 victory over rival Montana on Nov. 23, Montana State also secured their first outright Big Sky Conference title since 1984, completing the first 12-0 season in conference history.
ARTS COUNCIL PURCHASES FORMER CHOPPERS BUILDING
The nonprofit Arts Council of Big Sky completed its purchase on Nov. 15 of the 7,700-square-foot building best known for hosting Choppers Grub and Pub. The building will be converted into a community arts center, containing various classrooms and music spaces, and hosting a radio station.
A LETTER FROM TROY NEDVED
Troy Nedved, who recently stepped up to replace Taylor Middleton as president and COO of Big Sky Resort, writes a letter to the community about the upcoming ski season. Nedved asks the community to embrace the future, as the resort enters the final year of its 10-year strategic plan, Big Sky 2025.
Montana State quarterback Tommy Mellott is nicknamed “Touchdown Tommy” for a reason. In the first quarter of the 123rd annual Brawl of the Wild game, Mellott tucked and ran for a five-yard opening touchdown, holding the ball toward the exuberant student section. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
EDITORIAL POLICY
Outlaw Partners, LLC is the sole owner of Explore Big Sky. EBS reserves the right to edit all submitted material. Printed material reflects the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the opinion of Outlaw Partners or its editors. EBS will not publish anything discriminatory or in bad taste.
EBS welcomes obituaries written by family members or from funeral homes. To place an obituary, please submit 500 words or less to media@theoutlawpartners.com.
PLUS: GIFT AND GEAR GUIDE
Attention holiday shoppers! Explore Big Sky’s Gift and Gear Guide has a wide variety of local and regional gifts, all curated to fit in with Montana lifestyles. Read firsthand product reviews from our team and try the products out yourself.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters to the editor allow EBS readers to express views and share how they would like to effect change. These are not Thank You notes. Letters should be 250 words or less, respectful, ethical, accurate, and proofread for grammar and content. We reserve the right to edit letters and will not publish individual grievances about specific businesses or letters that are abusive, malicious or potentially libelous. Include: full name, address, phone number and title. Submit to media@outlaw.partners.
FUNERAL HOME AND CORONER’S OFFICE TO BURY UNCLAIMED REMAINS AT CEMETERY
EBS STAFF
Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer announced in a press release on Nov. 25 that over 60 unclaimed urns of deceased individuals in Gallatin County will be buried at the Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bozeman on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
People go unclaimed at the funeral home or coroner’s office for various reasons. Many attempts are made to find family, friends, or other individuals willing to make final arrangements for the unclaimed person. After arrangement attempts have been exhausted, the unclaimed decedent is cremated, according to the release. Over the years, many unclaimed urns have been stored at Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service and the Gallatin County Coroner’s office. Both organizations believe these people deserve to be respectfully laid to rest.
A public reading of the names and a prayer by the Gallatin County Chaplain will be performed at the 1:30 p.m. burial, which will include 66 unclaimed urns of individuals who passed from 1922 to 2020. A list of the names can be found in the press release.
WEATHER CHANGE EXPECTED TO INCREASE EMERGENCY SHELTER SERVICE USE
EBS STAFF
As snow flurries stick to the ground in Bozeman, the Human Resource Development Council announced that it’s preparing for increased use of emergency shelters due to cold temperatures. HRDC’s Bozeman emergency shelter sees an average of 90 nightly guests, according to a Nov. 18 HRDC press release, but an additional 100 unsheltered individuals live in and around the city. The current overnight shelter run by the Gallatin County nonprofit has a 100-bed capacity.
“For folks whose campers or cars are not weatherized to withstand extreme temperatures, or for those who have been camping in tents, we are able to provide a warm, safe alternative year-round, and especially during inclement weather,” stated Jenna Huey, HRDC’s emergency shelter services manager, in the release.
Brian Guyer, HRDC’s emergency and supportive housing director, explained that rising costs have forced individuals to find unconventional ways to meet their needs. “Given the demand for overnight services during the shelter’s summer season, we believe we could reach our maximum guest capacity during the upcoming winter months,” Guyer stated.
Both Guyer and Huey are working on plans with community partners if or when the shelter can no longer meet the demand for services. Monetary support and donations are encouraged to help guests dealing with colder temperatures, HRDC stated. HRDC does not accept general clothing donations but is currently accepting warm coats, gloves, hats, long underwear, hand warmers and cleaning.
The emergency shelter hours are 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. with check-in between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
NAME CONTEST BEGINS FOR MUSEUM OF THE ROCKIES’ NEW CAFE
EBS STAFF
On Memorial Day 2025, Museum of the Rockies will open its new cafe in the Bair Lobby, though unlike fossils, the name isn’t set in stone.
From Nov. 20 to Dec. 20, anyone in the community can enter the naming contest for the new cafe. Contestants should ponder their submission carefully as they only get one opportunity to enter a name.
According to the MOR website, the name should be original, familyfriendly and reflect MOR’s mission and identity. The cafe will serve espresso drinks with beans from Yellowstone Coffee Roasters, soda, water, grab-and-go sandwiches and snacks.
A selection committee will narrow submissions down to three names and select the prize-winning entry. The winner will receive a $100 gift card to the new cafe, and a 12-month general museum membership. The museum will announce the winner in January 2025.
FAA AWARDS BOZEMAN YELLOWSTONE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WITH $10 MILLION
EBS STAFF
The Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport received a $10 million award from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Terminal Program as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill expands typical FAA-approved projects by focusing on improvements including the passenger experience, sustainability and accessibility, and adopting an innovative approach to the aviation infrastructure.The awarded funds will further support ongoing construction of the Bozeman airport’s East Terminal Expansion Project, a multi-million and multi-phase project devoted to strengthening, modernizing and expanding terminal infrastructure.
The project is focused on elevating passenger experience and advancing efficiency, according to a press release from the airport.
the
Administered by the Big Sky Resort Area District (BSRAD), a local government agency, Resort Tax is a 4% tax on luxury goods & services. OUR VISION: “Big Sky is BETTER TOGETHER as a result of wise investments, an engaged community, and the pursuit of excellence.”
TEN YEARS OF LONE MOUNTAIN LAND COMPANY
Dear Big Sky community,
The winter season is nearly upon us and with the early snowfall the excitement and energy building in our community is palpable. Soon visitors will be filling businesses and we’ll all be working hard and getting out when we can to enjoy the powder, winter sports, and holiday cheer across all corners of Big Sky. We wanted to take a moment to look back to express our gratitude and look ahead to share some of our efforts and focus in the New Year.
At Lone Mountain Land Company, we view ourselves first and foremost as community builders aiming to find common ground and collaborate to find long term success for Big Sky where people can have the highest quality of life. There are two interdependent goals that guide our vision and our work: for Big Sky to be a world class resort destination, and for Big Sky to be a thriving yearround community where families and residents can prosper.
This summer we celebrated the 15-year anniversary of the CrossHarbor purchase of the Yellowstone Club in 2009, as well as the 10-year anniversary of the creation of Lone Mountain Land Company as the entity to steward thoughtful and intentional community development and economic sustainability. We look back at all that has been accomplished in the last decade through partnership and collaboration with immense gratitude. Over the last 10 years the community has come together to be able to build out and create
LOCAL GOVERNANCE STUDY LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear editor,
Big Sky is an unincorporated census designated place that exists in two counties, a situation which many people might believe is both unusual and directly hinders our ability to progress.
In fact, the opposite is true. First, unincorporated communities exist everywhere in the U.S.— including areas with very large populations—and in fact, are the most common type of community in Montana—129 to 235. Second, in the 34 years Big Sky has been my year-round, full-time home, I’ve seen what our version of a de-centralized, dual-county, citizen-led democracy can do, and it’s not nothing.
In the last three decades, Big Sky locals have created many if not all of the infrastructure and services offered by a municipality from the ground up: A hospital and a high school, playgrounds, parks and trails, a community transportation system, a chapel, a library, improved sewer and water, a
amenities for those who live and work here, such as a hospital, additional grocery and restaurant options, a world class performing arts center, BASE community recreation center, a new water treatment facility, school expansion, and more. Big Sky couldn’t have gotten to where it is today without the power of partnership and the dedicated, caring people willing to engage and work together to solve problems.
Accommodating the needs and enhancing the quality of life for our workforce and the greater community has been one of our top priorities. From housing to childcare to behavioral health and environmental health, they are all interconnected here in Big Sky and today there isn’t a single challenge that Lone Mountain Land Company and our team members aren’t actively engaged in helping to address and be a part of the solution.
Our vision for the future of Big Sky is one of sustainability: financial, environmental, and social sustainability. As we look to the future, we see tremendous potential for positive progress and meaningful enhancements to the livability here in Big Sky. By embracing creative ideas and working together, we can seize opportunities to build a community that we are all proud of and that will be a thriving year-round place for businesses, visitors, and local families for generations to come. We take a huge amount of responsibility nurturing the future of this place and the future of our community.
In the New Year and in 2025 we look forward to additional housing in Big Sky becoming available through RiverView and the Buck’s employee campus, additional infant care availability opening up through Gallatin River Child Care, the reopening of the Buck’s restaurant and meeting space, the One&Only ski lodge, gondola and resort opening, and the rounding out and enlivening of the Town Center Plaza beginning to take shape. We hope to share more and invite the community to another LMLC open house this spring.
Please be on the lookout for our monthly Ask LMLC editions in the Explore Big Sky paper and kept online at our website www.lonemountainland. com. We encourage you to send in questions and engage in constructive dialogue and idea sharing with our teams. The 2025 edition of the Big Sky Life magazine will be hitting stands in late December and we encourage you to check out the features on community members and collaborative efforts.
Wishing you a healthy, safe and fulfilling holiday and winter season with family and friends.
In gratitude, Matt Kidd and the Lone Mountain Land Company Team
Big Sky, Montana
performing arts center, a housing trust, a community recreation facility, softball fields, summer camps, a daycare center, a federal post office, expanded fire and search and rescue services, a chamber of commerce, an on-site sheriff office— even the resort tax itself. Along the way, the idea of a formalized incorporated government was also explored, and failed; it was voted down once and removed from the ballot the second time.
Nevertheless, last spring, acting upon the request of a dozen unelected citizens, the resort tax paid $339,750 to a Helena-based consulting group to answer an unpublished list of “lingering questions” about how Big Sky operates and how that could change if we wanted. So far, the discussion that exists on the website and in a few public meetings has centered on what this would cost, how formal governance could happen, where it would be possible, and what would happen to all of the districts and services we already have in place.
But the essential lingering question about this study and governance is both more basic and more vital. Big Sky has always operated on a needbased model—we see needs and we fill them. So what services, exactly, are we still missing? And is a change in governance the most democratic or fastest way to provide them?
Our answers to these questions will take us beyond in-the-weeds discussions of cost, legal mechanics and scenario-building to something both more central and important: We must talk about what we want and why, before we can reasonably talk about how to change.
Our community’s historic accomplishments more than prove Big Sky’s ability to get things done in our current state. Focusing our input on what—if anything—we still need will ensure what we can— and cannot—accomplish tomorrow.
Barbara
Rowley, Big Sky, Montana
B
U
ILDING A H O M E
I S P ERS O NA L .
For over 30 years, Bob Houghteling, the owner of HCI Builders, has personally overseen custom builds built with relentless perfection. Backed with hands- on experience, his wealth of knowledge specializes and spans from Timber Frame to Mountain Modern homes. Give him a call and start dreaming of your custom home today. LE T B OB BRING YOUR VISION T O LIF E
LOCAL
BIG SKY WINTER FORECAST: LA NIÑA BRINGS OPTIMISM
WHILE FORECASTING TECHNIQUES AND OPINIONS VARY, THERE’S
A COMMON
THREAD OF ABOVE AVERAGE SNOWFALL IN THE ROCKIES.
BY MARIO CARR EBS CONTRIBUTOR
BIG SKY—A warm, dry 2023-24 ski season in Big Sky, with snowfall that came late has the skiers of southwest Montana craving a long, cold and snowy winter. Forecasters use different methods to analyze the data in order to make a long range weather prediction. One formula in this article has been generated in recent history in hopes of predicting snowfall at specific ski resorts, another formula is older than the country itself, and aims to provide a general prediction for the whole country.
In order to make a prediction that’s more than just a hunch, Bob Ambrose, Montana and Canadian Rockies forecaster for OpenSnow, compares our current climate conditions with previous winter seasons under similar circumstances: a “weak La Niña” pattern.
“Before we look ahead to Montana’s 2024-2025 winter season forecast, it’s important to remember that any winter outlook will contain an inherent degree of uncertainty,” Ambrose wrote in his 2024-2025 Montana Winter Forecast Preview, published by OpenSnow. Ambrose emphasized the uncertainty of long-range forecasting in an interview with EBS.
However, accounting for uncertainty, Ambrose’s historical data suggested cautious optimism that 2024-25 could be snowy for Montana ski areas including Bridger Bowl and especially Big Sky Resort. The long-term prediction is based on oceanic temperatures, and correlating snow depths of previous seasons.
As of Oct. 30, sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean were 0.5 degrees Celsius below average, suggesting the approach of a La Niña winter. If La Niña does emerge this winter, it would follow last year’s El Niño pattern, which indicates those oceanic temperatures were slightly above average. The last time consecutive winters shifted from El Niño to La Niña was just ahead of the 2016-17 winter season.
Since and including the 2000-01 winter season, Ambrose has identified six previous seasons with similar weak La Niña temperatures observed. For Big Sky, Ambrose looked at each year’s March 31 snowpack data at the Lone Mountain SNOTEL—a local weather station that measures snowpack—and found that four out of the six seasons had an above average snowpack. The 2000-01 season, which Ambrose described as “drought plagued,” was the only outlier with a snow water equivalent of just 13.3 inches, or 76% of Lone Mountain’s 30-year average. The 2016-17 season was slightly below average at 93%, with an SWE of 16.3 inches. The 2005-06, 2008-09, 2017-18 and 2022-23 La Niña winter seasons all had above average snowpacks on March 31, with 2017-2018 coming out on top with a SWE of 24.9 inches: 141% of the 30-year average.
Ambrose compared the same years’ data with other ski areas across Montana, including Whitefish, Snowbowl, Lost Trail, Red Lodge and Bridger Bowl.
“It was the best numbers that I found across the state,” Ambrose said, referring to Big Sky.
El Niño and La Niña winters usually express themselves in different ways across the country. Montana itself possesses a variety of micro climates at its ski resorts, Ambrose explained, with Whitefish, Lost Trail and Snowbowl being west of the Continental divide, and Big Sky, Bridger and Red Lodge lying east of the divide.
“On a typical La Niña year, it’s colder across the northern tier of the country… Normally the east of the divide is colder than areas west of the divide… And generally speaking, the snowpack West of the Divide is deeper than it is east of the divide,” Ambrose said.
While Ambrose said you can always try to find trends in the data, there are many factors at play that can alter the accuracy of a prediction.
“Just a slight difference in the jet-stream can make all the difference in the world,” he said.
Ambrose said one of Big Sky’s greatest weather characteristics is its colder temperatures. He said many snow storm systems that make it to Big Sky may have dropped rain along their path west of the Continental Divide. So with La Niña winters historically offering these colder temperatures, Ambrose feels good about his analysis, and is excited to see how the prediction pans out for Big Sky.
“This looks pretty strong, it’s pretty strong evidence, but there’s no proof that it’s ever gonna happen,” he said.
Old-fashioned formula foresees heavy snow for Rockies
The Old Farmer’s Almanac is for more than just farmers. Founded in 1792 by Robert B. Thomas, the publication has been making long-range weather predictions for 232 years. These predictions
are made using a secret weather formula created by Thomas, who believed that Earth’s weather is influenced by sun spots.
“We work with our own weather team at AccuWeather, but the truth is we use the Almanac’s formula that is 232 years old, and it does factor in very much the magnetic storm cycles of the sun,” Carol Connare, the fourteenth editor in chief of the Farmer’s Almanac, told EBS.
The Almanac has called for a “calmer and gentler winter” for most of the U.S., with some exceptions. Connare wrote that “there will still be plenty of winter chill out there” and has called for “heavy snowfall” in the Rockies. Following two of the warmest summers on record for North America, Connare offered a prediction for this coming winter.
“Overall, when we think about weather trends, we are seeing a lot more water vapor in the atmosphere. So that’s why when I think about snow for your area [Big Sky], I think you could get walloped.” Connare predicted that snowfall this winter could be described as times of feast and famine that will fluctuate depending on the behavior of the polar vortex.
“We’re crazy to try to do long-range weather forecasting when short-range weather forecasting is inexact at best,” Connare said. But nonetheless, she believes that everybody is curious about the coming seasons, whether they be skiers, farmers, truck drivers or travelers and therefore these predictions are important.
The Almanac’s website asserts that neither they “nor any other forecasters have as yet gained sufficient insight into the mysteries of the universe to predict the weather with total accuracy.”
After observing the sun for the past 232 years, there have been 25 distinct cycles of solar storms, each lasting roughly 11 years, and Connare said that we are about to transition into the 26th. According to NASA, NOAA and the international Solar Cycle Prediction Panel, in May these solar storms “launched clouds of charged particles and magnetic fields toward Earth, creating the strongest geomagnetic storm at Earth in two decades—and possibly among the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years.”
While nobody can be certain what effect these solar cycles have on our weather, Connare said it is certain that we are about to enter into a new one and The Old Farmer’s Almanac continues to factor them into their weather predictions.
Whether it’s the editor of a 232-year-old weather prediction service, or an ambitious skier and forecaster anticipating a better ski season, these predictions always come with a grain of salt and a degree of uncertainty.
And when it comes to ski seasons, only a few steps towards normalcy in Big Sky will be a great improvement after last year’s rocky conditions.
An early November storm cycle blanketed Lone Mountain and began the 2024-25 snowpack at most elevations. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
MONTANA RIVER PROTECTION BILL MOVES TO U.S. SENATE FLOOR
MONTANA HEADWATERS LEGACY ACT WILL HEAD TO SENATE FLOOR WITHOUT MADISON RIVER AFTER COMMITTEE VOTE
BY JEN CLANCEY
WASHINGTON, D.C.—It’s a first for the river protection bill that was introduced in Congress almost four years ago: On Nov. 19, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources voted 10-9 to move the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act to the full Senate floor. Supporters hope the bill can be included in an end-of-year public lands package with other legislation across the U.S.
The bill was first introduced in 2020 by Sen. Jon Tester, Montana’s three-term senator whose 18 consecutive years in Washington are coming to a close. If successful, the MHLA would protect and preserve 326 miles of Montana rivers under the National Wild and Scenic River System. Montanans for Healthy Rivers, a group of residents, outfitters, business owners and conservationists celebrated the bill’s progress to becoming a law.
On Tuesday afternoon, Gallatin River Task Force Chief Executive and Science Officer Kristin Gardner expressed excitement for the next phase of the MHLA in the U.S. Capitol.
“It’s super exciting news for us,” Gardner told EBS on the phone. “It’s the farthest the bill has gotten along in the legislative process, so that’s really exciting—we’ve been working on this for over 14 years.”
She said that Montanans for Healthy Rivers will continue to work to get Tester’s fellow Montana senator in support of the bill.
During the Tuesday Senate committee hearing, Sen. Steve Daines expressed opposition. He cited that of the eight counties containing rivers impacted by the bill, four county commissioners expressed opposition. “They’re a very important voice in this process and we need to keep working with them to get broader supports and that’s why I’m opposed at this moment,” Daines said.
Outside of county commissioners’ concerns, Daines said in the hearing that Wild and Scenic designations in the past have hindered or delayed road work, aquatic restoration projects, grazing and fuel management projects. Charles Drimal, deputy director of conservation with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition responded to Daines’ testimony on a phone call with EBS after the hearing.
“In Montana, we have had a Wild and Scenic River on the Missouri River Breaks since 1976,” Drimal said. “There is extensive grazing.”
Drimal also described active timber projects on the North Fork of the Flathead River, and recreational road corridors within the Wild and Scenic areas that have the ability to be maintained, repaired and rebuilt.
“We think that there is value in having scrutiny and protecting some of our most cherished and highly functional and healthy rivers in our region,” Drimal said.
In the past, the Montana delegation has shown unity in protecting Montana waterways. In 2018,
segments of East Rosebud Creek near Red Lodge were added to the Wild and Scenic River System. In the hearing, Sen. Daines described some progress he saw in the MHLA avoiding potential conflicts with NorthWestern Energy, a utility company that serves Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska and operates two dams on the Madison River.
Previously, clauses were added to the MHLA to accommodate NWE operations on the Madison. The Hebgen Dam operates as a storage reservoir and the Madison Dam operates as a hydroelectric dam producing power.
In the Tuesday committee markup and hearing, the Madison River was excluded from the MHLA, which formerly included more than 50 Madison River miles. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act states that under federal law, rivers as well as their immediate environments will be protected and preserved in “free-flowing condition … for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.”
The Madison and Hebgen dams maintain river flow, and maintain fisheries and recreation activities along the river, according to Jo Dee Black, public relations specialist with NWE.
“The Act’s Wild and Scenic designation of segments of the Madison River could adversely affect NorthWestern Energy’s existing hydroelectric operations at Hebgen and Madison Dams,” Black wrote in an email to EBS. “This designation could limit NorthWestern Energy’s ability to maintain, repair and upgrade our existing facilities.”
In an effort to include the Madison in the bill, Zack Waterman, Northern Rockies conservation director with American Rivers and Charles Drimal with GYC, had worked to add clauses accommodating NWE operations.
In language introduced in 2023 by Tester, the bill noted that both dams will not be prohibited, preempted or abridged as a current or future federally licensed hydroelectric generation project. With this, any future licensing and development of
hydroelectric generation at the dams would not be halted or redirected. Regarding the dam’s river flow maintenance, the amendments stated that the Wild and Scenic designation in this particular case would not affect the operation of flow release or impose any release requirements.
But Scott Bosse, Northern Rockies regional director for American Rivers, explained that an agreement on the amendments failed. “It’s really unfortunate,” Bosse told EBS on the phone. “We bent over backwards to accommodate … And that’s just the way that we, Montanans for Healthy Rivers, have been for the last 14 years, is like when various parties, whether it’s NorthWestern Energy, or a landowner, or a rancher—when they have concerns, we try and work with them to address their concerns.”
NorthWestern Energy was not able to provide comment on this matter ahead of this story’s publication.
Despite the change, Bosse says that collective motivation to get the MHLA written into law is strong. “We’re all committed to getting this across the finish line. And you know, it might have to get a haircut,” Bosse said. In 2023 research from the University of Montana, 83% of Montana voters in the study reported supporting the bill, and 59% expressed strong support.
Nearby waterways like the 39-mile segment of the Gallatin River and the approximate six-mile segment of Hyalite Creek remain included in the 326 river miles that would receive National Wild and Scenic River System protection if the bill is successful.
“You know, this maybe happens once or twice a decade,” said Zack Waterman with American Rivers. In February 2019, the federal government passed a broad collection of bills in a public lands package. Five years later, this could be MHLA’s chance.
“I think anyone who cares about rivers in Montana should be super excited by that opportunity,” Waterman said.
Anglers on the Gallatin River. PHOTO BY JEN CLANCEY
MADISON 8 ON PACE FOR LATE-DECEMBER OPENING AT BIG SKY RESORT
BY JACK REANEY
BIG SKY—Just 11 months after Big Sky Resort’s construction team began planning the replacement of the Six Shooter chairlift, the longest eight-seat chairlift in the world is nearing completion.
The Madison 8 chairlift will nearly double Six Shooter’s uphill capacity and will reduce ride time by 30% from 12 minutes to eight. Especially on cold, windy days on Lone Mountain’s shady north side, heated seats and a bubble will marry comfort and speed.
Madison 8 is the 12th chairlift—counting five carpets—that Big Sky Resort has installed since announcing its Big Sky 2025 vision nine years ago. The two-stage Explorer Gondola will mark the final lift infrastructure upgrade in the 10-year strategic vision, and it remains on schedule to open for the 2025-26 winter season.
Caleb Teigen has spent three years as a construction manager for Big Sky Resort. Madison 8 is his first chairlift, and he said it’s been unique to see the collaboration from different entities around the world, especially Doppelmayr in Austria.
Teigen praised the Austrian experts for their work ethic, which has helped the project stay roughly on schedule: the resort’s original goal was to open Madison 8 for the 2024-25 ski season. Recent snowfall may put pressure on that deadline, with adequate coverage on the slopes potentially arriving before Madison 8 is ready to open.
“Right now we’re targeting December, and it’s looking towards the end of December as an opening date,” Teigen told EBS during a site tour Nov. 14.
Although it’s Teigen’s first chairlift project, he said lifts are relatively simple compared to the high-end finishes needed for commercial building. The parts are standard and available from Doppelmayr in Austria, and it’s a matter of ordering it and shipping it to Montana, he explained.
“Being a one-summer build, especially on the cold side of the mountain, definitely created challenges… Getting our geo-tech report in January allowed us to start design early,” Teigen said. On June 20, the construction team at Big Sky Resort still had not poured any concrete.
The resort began having conversations and drawing up designs in December 2023, and the resort’s north side closed two weeks early in April 2024 to allow crews to clear snow and decommission Six Shooter—the lift has been shipped to Boyne Resorts’ Sunday River Ski Resort in Maine.
Even after a rigging failure caused a cross-arm assembly to crash to the ground in early October, Teigen said Doppelmayr stepped up to prevent extensive delays, shipping a new part five weeks later. It was quickly installed, allowing crews to splice and install the haul rope.
The haul rope itself is two-of-a-kind—Vail Mountain in Colorado has the only other chairlift
in North America with a Fatzer Performa-DT rope, after it was installed this summer on an existing gondola.
The cable is intertwined with plastic, which reduces vibration and can potentially double the life expectancy of maintenance equipment, Teigen explained. “Which makes the cable more uniform, makes it a lot smoother, keeps vibration down… and it just makes for a smoother, quieter, ride.”
Compared to Six Shooter built in the early 2000s, Teigen said there’s been “considerable” innovation to enhance safety on new lifts like Madison 8. Advanced computers allow maintenance to troubleshoot problems instantaneously as they are diagnosed along the line.
Madison 8 will also feature Big Sky’s first automatic safety bar, which will lower and lock as riders leave the bottom terminal.
When maintenance is needed, chairs won’t need to travel far. The new lift’s bottom terminal features a maintenance bay in the area behind Uncle Dan’s Cookies. Teigen said due to the remoteness of Madison 8 from the resort’s base area, it’s an advantage to be able to perform maintenance on site.
All 80 chairs will be stored indoors, split between the top and bottom terminals, with slightly more at the bottom terminal. In contrast to Ramcharger 8 and Swift Current 6 where chairs are stored in buildings beside the top terminals, Madison 8 has noticeably larger top and bottom terminals to store its chairs at the end of every ski day, but no separate structure for storage.
With roughly six weeks left, crews will focus on finishing electrical instrumentation and putting the finishing touches, before installing dozens of eightseat chairs.
Before long, Madison 8 will add comfort and cut down wait time on busy days, giving Big Sky Resort’s “dark side” a new feel.
Madison 8 will replace Six Shooter on Big Sky Resort's north side. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
Teigen led a Madison 8 tour on Nov. 14. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
'IT'S GONNA BE UP TO YOU' LOCAL GOVERNANCE STUDY WRAPS UP TUESDAY SERIES
BY JACK REANEY
BIG SKY—The taxpayer-funded study of potential local governance options for Big Sky, potentially including incorporation, continues to engage the public and emphasize its purpose: not to provide recommendations, but to outline options for the citizens who will ultimately choose Big Sky’s path forward.
After first engaging the public in a September meeting, the study team added three smaller “Tuesday Series” meetings with the goal of sharing initial findings and continuing to hear local input. Roughly 50 community members attended the three meetings, and the final meeting was held on Nov. 12.
Fourteen locals squeezed into an exceptionally small room in the Big Sky water and sewer district basement, adding to the informal and conversational feeling of the one-hour meeting. “The main objective for today, and the entire Tuesday Series, is to hear from you,” said Meg O’Leary, president of M2O Group and informally self-titled “VP of community and stakeholder outreach” for the study. “It’s really important to the study, to the consulting team, to the community that we hear from you, you get questions out… and we understand more about each other.”
O’Leary said she’s practically begging some locals to schedule one-on-one interviews with her, and she’s especially hoping to hear from folks that might not typically attend local government meetings or may lack a public voice. She has been thrilled to hear from a few people she had not met before.
“Those kinds of one-on-ones are really informative and I’m getting people saying things that they wouldn’t in a public meeting,” O’Leary said.
Dylan Pipinich, land planner for the firm leading the study, WGM Group, said the first phase has been trying to understand how the community lives and operates.
Land planners typically work on projects with a desired outcome, starting with a known answer and reverse-engineering it through policy and government changes.
“This is the exact opposite,” he said. “This question is: the process needs to dictate the outcome.”
Pipinich said the study must ask detailed questions with the hopes of creating detailed answers in the form of specific scenarios. He said the team is aware of Big Sky’s past incorporation discussions, which many remember as being contentious and stopped by specific obstacles.
He spoke about one common example: how local laws surrounding liquor licenses could be affected by governance changes. He said the study team is compiling a summary report outlining the specific possibilities of what’s legal in Montana, and the community outreach has been helpful in identifying potential snags for his team to investigate.
“We’re hoping to answer those questions that definitely have come up in the past, plus all the ones that are coming up in the engagement that we’re doing now,” Pipinich said. “Because there’s more.”
He said the study team has been making “extensive outreach” to make sure the study asks the right
questions that resonate with the community. “It’s really a community decision and it’s gonna be a vote, and it’s gonna be up to you,” Pipinich said. “But as long as you’re informed in making that decision—our goal is to help you make the right one. You decide what that is.”
O’Leary asked one attendee, Mike Kilbury, about his thoughts on the study. Kilbury commented on the scenario-based approach.
“I’m thinking that it’s overwhelming, is what I’m thinking. It’s Jenga. You move one piece, and 10 others fall out,” Kilbury said. Pipinich said that’s a good analogy—however, Pipinich said in September that the goal is to avoid interdependent if-then statements, instead providing detailed assumptions to outline expected outcomes.
The study team wants scenarios to be driven by community values. Patrick Griffith, owner of Blue Moon Bakery, said he’s concerned by whose values will be represented.
“Are we talking Lone Mountain Land Company’s values? Or the guy working the dishwasher’s values,” Griffith asked. “Like, there’s a lot of different people pushing for a lot of different things in this town, and they don’t always fit together well. So, whose values?”
O’Leary asked how Griffith would recommend the study balances those values. He chuckled. “Well, you can go with your heart, or you can follow the money. Which one do you want to do?”
The study team plans to hold its next large public meeting at the end of January, in which they will discuss the values and scenarios identified this fall.
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BIG SKY ROTARY LAUNCHES GIVING TREE AT NEW POST OFFICE
BY JACK REANEY
BIG SKY—Generous community members can be a hero for local families this Christmas, by purchasing a gift asked for by a local child in need. The Big Sky Rotary Club’s Giving Tree was placed at the new post office on Nov. 21. The tree is decorated with tags, each listing a gift desired by a Big Sky child worth $100 or less. Participating donors can take a tag and fulfill a child’s wish by purchasing the requested gift and dropping it at collection bins located at American Bank or First Security Bank.
“You kind of don’t think that there’s a lot of families looking for help in Big Sky,” said Melissa Alger, who volunteers on the Rotary-led committee in charge of the annual tradition. She said there’s many fortunate kids in the community, but many need help too.
For reference, the Big Sky Community Food Bank doubled its services in fiscal year 2023. Typically, demand only grows by roughly 10% each year, according to Sarah Gaither, operations manager at the food bank.
“In one year, we saw a 97% increase, which of course is crazy,” Gaither said. Since COVID, the food bank has served more families and senior citizens than ever, and now supports 1,100 households per year—almost one-third of Big Sky’s working-age seasonal workers visit the food bank— which Gaither believes is a significant portion of the Big Sky community. “We are up to 45 to 50 families with children,” she added.
And for many of those families, the Giving Tree program can free up space in their budgets for essential bills. A few families have stayed involved for years, and the tradition helps them give their kids a good Christmas, Alger said. Local schools and the food bank help identify families in need, inviting them to fill out wish lists or “Santa letters” processed by the Giving Tree committee.
Once gifts are donated, they are wrapped at a large party—this year, the event is Dec. 19 from 5 to 7 p.m.at The Wilson Hotel—and then delivered to homes that evening.
Alger said simply buying one gift, attending the gift-wrapping party or helping deliver wrapped gifts is enough to make a difference.
“It’s all appreciated and needed,” Alger said.
On Christmas Day, Alger said volunteers will often receive text messages with photos and videos of local kids, ecstatic and grateful to receive the Christmas gift they wished for.
Families also receive gift cards for gas and groceries, and a gingerbread house kit for the family to build together. Kids receive stockings with a pair of winter gloves, a winter hat, an age-appropriate toy and some candy.
“Week after week there are fewer and fewer [tags] because it means people are picking them out… it’s heartwarming to see the support from the community,” Gaither said, stressing how grateful the families are for this program.
Gaither added that the application became available in Spanish in recent years, and the program now serves many Spanish-speaking families.
Gracious givers can grab tags and deliver gifts between now and Dec. 11, giving volunteers a few days to collect gifts from donation bins and prepare them for the Dec. 19 wrapping party.
The Giving Tree will also feature QR codes, allowing post office visitors to scan and donate money in lieu of purchasing a gift. If any wishes aren’t fulfilled by Dec. 11, Rotary will use the cash donations to purchase them and make sure every child gets what they ask for.
Growth
The tradition has been alive for more than a decade and has grown since its beginnings when gifts were delivered to a volunteer’s garage.
In 2023, there were enough gifts to fill a restaurant—gifts took up the former Lotus Pad space, which sat empty for a few months before it was converted into Blindside Burger.
In the first few years, Gaither said maybe five to eight food bank customers with kids would get involved. That’s probably now up to 20 to 30 families, she said, not counting those who sign up through the schools.
“It’s just kind of grown and grown, and it’s gotten to the point where we ask around in the community for a place where we can stage the gifts,” Alger said.
Since the program’s beginning, the tree was kept in the Big Sky Post Office, which closed in July.
Alger said it was a big hurdle to get into the new post office. Initially, the postmaster declined to host the tree, explaining they can’t even hang posters not related to USPS in the facility.
“We know how much this helps the community, and we know that the post office… is the ideal spot, because it’s open all the time,” Alger said. She brought the pushback to the committee, and through the volunteers’ local connections including the Kircher family, owner and developer of the building, and Alpine Property Management, they earned permission.
Alger estimates as many as 50 people attended the gift-wrapping party in 2023. She encourages anyone to attend, even for just a few minutes to jump in and wrap a few gifts.
“We get a lot of people, to the point where we run out of room for people to wrap,” she said. “It’s great… Some of the tables get full, and it’s a really fun sight to see.”
COURTESY OF MELISSA ALGER
LAID-BACK LUXURY: BIG SKY LOCALS LAUNCH SHUTTLE SERVICE
WITH ONE SUMMER UNDER THEIR BELTS, A TO Z CHAUFFEURS CALEB DVORAK AND KARL REMPE PREPARE FOR FIRST WINTER ON THE ROAD
BY JACK REANEY
BIG SKY—Caleb Dvorak keeps a running list of possible business ideas in his phone, from local Big Sky opportunities to nationwide ventures. He already operates a snow shoveling business in Big Sky, Mountain Lion Snow Removal, but the gears are always turning.
His friend Karl Rempe was looking for work in early 2024, and wanted to do sowmething entrepreneurial beyond his retail and marketing side hustle, Big Sky Summer. Rempe shared a few brainstorms with Dvorak.
“I saw that there was a little bit of, in my mind, a market gap in transportation in Big Sky,” Dvorak said, so they started seriously considering a transportation catch-all business—from airport rides to local bar pick-ups—and agreed to “jump right in,” Dvorak said.
They launched A to Z Chauffeurs in May.
“We’re excited to be here in Big Sky, and see what we can do. And how much of a name we can make for ourselves here,” Dvorak said. Rempe added they’re proud to be locally-owned, unlike some competitors.
Dvorak wants any community member, from club members to visitors, to feel comfortable and excited to ride with A to Z. They purchased two SUVs: a 2018 Lincoln Navigator—Dvorak and Rempe both rave about its comfort and handling, its sound system and bells and whistles—and a 2021 Chevrolet Suburban. Both are equipped with winter tires and large roof racks for luggage, and chauffeurs carry satellite phones for off-grid areas including the Gallatin Canyon.
Rides between the Bozeman airport and Big Sky are the bulk of A to Z’s business. After their first summer, they’re confident that buying a second car—the Suburban—was the right move. Dvorak said it’s frustrating when they can’t keep up with requests.
“It was definitely worth making that decision early on in this business,” Dvorak said.
Rempe added that they’ll do anything that requires driving.
“We’ll drop off groceries, we’ll drop off flowers,” Rempe said. “But yeah, the big focus is definitely airport rides. That seems to be the biggest need—or the biggest want, too.”
He believes some people want to travel privately, on their own time, in a comfortable and safe environment.
For rides around Big Sky, the chauffeurs believe A to Z is perfect for the trip between Moonlight Basin and Lone Mountain Ranch, for example— it’s only 10 or 15 minutes, but some visitors might prefer not to drive, or don’t have a rental car.
The chauffeurs got to meet a lot of people in their first summer, and they learned from some early mistakes in a new industry.
“It’s a high-trust business,” Rempe said. “So just building that rapport is something that… we have a much better understanding after having a full season under our belts.”
They look forward to setting a benchmark in their first winter season, and learning how to deal with ski travel challenges including flight delays and slow-moving—or stopped—winter traffic.
The service will bring its challenges, but Dvorak said he truly enjoys driving and he’s grateful to get paid to do it.
Flannel-wearing local informants
The chauffeurs are keen on balancing professionalism with humor.
“We don’t want to be white glove, bow tie drivers,” Rempe said. “We’d rather be flannel-wearing, make a good joke—tastefully, of course—and kind of be the vibe of Big Sky.”
They thrive on being the first face that visitors see in Montana.
“It’s nice to—whether I do a good job or not—set the tone for what they’ll expect in Big Sky in the week that they’re here,” Dvorak said, grinning. “… It’s also nice driving people that have lived here for four years or have a second home here, and have a good idea what’s going on, because we can connect a little bit on a deeper level there too.”
Rempe enjoys giving recommendations for restaurants, parks, trails, ski runs and more. “It’s definitely rewarding to feel like you can be a knowledge base for people,” he said.
Even when they aren’t picking up clients, Rempe and Dvorak don’t take themselves too seriously. They proudly recall that when they launched in May, they bought their own ribbon and cut it themselves.
Dvorak was honest about the way they chose their business name: they primarily chose “A to Z” so it would appear at the top of any alphabetized list. Of course, they also wanted a local connection, and Big Sky Resort’s extreme A to Z Chutes worked perfectly.
Plus, Dvorak said there’s too many local businesses with “Lone Peak” or “Big Sky” in their names, so they wanted to think outside the box. He also coined a slogan:
“A to Z Chauffeurs gets you from A to B,” Dvorak said. He typically reserves that tongue-in-cheek slogan for friends. But now, the word is out.
Local entrepreneurs Karl Rempe (left) and Caleb Dvorak are the driving force behind a new Big Sky business.
PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
Local entrepreneurs Karl Rempe (left) and Caleb Dvorak are the driving force behind a new Big Sky business. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
OP NEWS
HOLIDAY GRATEFULNESS
Thanksgiving and the holiday season present us all with opportunities to reflect. It’s a time to appreciate all that we have, and to be present in the moment with family and friends at the beginning of a long winter.
Outlaw Partners, the publisher of Explore Big Sky, has a lot to be grateful for as the clock ticks down on 2024. So we asked our fellow Outlaws:
What are you grateful for?
Josh Timon, COO: I am grateful for my family, business opportunities and the freedom of our country.
Ersin Ozer, director of partnerships: I am grateful to be a dad.
Carrie Bryan, broker, transaction coordinator (Outlaw Realty): I am grateful for family, friends and good health.
Taylor Owens, content marketing lead: I’m grateful for good friends, soft snow and fun times.
Jen Clancey, staff writer: I am very grateful for my family and friends. I am also grateful for live music and seeing the Northern Lights twice this year.
Megan Sierra, senior graphic designer: I am grateful for my family, friends, and my pup Zoey.
Michael Pitcairn, broker (Outlaw Realty): I am grateful for my family, the Big Sky community, and fresh snow.
Sara Sipe, senior accountant: I am grateful to call Big Sky home.
Tucker Harris, marketing director: I’m grateful to be able to call Big Sky home and for my family, friends and dogs.
Michael Ruebusch, director of video production: I am grateful to live in and enjoy the outdoors in the great state of Montana.
EJ Daws, supervising broker (Outlaw Realty): I am grateful for having my family all here in Bozeman and the memories created during the holidays.
Mira Brody, VP media: I am thankful for our local trails that allow us to adventure and my Sierra dog to explore them with.
Eli Kretzmann, operations manager (Boundary Expeditions): I am grateful for the recent opportunity to travel with my parents.
Sophie Gotwald, event coordinator: I am grateful for health and family.
Ennion Williams, VP events: I am grateful for family gatherings and seeing friends.
Megan Paulson, co-founder and CMO: I’m grateful for my amazing family and living in this beautiful place.
Fischer Genau, digital media lead: I am grateful for the long nights of winter to slow down and rest.
Jack Reaney, senior editor: I am grateful for good health and the beginning of ski season in Big Sky.
Ellie Boeschenstein, account coordinator: I am grateful to have recently moved to the beautiful state of Montana and to have a family that supports me in this next chapter of my life.
Patrick Mahoney, business development lead: I’m grateful for a wonderful woman.
Griffin House, graphic designer: I am grateful for my health, my family, and all the wonderful people that I’m lucky enough to have in my life.
Hiller Higman, VP design and production: I am grateful for friends and family.
Leslie Kilgore, editorial consultant: I am grateful to be an Outlaw, the most fun and rewarding job I’ve ever had that allows me to celebrate and capture our special community in so many memorable ways.
Eric Ladd, founder, chairman and publisher: I am grateful for family, friends and the future.
Outlaw Team at Big Sky PBR. OUTLAW PARTNERS PHOTO
REGIONAL
WOLF QUOTA CONUNDRUM
FIFTH WOLF KILLED IN UNIT NORTH OF YELLOWSTONE
BY BENJAMIN ALVA POLLEY
EBS CONTRIBUTOR
On Friday, Nov. 1, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks reported that a fifth wolf was found dead in heavy cover inside Wolf Management Unit 313 from a gunshot wound. Wolf Management Unit 313 funnels north of Yellowstone National Park into Paradise Valley. After complaints from the public and Yellowstone officials, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission placed a quota of three wolves this season to prevent further disruption of wolf pack dynamics within Yellowstone National Park. The commission divided the unit into two separate ones.
“We know wolf management is a controversial subject in Montana, particularly around Yellowstone National Park,” said Greg Lemon, spokesperson for FWP. “The Fish and Wildlife Commission has considered that controversy in those interests and set quotas accordingly.”
A quota is a number that FWP feels keeps wolf populations slightly stable, and slightly trending down allowing for some management flexibility.
“The population is enough to address livestock depredation with any tools in the toolbox,” Lemon said. “Or too much predation on big game species.”
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, FWP went to the location of the dead wolf and discovered the animal had a tracking collar on. It showed a mortality signal during the first week of November, alerting officials of its death and location. The agency believes this wolf was shot the same day that two hunters shot four other wolves in the area.
According to the FWP dashboard and confirmed by Lemon, on the morning of Oct. 24, two females and two males, four members of Yellowstone’s 8 Mile Pack, were killed. Later that morning, FWP stated that the unit would close to wolf hunting at 11:30 the following day.
After visiting the site, FWP stated the fifth wolf was not illegally killed and that the person who shot it “unknowingly wounded” the animal, according to a Nov. 5 press release. Montana law strictly states that hunters must recover wounded animals when hunting.
Since all five wolves killed in WMU 313 were from the 8 Mile Pack, this furthers the concerns about pack fragmentation after 13 were killed last winter. WildEarth Guardians, an advocacy group that fights to protect wildlife, wild places and wild rivers in the American West, “is devastated” by the recent news.
“We get small wins sometimes when it comes to protecting wolves and other carnivore species in Montana,” said Lizzy Pennock, a carnivore coexistence attorney for WildEarth Guardians.
This past August, the Fish and Wildlife Commission split the wolf management units north of Yellowstone back into 313 and 316, and the quota of six was divided in half.
“But we’re still seeing five wolves being killed in 313 and we’re not seeing accountability,” said Pennock. “Many business owners depend on people coming to this state to see living wolves.”
Two recent reports showed that Yellowstone visitors spend over $600 million in nearby communities and support thousands of local jobs. They come to see the park’s landscape, geothermal activity and wildlife, including wolves.
This economic impact was one of the reasons for splitting 313 back into two management units. Cam Sholly, the superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, wrote a letter pushing for changes in how the Fish and Wildlife Commission manages state lands adjacent to the National Park and suggested they divide those units into two after 13 Yellowstone wolves were killed last year, including eight in Montana, six of those in unit 313. The 13 wolves contributed to 10% of Yellowstone’s winter wolf population. The 13 wolves came from three packs that have since fractured or dissolved. When packs are fragmented the remaining wolves, often without a leader, are more likely to get into trouble with neighboring livestock.
“It just feels like a total paper victory,” said Pennock. “It’s unacceptable because five wolves have already been killed and we still have how many more months, and then to see FWP not really doing anything about it. There’s no enforcement of rules regarding wolves and no efforts to hold people accountable. According to regulations, it’s almost 50% more than the wolves that should have been killed in that unit.”
So far, during Montana’s wolf hunting season, which began Sept. 1, 87 wolves have been harvested. In unit 316, only one has been reported to have been killed.
A grey Wolf in Yellowstone National Park. PHOTO BY DENNIS DONOHUE/ADOBE STOCK
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SPORTS
CAT-GRIZ: TAILGATERS PREP FOR MONTANA’S SUPER BOWL
BY JACK REANEY
BOZEMAN—For more than 12 decades, college football teams from Bozeman and Missoula have squared off in a fierce rivalry that divides Montana families, if only for a few days.
In a state with no major professional sports teams but many avid football fans, many Montanans hold their Bobcat or Grizzly allegiance in the highest regard.
“This is kind of like our Super Bowl here, in Montana,” said Jackson Callahan, a Montana State student and Bozeman resident, originally from
Seattle. “And it’s a big deal. It’s like the one day… if you don’t care about football at all, and you live in either town, like, you care about it today.”
His friend Ian Sobol moved from Seattle 12 years ago and attended MSU.
“When I first moved here, I had no idea that this was the biggest event that happened ever single year in Montana. But it’s the biggest confluence of everyone coming together, because we all love one thing: it’s football,” Sobol said.
Callahan—who betrayed his Grizzly parents by attending the rival of their alma mater—offered up a prediction.
“I’m feelin’ good man, we’re gonna come out, we’re gonna kick some Griz butt, and we’re not gonna look back… It’s gonna be an absolute massacre out there,” Callahan said.
A few hours later, the Bobcats proved Callahan right, defeating the Grizzlies 34-11. A small group of students delivered the boom after every score.
Of all the military ROTC students across the nation, few are lucky to fire a howitzer cannon for 22,000 roaring football fans. Montana State juniors Colin Briggs and Quinn Coffey, sophomore Kelli Schellenberg and freshman Colin Carberry share that distinction among a group of army ROTC students.
The Vietnam War era cannon was donated by a retired lieutenant colonel who graduated from Montana State.
“The cannon’s been here for quite a long time,” Briggs said. “It’s a howitzer cannon that we modified with a blank adapter, so we fire off blank shells for 12 gauge… for kickoffs, extra points, touchdowns.”
“Can’t really beat it,” Coffey said. “You know we’re on the field, get the crowd involved. And a lot of the guys who have been here a long time just expect the cannon to go off, so it’s fun to be able to give that to them every Saturday.”
“It’s definitely an honor,” Briggs said.
Schellenberg said it’s crazy as a first-year student to be a part of the Bobcats’ undefeated season and continue the cannon tradition. “It’s like, part of a tradition that’s been here for a while,” she said.
Carberry said it’s his first time doing “cannon crew” but he loves football. “I’m really excited because it’s a great part of the community, part of the team, part of the college,” he said.
Dalton and Jessica Tucker might be family, but their allegiance is split by the Great Divide. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
‘Bragging rights for each side’
Jon Holm wore a dazzling jacket Saturday, originally purchased for a trip to Las Vegas, and a large yellow hat.
A lifelong resident of the Bozeman area, he said he’s been to about 15 Cat-Griz games. He has some friends on the Griz side, and joked that he might not hang out with them in the days leading up to the game.
“It’s just a great thing for the whole state. It’s great for the economy and… just bragging rights for each side,” he said. “It’s unbelievable to be able to do this, and come be a part of something like this. Even win or lose, just something to be a part of, it’s awesome.”
Bob Morrison earned his bachelor’s degree in 1977 from Montana State. His son gifted on-field passes as a Christmas gift, and he invited his lifelong friend and college roommate, Dan Wetstein.
His favorite Bobcat memory is the Miracle in Missoula—he was with his two sons on the sideline for the Bobcats’ improbable 22-point comeback in 2018.
Dan shares a fond memory of attending school during the Sonny Holland era, when the winningest coach in Bobcat football history earned a 1976 Division II national championship and two Big Sky conference titles.
Morrison arrived to Bobcat Stadium two days early to shovel snow from their tailgate spot. It’s a serious affair.
Sipping beers in a different section of the tailgate, and dressed in the unfriendly maroon, Jami Van Gorden and Brad Pfeiffer said they arrived Thursday.
“We’ve been to every Cat-Griz since 2001,” Van Gorden said. Although neither he nor Pfeiffer attended UM, they grew up in Havre and sided with the Griz.
They showed up two days early for two reasons: first, to party; second, to catch up with friends in the Bozeman area.
As Van Gorden and Pfeiffer spoke with EBS, one blue-and-gold-clad friend jabbed from the background, asking how long they went to college for.
“I went to college at your mom’s house,” Van Gorden responded.
“And I got a master’s,” Pfeiffer added.
Friendly banter on rivalry day.
Nearby, a group of women arrived to the tailgate about two hours before kickoff. Preslie Neil attends Montana State, but she and her sister, Landyn, grew up in Missoula.
“Our dad played football for the Griz, so we’ve always been Griz fans, but had to convert,” Preslie said.
“I mean, I had to convert to ‘Cats for the weekend, but go Griz,” Landyn said, drawing criticism from
nearby friends. She said Cat-Griz is huge for such a small state, and even her college friends in San Diego know about the rivalry. “This game is huge for everyone, and everyone is die-hard fans.”
The rivalry splits many families, like Jessica Tucker and her son Dalton.
“Well, my mom, she went to Griz. So her and my brother are Griz, and me and my dad are the Bobcats,” Dalton said. His favorite players are “Touchdown Tommy” Mellott and Taco Dowler, and he said he was thrilled to see his first live Montana State game.
“Yeah, we’re a house divided for sure,” Jessica said. “… I get poked at a lot this weekend.”
Jessica and her husband have been attending CatGriz for 25 years straight. The Tuckers attend with two other families—one including a former Griz player, and the other a former Bobcat. They drove from Whitefish for Saturday’s game.
“It’s like a holiday weekend in our house,” Jessica said. “… I think it’s the best thing for the state. I mean, it’s so fun. The people are… I mean, yes, it’s a huge, bitter rivalry, but deep down, we’re all Montanans, and one team being good makes the other team better.”
“It’s like the Super Bowl for Montana,” Dalton said. A common comparison, and perhaps an understatement.
ROTC students fire a Vietnam-era howitzer cannon when the Bobcats score. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
Van Gorden (left) and Pfeiffer have attended every Brawl of the Wild since 2001.
PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
Jon Holm said he welcomes anyone to his tailgate beside Kagy Boulevard.
PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
OUTRIGHT CHAMPIONS BOBCATS
BLAST GRIZZLIES TO SEW UP FIRST OUTRIGHT BIG SKY TITLE IN 40 YEARS, SECURE FIRST-EVER FCS NO. 1 SEED
BY COLTER NUANEZ SKYLINE SPORTS
BOZEMAN—As the wind suddenly began whipping from north to south and a veteran Griz lay wounded near the goal line, the Bobcat Stadium faithful sang Neil Diamond in unison.
The celebration was not because of the injury but rather because the sold-out, record-setting crowd sensed that history was near. Even within a rare lull that was accompanied by a briefly vicious storm, no one wanted to leave their seats.
Not much is sweeter than “Sweet Caroline” on a college football Saturday. But going undefeated in the regular season for the first time in your program’s history and capping the first 12-0 season in the history of the Big Sky Conference might be the sweetest treat the Bobcats have ever tasted.
The visitors from Missoula fought admirably against the juggernaut Bobcat offense that has steamrolled opponent after opponent during an unbelievably prolific season spurred on by the best offensive line and the deepest stable of running backs in the country.
Several Montana-made players for the Grizzlies played with great fortitude, trying to stand in the way of an MSU rushing attack that entered the 123rd rivalry clash averaging more than 330 yards per game on the ground. And Montana State had to endure the loss of Scottre Humphrey and Julius Davis, the Bobcats’ top two running backs.
The Griz held MSU to 20 points in the first half—a startling stat when you consider that the ‘Cats scored 40-plus points before the mid-point of the third quarter on seven different occasions before Cat-Griz on Nov. 23.
But Montana State’s defensive front eventually overwhelmed the Griz offensive line, allowing MSU to incrementally build its lead before spurring an avalanche.
When the dam broke, MSU flooded the opposition with more than 300 rushing yards for the 10th time in 12 games this season, spearheaded by Missoulanative Adam Jones. And the Bobcats defense allowed just 230 yards and 13 first downs on the way to victory in front of a stadium-record 22,057 fans on Saturday afternoon.
“To finish the regular season undefeated is significant and to win the outright conference title for the first time in a long time is significant and to bring that [Great Divide] Trophy back to this building is significant,” Montana State head coach Brent Vigen said. “A lot accomplished today and I appreciate where we are at, but I think we all understand that we have bigger things in mind moving forward.”
The victory helped Montana State match its school record for single-season victories. No Big Sky Conference team has ever won 12 games without a loss in the regular season. The Bobcats are the outright Big Sky Conference champions. And after North Dakota State’s 29-28 loss to No. 4 South Dakota on Saturday, the Bobcats earned the No. 1 seed in the FCS playoffs.
PHOTO BY BROOKS NUANEZ / SKYLINE SPORTS
“This game has been circled on our calendar all year, but we have been trying to focus on the game in front of us every week and once this week came up, we talked about sticking to our process but doing it a little bit better this week,” Montana State senior captain Rylan Ortt said.
“That Big Sky Conference championship trophy is cool to have and it means a lot, but there’s nothing cooler than carrying that Great Divide Trophy around the stadium and the locker room. That’s the one we were after and we got it today.”
As the cowbells echoed throughout the stadium, clarity of the present continued affirming that the past was, well, the past. A generation of Bobcats had to endure Montana’s domination of the rivalry and the Big Sky. But now, it’s impossible to say anything aside from that the Bobcats rule the contemporary day.
Not only are the Bobcats the Big Sky Conference champions for the second time in three years, they have also now defeated Montana six times in the last eight rivalry games and have beaten the Griz four times in a row in Bozeman.
So much of what culminated on Nov. 23 was not just a revenge tour for last year’s Cat-Griz loss but also a quest for redemption after the highest of expectations fell flat in 2023.
The most recent offseason for the ‘Cats was filled with self-reflection and adjustment, including new coordinators on both sides of the ball and a renewed vigor in offseason training.
As the Bobcat offensive and defensive linemen carried the Great Divide Trophy around the field,
senior captain Justus Perkins was intercepted by his father, Josh Perkins, a former standout defensive back for MSU in the 1990s. Justus couldn’t contain his emotions as tears began to streak down his cheeks and the magnitude of the accomplishment— the first undefeated regular season in school history and the first outright Big Sky title for Montana State since 1984—began to sink in.
From Tommy Mellott’s gutsy third down throw to Rohan Jones for a 35-yard touchdown in the first half to Myles Sansted’s 49-yard field goal at the halftime buzzer and Adam Jones’ formidable second half, Montana State put basically every question pundits had about their program to rest.
“This team, back in January, made its mind up that we are not going to get in front of ourselves at all,” Vigen said. “That goes back to each daily workout in January. This isn’t just talk. We have to live it. And no more than right now.”
Vigen recalled the team’s 30-28 victory of UC Davis on Nov. 16, which earned the Bobcats at least a share in the Big Sky title.
“Last week, the Big Sky commissioner brought the trophy into the locker room. I said, ‘set it down, we have more to accomplish.’ Our guys embraced that. They were not interested in sharing the conference title.”
And now the Bobcats are Big Sky champions, rivalry victors and the No. 1 seed in the FCS playoffs for the first time in program history.
MSU will host the winner of No. 16 New Hampshire and unranked Tennessee-Martin on Dec. 7 at Bobcat Stadium at 1 p.m.
Montana State junior defensive end Kenneth Eiden IV (11), a Bozeman native, and Montana State senior AllAmerican offensive lineman Marcus Wehr (76), a captain from Billings, hoist the "Great Divide Trophy" in celebration after Montana State posted its sixth win in the last eight rivalry games against archrival Montana.
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
'AN ODE TO BOZEMAN' MURAL AT WILDLANDS
BY ELLIE BOESCHENSTEIN
BOZEMAN—Artist and muralist Casey Lutz has created a new feel on the side of the Wildlands building wall in Bozeman’s Northeast Neighborhood. The piece is a representation of the rugged spirit of the American West and his work as a whole is thoughtful, yet can also be abstract at times, and shows precision and detail as well as raw expression.
Lutz’s artistic journey began at a young age when he got into graffiti art. Doing spray paint tags soon evolved into Lutz’s dad letting him paint his childhood bedroom, when he was 16, which would count as his first-ever mural.
“I painted a Bob Marley mural in my bedroom that my dad still has up today,” Lutz said. “So that’s always really funny to go home and be like, oh, that’s where it all started.”
For a while, Lutz continued his art as a side gig. He studied graphic design at Montana State University but it wasn’t until after graduating and a year working for K2 Sports and Red Bull in Seattle, that he decided to return to Montana and dive into his art career full time.
“There was another mural artist that I just loved his style and his work,” Lutz noted. “I was like, man, his stuff is very similar to what I like to draw and he’s getting paid tons of money to paint these things on buildings so I was like, why am I not doing this? So I just kind of put it out there that I wanted to paint murals.”
Lutz mentioned how ever since he put the word out that he wanted to paint murals, his work has been stacking up ever since.
“I kind of laughed. I was like, once you tell people that you’re a mural artist, you better watch out because the murals come in and you just keep getting them over and over and over,” Lutz said.
When it came to the mural on the side of the Wildlands building, which he has titled “Ode to Bozeman,” the opportunity came to Lutz at a perfect time. Lutz had an art opening at the gallery next door to Wildlands when his friend came in and mentioned that Outlaw Real Estate Partners, Wildlands developer and owner, was looking for an artist to paint a mural on the building’s blank exterior wall. Lutz met up with Mike Magrans, OREP’s CIO and the main collaborator on this mural. Together they looked at a black, red and cream colored painting featuring a cowboy and a mountain-scape and decided they wanted the mural to fit a similar style but to also tie into the north side and the history of Bozeman. Lutz and Magrans worked out what they wanted to be represented and how to best represent their ideas in the mural. Once they had an idea of what they wanted, Lutz got to work.
“I went and did a bunch of research on old Bozeman. I went to the library and sat and just kind of fed my brain with some more stories of the north side,” Lutz explained. “I found out there used to be this old brewery that exploded and that the north
side was actually a bunch of brothels and artists, and kind of this almost grungy part of Bozeman at first and then just learned more about the evolution of the north side throughout the years.”
Lutz has mentioned his favorite part of Bozeman is the Northeast Neighborhood, and he has enjoyed watching it evolve over the years.
“Everything was character,” Lutz said of the neighborhood.“There was so much artwork all over the houses and through people’s yards with different fences that were made of skis and different homes where artists had created their version of what Montana meant to them.”
Lutz said that despite the area’s growth, he has decided to accept the changes, as opposed to complaining about them, and find interest in the development.
When discussing the more technical process behind creating the mural, Lutz gave insight to some of the challenges that come with painting on such a vast space, outdoors and on complex surfaces. Brick is a challenging canvas for paint, and needs to be a certain temperature for adhesion, above 40F, to be exact. Lutz explained how Montana’s quickly changing seasons became a major challenge; oftentimes Lutz would sit and wait with a temperature gun scanning and waiting until the brick became a temperature he could paint on.
Lutz wants the mural to have impact—both on the community and anybody who comes to the Wildlands building.
“It was really cool of Outlaw to do … to actually reflect the neighborhood and that, to me, is so important,” Lutz said. “They didn’t just say, ‘Hey, put a piece of art here,’ instead they said, ‘Do something that matters.’”
Lutz has a few upcoming projects in Bozeman and beyond, some in warmer climates so he can still work in the winter, including a project in Puerto Rico. If you’re in the area, you can see his completed piece at Wildlands, and a slice of Bozeman history to go with.
The mural on the Wildlands building incorporates historical aspects of Bozeman on a brick canvas.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CASEY LUTZ
Artist Casey Lutz works on “Ode to Bozeman” on the Wildlands building in northeast Bozeman. PHOTO COURTESY OF CASEY LUTZ
ARTS COUNCIL BUYS FORMER CHOPPERS BUILDING, PLANS ‘MAJOR REMODEL’ INTO LOCAL ARTS HUB
BY JACK REANEY
BIG SKY—Step inside the building once home to Choppers Grub and Pub, and you’ll see a restaurant frozen in time since it closed more than two years ago. The barstools, booths and chairs have been left in place and flat-screen televisions hang from the walls; at the bar, colorful stickers shout unfiltered local sentiments from the restaurant’s 13 years of operation in a fast-changing community. In the basement, a loud whirring sound emanates from a tall cart full of television receivers that have siphoned electricity for an unknown duration. Tinted glass has kept the Choppers decal as locals wonder what’s next.
Many expected a rebirth of the restaurant—or any restaurant—once the building sold. Few had a nonprofit arts center on their bingo card.
The Arts Council of Big Sky closed Nov. 15 on the purchase of the building—which was listed above $6 million—with ambitious plans to conduct a “major remodel” into Big Sky’s public-access center for the arts with the goal of bringing light and vitality back to a space left dark.
“There’s so much creative energy in the community that’s ready to be tapped, and this creates the space for that,” said Katie Alvin, arts council development director, in an on-site interview with EBS on Nov. 11.
Plans include the addition of a second floor above the existing ground floor, plus a rooftop patio, transforming the current 7,700 squarefoot restaurant into a four-story, 10,000 square foot arts hub. The basement storage area will be converted into a music practice and recording space reminiscent of a funky, eclectic speakeasy
and being called “the sound garden.” The remodel will add various classroom and workshop spaces, plus a studio for Big Sky’s new local radio station. The arts council applied successfully in 2024 for a low-power FM radio permit, and will broadcast to a radius of three to five miles on 98.3 FM.
The Arts Council currently operates out of BASE, renting an office and a multipurpose art classroom. Alvin and Executive Director Brian Hurlbut emphasized their gratitude for BASE, but also spoke to the limitations of having only one classroom—the new building will have five—and lacking a dedicated venue space to host visiting artists and larger-scale programming.
“We could certainly stay in BASE, but our programs are going to plateau,” Hurlbut said. “… Having our own space and having creative control over it and what we can present there is probably the biggest game-changer, I think, for us as an arts organization.”
Alvin said the new building will extend and collaborate with the community’s existing resources—such as music and arts facilities at the Big Sky School District and the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center—as opposed to competing or overlapping. Hurlbut added that the arts center will be open to the wider community.
In the near future, the arts council will move its offices to 77 Lone Peak Drive and launch a capital campaign to fund the building’s renovation.
The arts council plans to illuminate the space with a color palate reminiscent of Big Sky’s natural hues, painting the interior with natural shades of green and blue. They’re intentionally avoiding what Alvin calls “the Big Sky brown” dominating local architecture especially in the Town Center area. She
hopes to evoke the feeling of encountering a bright clearing in the forest, full of wildflowers.
“We had this view of walking through Big Sky, and suddenly you come across this art space,” Alvin said. “… There’s this inspiration from nature that I think we can really get in this space.”
Alvin said the arts center will add something new that could not be accomplished by a restaurant or bar.
“Without saying negative things about the fact that it was a bar, the fact that we can take a building that has been sitting empty for years, and dark, and kind of—it’s like this dying building, we’re taking it and breathing life into it,” Alvin said. “Literally, life and light.”
Philanthropy in action
The purchase was enabled by an “extraordinary” leading gift from Big Sky resident and longtime arts council supporter Don Grasso, according to an arts council press release. The release stated Grasso is a passionate philanthropist who believes in paying forward his good fortune by giving back to meaningful causes.
“I made this donation to honor my sister-inlaw Patty Rhea and her husband Bob, who have inspired me to recognize the power of the arts,” Grasso stated in the release. “I hope this gift is transformational for the Big Sky community and inspires others to give generously too.”
The Rheas are Big Sky residents that have made significant contributions to the community for more than 20 years, according to the release. Patty Rhea is a former curator and past ACBS board member who has been a champion for public
Early renderings show the building’s redesigned exterior. COURTESY OF THE ARTS COUNCIL
art in Big Sky for a decade, spearheading efforts such as the Deborah Butterfield horse sculpture “Winter” located in the Town Center Plaza, and the upcoming Brad Rude sculpture “To the Skyland” to be placed at Big Sky Community Park in 2025. Bob Rhea is current board chair of the Moonlight Community Foundation.
Hurlbut said the timing was serendipitous.
In July, Grasso was already working with the arts council to donate a piece of art to the community. Alvin said the arts council had been imagining an arts center in the former Chopper’s building— even discussing it with realtors—and Grasso immediately offered a large donation to help the arts council acquire it.
The arts council did its due diligence, contacting other potential donors, engaging an architecture firm and fundraising consultants, and receiving approval from its board before making an offer on Oct. 15.
Hurlbut has spent 23 years working with the arts council, an organization founded in 1988 that has always dreamed of having its own facility, he said.
“We’ve been really working toward this goal, but it’s been happening really organically, really slow. And I feel like this is the culmination of all that hard work that everybody put in.”
Getting ‘jazzed’ about radio, music facilities
Local musician Thad Beaty has been in the music industry for 30 years, and says he’s never felt the kind of support he feels in Big Sky. He works as the music and entertainment manager for Lone Mountain Land Company and recently created Big Sky’s songwriters workshop and launched a local live music calendar.
In Big Sky, Beaty has heard musicians say they wish they had a place to jam, rehearse, get together and share ideas.
“Having a place like this is just—it’s gonna be huge,” he told EBS in a phone call.
Beaty contrasts Big Sky with Nashville, the wellknown music incubator full of resources and recording studios for artists. Musicians flock there
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with contagious creativity, and tourists follow. Big Sky won’t become “Music City” but Beaty said this arts center will be a big step in the right direction, serving as a creative hub and home base for musicians that isn’t a bar or performance venue.
“And that’s something we’ve talked about forever… it’s a space where you can go rehearse, and you can go create,” Beaty said. He added that LMLC had anticipated a similar facility in its remaining plans for Town Center, but the arts council’s sudden opportunity might allow LMLC to tackle other community priorities with the limited space available. Plus, this renovation will be completed much sooner.
Beaty also said he’s “just so jazzed” that Big Sky will have its own radio station.
“Finally, Brian is going to let me have a 3 a.m. time slot where I can go play all my favorite hair metal songs,” Beaty joked.
He compared local radio to minor league baseball, pointing out that semi-pro teams are often named for the medium-sized cities that host them, like the Tulsa Drillers in Oklahoma’s oil country, and those unique mascots represent local cultures and history. Local radio feels similar.
“For us to be able to let various niches of the community have a show. I’m thinking… you can have shows about cool recycling tips, I’m thinking about all the cool things NPR has done over the years. It’s not just music… So many things that can kind of broaden the interests of Big Sky,” Beaty said.
Hurlbut believes community radio can be an anchor for the place we live in.
“I love community radio stations,” Hurlbut said. “I was a DJ in college, like many of us. I love KGLT… It’s a way to bring a variety of different people together and really make it your own. It’s a way to engage the community.”
The arts council is imagining local students on air, local podcast storytelling, and even using 98.3 as a tool for emergency communication. Hurlbut wants the station to be a voice for the community.
For those without radio access, the station will be streamed online.
Organic growth
Julie Edwards is the arts council’s education director. She plans courses, recruits teachers for different mediums and different age levels, and teaches roughly two-thirds of the local classes herself. Currently, she’s teaching a pottery class with eight students ranging in age from 12 to 92, and said it’s a joy to offer programming that fits all ages and demographics.
She said the new facility will open doors for the community, allowing more people to find their niche in a peer group.
“It is going to be a true community space,” Edwards said. “Our entire community is going to be able to access that space for anything from taking a oneoff art class to possibly having special events, to looping prospective DJs into the community.”
The arts council offers art classes on a contributewhat-you-can fee structure, and Edwards said the expansion of classroom space will only help that mission.
“I definitely plan on continuing our access for all,” she said.
Plus, art rooms will be specialized; it’s hard to share a pottery classroom with any other medium, so the new facility will enable more efficient teaching and learning, Edwards explained.
“We’re going from a five-pound bag of potatoes to a huge sack of potatoes, so I’m really excited for the possibilities.”
Alvin said this project is the culmination of slow, organic growth throughout the nonprofit’s threeplus decades.
“So when we hit our fourth decade, this is going to be a pretty huge landmark change, but it’s not something that’s coming suddenly, and it’s not happening all at once,” Alvin said.
She’s most excited about the thought of the building being alive with creative energy.
“Anybody is going to be able to walk into this space and find a creative outlet, I believe it.”
The main corridor, which hosted the Choppers bar area, will be redesigned into an art gallery and flex space. COURTESY OF THE ARTS COUNCIL
PRECISION AND PASSION IN PIANO CARE
MADELIN’S PIANO SERVICES FOCUSES ON CRAFT OF FINE-TUNED PIANOS
BY TAYLOR OWENS
Special advertisement
When you hear the rich tones of a well-tuned piano, you’re hearing more than notes—you’re hearing the care of a skilled technician. For Madelin Woodrum, a traveling piano technician, this care is not just a service; it’s a life’s passion.
“I’m very passionate about pianos and that they’re well taken care of,” Woodrum said. “I’m not trying to sell services to get a paycheck—I really love these instruments and want to see them last a long time.”
Woodrum brings a passion for quality craftsmanship and client satisfaction to her work. A graduate of North Bennet Street School, a private vocational school in Boston, she has trained in both basic and advanced piano technology and gained hands-on experience interning at Steinway & Sons. Based in Vancouver, Washington, she serves regions from Hawaii to Big Sky.
Woodrum’s path to this niche profession began in high school when her parents bought an upright piano.
“This guy, Mike Toya, came and tuned it, and my mind was just blown that you could do this as a job,” she said.
Toya, whose son attended North Bennet Street School as well, introduced her to the world of piano repair and inspired her to pursue it as a career. She learned tuning, in-home repairs, and full piano restoration, including soundboard replacements and restringing.
“I also worked at Steinway in New York as an intern for their Spirio player pianos,” she said. “So I’ve worked in their factory and main showroom near Times Square, which was an amazing experience.”
Today, Woodrum travels around the U.S., servicing pianos in homes, concert venues and community spaces. In Montana, she has particularly close ties to the Big Sky community.
“I got my foot in the door in Big Sky with a Steinway warranty call,” she said. “Now I come out twice a year, hoping to expand my business here.”
Woodrum’s services cover a range of needs, from basic annual tuning to complex restorations. During appointments, Woodrum evaluates each piano to determine what it needs most.
“The process is different for every piano,” she said. “I always start with tuning to see the piano’s overall condition, then focus on what’s most needed. Sometimes it’s voicing to adjust the tone, sometimes regulation if it’s hard to play, or fixing any broken parts.”
One of the aspects of her job that excites her most is restoring pianos with special histories. Recently, she’s been restoring a 1923 Steinway that belonged to a beloved music teacher in Hawaii.
“It’s barely holding together, with rusted strings and broken parts, but I’m honored to bring it back to life,” she said. “As I travel around, people recognize this piano—it has a legacy here, and it’s amazing to be part of its story.”
She’s also working on a piano once owned by Doris Duke, the American heiress and socialite known for her glamorous parties.
“This piano likely had famous guests play on it, and the ivory keys are worn into little cups from all the years of playing,” she said.
Whether restoring pianos with rich histories or tuning those in local homes, Woodrum sees every piano as a part of its owner’s life and memories. Her dedication extends beyond the tools of the trade.
“People often don’t realize how gradual the change in a piano’s sound and feel can be,” she said. “They’ll think it just doesn’t play well anymore, but after a tune-up, they say, ‘Oh my gosh, I love my piano again.’ It’s like a car that needs regular service to keep running smoothly.”
For piano owners, she recommends tuning once a year to keep the instrument in balance, especially in climates like Montana’s.
“If you keep up with maintenance tuning, it holds better over time,” she said. “If you let it drift out of tune for too long, it can become unstable.”
This regular upkeep preserves the piano’s sound and longevity.
“Even if people don’t play often, tuning is important for the piano’s overall health,” she said.
For Woodrum, each piano is more than an instrument—it’s a living entity with stories and sentimental value.
“I think of pianos as beautiful instruments,” she said. “It’s super sad when a piano hasn’t been maintained and doesn’t have much life left. When I say a piano should be tuned or regulated, it’s not just to make it sound better—it’s for the life of the piano.”
Book a piano service with Madelin Woodrum or learn more at https://madelinspianoservices.com/meetmadelin-woodrum/.
Woodrum’s favorite aspect of her job is restoring pianos with special histories, like the 1923 Steinway that belonged to a beloved music teacher in Hawaii. PHOTO COURTESY OF MADELIN WOODRUM
Woodrum’s path to professionally tuning and restoring pianos began in high school when her parents bought an upright piano. PHOTO COURTESY OF MADELIN WOODRUM
BEYOND BOUNDS: WMPAC ANNOUNCES WINTER SEASON LINEUP
The Warren Miller Performing Arts Center has unveiled the 10 acts for its 2025 winter season of Big Sky shows from Dec. 27 to March 22.
This winter’s theme is “Beyond Bounds,” meant to pay homage to the Big Sky way of life where individuals push the envelope, testing limits and pushing beyond them. Shows on the schedule will aim to reflect that spirit.
A WMPAC press release highlighted several unique shows that children and parents will enjoy, like the “futuristic spectacle” of the Aluminum Show on Jan. 31. “It’s a tour de force that combines movement, dance, visual theater, and plenty of humor to tell the story of an astronaut’s journey to a parallel universe where everything is made of aluminum,” the release stated.
WMPAC also encourages families to attend the Step Afrika! performance on March 22, a group that has performed in 60 countries including multiple shows at the White House. The release described a style of dance that “draws on African rhythms and explosive footwork for a bloodpumping spectacle.”
The series begins Friday, Dec. 27 with Broadway’s Next Hit Musical, followed by standup comedian Aparna Nancherla on Jan. 5, revered contemporary mariachi group Mariachi Herencia de México on Jan. 25, a display of “the world’s best guitar talent” at International Guitar Night on Feb. 19, two nights of “mind-bending” magic and puzzles with New York Times crossword puzzle creator and “Enigmatist” David Kwong on March 1 and 2, and piano savants Anderson & Roe on March 15.
Toward the end of the season on March 8, James Sewell Ballet will give a farewell performance after more than a decade sharing their “irreverent humor and precise artistry” on the WMPAC stage, the release added.
Also noteworthy, on Feb. 8, WMPAC will host an especially unique act—John Zirkle, WMPAC executive director, stated in the release that he’s especially excited for the BATSU! show.
“I’m invested in all our performers, obviously but BATSU! is the first performance of its kind we’ve ever hosted,” Zirkle stated. BATSU! is a take on a Japanese style of comedy known as a batsu game, where comedians compete in various challenges and losers receive punishments such as electric shocks, paintballs, a giant egg-smashing chicken and other hilarious and unexpected consequences, according to the release.
“It’s going to be a really fun night with friends, and part of what makes it so fun is that it’s completely unexpected,” Zirkle stated.
The show exemplifies WMPAC’s Beyond Bounds theme. Communications manager Rikki Wommack explained the theme in a follow up email to EBS.
“This year, as every year, WMPAC is proud to present artistic experiences that mirror the Big Sky spirit of expanding beyond the expected and adventuring beyond bounds,” Wommack wrote.
Tickets are available online, with early season rates until Dec. 15 and discounts for bulk packages.
EBS STAFF
The Aluminum Show is a family-friendly event scheduled as part of WMPAC’s 2025 winter series. COURTESY OF WMPAC
Anderson & Roe (left) and Step Afrika! PHOTOS COURTESY OF WMPAC
BIG SKY EVENTS CALENDAR
Thursday, Nov. 28 – Wednesday, Dec. 11
If your next event falls between Dec. 12 – Dec. 25 please submit it to explorebigsky.com/calendar-event-form by Dec. 20
THURSDAY, NOV. 28
In Gratitude Santosha Wellness Center, 9 a.m.
Thanksgiving Feast Montage Big Sky, 12 p.m.
FRIDAY, NOV. 29
Annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony Montage Big Sky, 4 p.m.
SATURDAY, NOV. 30
Small Business Saturday Santosha Wellness Center, 9 a.m.
School Theatre: Estella Scrooge WMPAC, 6:30 p.m.
DJ Jenn N Juice Tips Up, 10 p.m.
SUNDAY, DEC. 1
St. Joseph Mass Big Sky Chapel, 8 a.m.
All Saints in Big Sky Worship Big Sky Chapel, 10 a.m.
Big Sky Christian Fellowship Worship Big Sky Chapel, 4:30 p.m.
Family Flow Santosha Wellness Center, 5:30 p.m.
Pride for your Ski Gear Gallatin Alpine Sports, 7 p.m.
MONDAY, DEC. 2
Inaugural Montana Teen Wellness Expo Norm Asbjornson Hall (Bozeman), 4 p.m.
TUESDAY, DEC. 3
Stories Beyond Borders Midtown Event Space (Bozeman), 6 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 4
Winter Coat Distribution Day The Wilson Hotel, 1 p.m.
Community Art Class: Acrylic Painting BASE Arts Council Studio, 6 p.m.
Trivia The Waypoint, 7 p.m.
THURSDAY, DEC. 5
Wellness Fair BASE, 9 a.m.
Arts Council Madrigal Dinner Big Sky Resort, 5 p.m.
FRIDAY, DEC. 6
Her Gift, Her Creation WMPAC, 6 p.m.
Harry Potter Fest: The Sorcerers’s Stone The Waypoint, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, DEC. 7
Harry Potter Fest: The Chamber of Secrets The Waypoint, 7 p.m.
SUNDAY, DEC. 8
St. Joseph Mass Big Sky Chapel, 8 a.m.
All Saints in Big Sky Worship Big Sky Chapel, 10 a.m.
Big Sky Christian Fellowship Worship Big Sky Chapel, 4:30 p.m.
Harry Potter Fest: Prisoner of Azkaban The Waypoint, 7 p.m.
MONDAY, DEC. 9
Harry Potter Fest: The Goblet of Fire The Waypoint, 7 p.m.
TUESDAY, DEC. 10
Chamber Board Meeting Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, 9 a.m.
Best of Big Sky Awards The Waypoint, 4:30 p.m.
Harry Potter Fest: The Order of the Phoenix The Waypoint, 7 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 11
Visit Big Sky Marketing Luncheon The Wilson Hotel, 9 a.m.
Community Art Class: Resin Ornaments BASE Arts Council Studio, 6 p.m.
Trivia The Waypoint, 7 p.m.
Harry Potter Fest: The Half-Blood Prince The Waypoint, 7 p.m.
FEATURED EVENT:
Dec. 4: Coat Distribution Day The Wilson Hotel, 9 a.m.
Until Nov. 30, drop off lightly worn, clean and warm coats at First Security Bank, American Bank and BASE for the Big Sky Collaborative Coat Drive. On Dec. 4, coats will be distributed, one for each person in need of a warm jacket this season.
ADOBE STOCK PHOTO
A LA CARTE THE BIG DUMPLING DINING
BY RACHEL HERGETT EBS COLUMNIST
Picture a classic American holiday table. In my mind and memory, this table has turkey or ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams, stuffing, rolls, my beloved green bean casserole and cranberry sauce. For most, that is a full table. But on my dad’s side of the family, no holiday meal is complete without the dumpling, the BIG dumpling.
The big dumpling is a round, bread-loaf sized hunk of slightly sweet dough with raisins that is wrapped in a cloth and boiled. I’d say the result is like a dense raisin bread, but there is no cinnamon or spice. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Dumplings, according to most sources, are small lumps of boiled or steamed dough. Small. So is the dumpling a misnomer and a mystery? How has this odd dish become a family staple?
The week before Thanksgiving, I decided to investigate. I called my aunt Jeannie, the current keeper of the big dumpling.
In all my young years, the making of the big dumpling was the responsibility of my grandma Dora, who would rush home from church services to boil the dumpling before making her way to the family farm for an early afternoon holiday meal.
“I honestly don’t know how she did it,” said Jeannie, who was handed the job because she didn’t go to the church services and thus had more time. She’s responsible for making sure the big dumpling makes it to the table. She’s the one with the recipe.
“Don’t give her that,” my uncle Gus joked in the background of our call when I started asking questions. “It’s a secret!”
Just because it’s a tradition, doesn’t make it a secret, I told him. Honestly, I have a bit of a laissezfaire attitude about the big dumpling. I’ll have a slice if it’s on offer, but am not sad if it’s not. The other side of my family has no such dish. But not everyone shares this sentiment. On one large family Thanksgiving, one of my dad’s cousins raged because my grandma had put dried cranberries in the big dumpling because she was out of raisins and most people smother the thing in cranberry sauce anyway. This, he said, was not the family’s big dumpling.
Jeannie and I spent hours on the phone, catching up on the family gossip and scouring the internet for similar dishes. The big dumpling recipe, as Jeannie had copied onto a sheet of lined paper, says the recipe is from one Minna Thormahlen, my great-great-grandmother. That side of the family is 100% German, ethnically. I used that as a clue, searching for “German sweet dumplings” and came up with the German dampfnudel and Austrian Germknödel, but those doughs include yeast.
Next, I turned to England, where a “pudding” is really a dense steamed or boiled dessert. The big dumpling is also similar to some English staples like spotted dick—yes, that’s a dish—and Christmas pudding, but those are made with suet instead of butter.
Scotland’s clootie dumplings are also made with suet, but led me to start thinking about the containers. A “clootie” is a cloth. Like the big dumpling, clootie dumplings are wrapped in cloth and boiled, whereas most British puddings seem to be steamed in a bowl. This too, was a dead end. According to historian Andrea Broomfield’s “Food and Cooking in Victorian England,” the English Christmas pudding was also boiled in a cloth prior to the 19th century. They even call it a pudding cloth.
While I was now armed with more knowledge about steamed and boiled puddings, the big dumpling’s origins remained elusive. So I reached out to my grandpa in Billings to see if he could provide insight. From the very first holiday he spent with his wife’s family, the dumpling was on their
table. Because of this consistency, he remembers asking his mother if she knew of any similar German dish. She did not.
Next, I tried my great aunt Diane in Belfry, who answered from the middle of the fields on the family farm that hosts many a holiday. My grandma’s younger sister told the same story: There has simply always been a big dumpling.
I was going to try to make one to illustrate this story, but I worry that the action would make me the next in line to be the dumpling keeper. For me, the big dumpling is more about nostalgia than flavor. As the world moves at breakneck speed and everything around us changes, traditions like these tend to be grounding. We hold on to them tightly, even if their origins remain a mystery.
Rachel Hergett is a foodie and cook from Montana. She is arts editor emeritus at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and has written for publications such as Food Network Magazine and Montana Quarterly. Rachel is also the host of the Magic Monday Show on KGLT-FM and teaches at Montana State University.
BIG DUMPLING RECIPE (GRANDMA MINNA THORMAHLEN)
Cream together:
½ c. sugar
Butter the size of a walnut
Add 3 eggs one at a time and beat well.
Then add 2 c. milk (rich)
Stir in dry ingredients:
4 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
When mixed, add 1 c. raisins that have been coated in flour.
Take a new sack cloth. Make wet in boiling water. Pour dough on wet cloth and tie loose 1 inch from dough.
Put in big kettle half full of boiling water. Boil 60 minutes.
The big dumpling is featured in slices on the right, from 2018 Christmas. PHOTO BY RACHEL HERGETT
ASK: LONE MOUNTAIN LAND COMPANY
When is the new One&Only Resort expected to open?
The One&Only Ski Lodge will open its doors to the public on December 12th welcoming skiers, diners, and après enthusiasts. The Landing at the Ski Lodge will offer lunch, après, and dinner service Thursday through Sunday and holiday weeks through the winter season. The rest of the One&Only Resort is still on schedule to open in 2025. Additionally, the new Madison 8 chairlift with high-speed access to and from the Madison Base Village is scheduled to open in late December with the One&Only Gondola grand opening on December 20th.
What is the Upper Whitefish development plan and timeframe?
This development plan is a natural extension of the South Fork neighborhood on Upper Whitefish Drive. There are 26 low-density single-family lots planned in total, which is a density reduction of 67% down from the 78 units allowed per zoning. The plan includes 3,350 feet of connected public trails with approximately 25% or 3.46 acres of the site designated as park and open space. Infrastructure was started this fall and is anticipated to be completed next summer. QR code to the article is to the left.
What efforts has LMLC done to help address the transportation challenges between Bozeman and Big Sky?
LMLC recognizes the transportation challenges and traffic are a major ongoing issue in Big Sky. For the last two years, LMLC has been working collaboratively with the Big Sky Transportation District (BSTD) to help the district develop a long-term strategic plan that will more than double the current level of public transit service in Big Sky. This strategic plan was adopted by the BSTD Board of Directors in January of 2024. LMLC funded the consultants who collaborated with the district to develop the plan, and we will continue our partnership to implement the outlined strategies.
LMLC will continue to be a committed partner with BSTD into the future, as recommendations from the plan will guide BSTD’s growth and investment over the coming five years. The BSTD’s Five Year Strategic Plan can be found at the Skyline website and the QR code: https:// skylinebus.com/info/documents.
BSTD’S FIVE YEAR PLAN UPPER WHITEFISH
BUSINESS
EMBRACING THE FUTURE: A MESSAGE FROM TROY NEDVED
BY TROY NEDVED GUEST COLUMNIST
When I first joined Big Sky Resort in 1996—the year we installed the Swift Current quad—I couldn’t have imagined the remarkable journey ahead. Now, as we prepare for another winter season, I’m struck not only by how far we’ve come, but by the boundless possibilities that lie before us.
First and foremost, I want to express my deepest gratitude to Taylor Middleton. His extraordinary 43-year tenure has been instrumental in transforming Big Sky from a hidden gem into a world-class destination. As I step into the roles of COO and president, I’m both humbled and energized to build upon Taylor’s remarkable legacy and our shared vision: to lead the transformation of the American mountain resort experience.
When we launched Big Sky 2025 nine years ago, we set forth what seemed like an audaciously ambitious plan to elevate Big Sky into the ranks of world-class resorts. Looking back, I’m proud to say we haven’t just met those goals—we’ve surpassed even our boldest expectations. The completion of 12 lift projects stands as a testament to this progress,
with Madison 8 on track to open in December. Our 13th, the state-of-the-art Explorer Gondola, is set to debut next year, marking another milestone in our resort’s evolution.
Yet in the midst of these major investments, we recognize that sometimes it’s the thoughtful refinements that most enhance our guests’ daily experience. This season, we’re excited to announce the expansion of ski access on Hangman’s, creating a dedicated public lane for days that Big Sky Ski Education Foundation may be training or hosting races.
Investment in world-class snow conditions remains at the heart of our commitment to excellence. This summer marked a major expansion of our snowmaking infrastructure, with new high-efficiency systems now extending to both Hangman’s and the Calamity Jane headwall. These strategic improvements don’t just guarantee better early-season coverage—they ensure more reliable access to these beloved runs throughout the season. Our modernized snowmaking system represents the intersection of sustainability and performance, using less energy while producing more snow, exactly where and when we need it.
In what I consider our most significant achievement this year, we’ve reached a transformative milestone in our commitment to the people who make
Big Sky exceptional. Our team member housing capacity now exceeds 1,000 beds—a benchmark that few mountain resorts have achieved. This investment goes far beyond providing shelter; it’s about creating a true mountain community where our team members can live, thrive, and build lasting careers. By offering affordable, quality housing in one of the country’s most challenging real estate markets, we’re ensuring that the passionate individuals who create the Big Sky experience can be fully part of the community they serve. This commitment to our team directly translates to the consistent, high-quality service our guests have come to expect, while fostering the authentic mountain culture that makes Big Sky unique.
As we look toward our next half-century, I’m filled with unwavering optimism. The spirit of community that first drew me to Big Sky remains our greatest asset and differentiator. While we may now ride slightly warmer and faster chairlifts than we did in 1996, the genuine warmth and camaraderie that makes this place extraordinary continues to flourish.
Here’s to another phenomenal season in this remarkable place we all call home. May your turns be endless, your powder days abundant, and your mountain memories unforgettable!
Troy Nedved is Big Sky Resort’s president and chief operating officer.
Nedved (left) and former president and COO Taylor Middleton at the 2023 opening ceremony for the Lone Peak Tram. COURTESY OF BIG SKY RESORT
GNFAC: EARLY SEASON SNOW— FRIEND OR FOE? ENVIRONMENT
BY IAN HOYER EBS COLUMNIST
The snow is here! There’s snow on the ground in November. It’s deep enough that we’re already starting to ski and ride— admittedly, very cautiously. Especially after last season’s slow start, this winter is off to a great beginning. Right?
Well, although we’re as excited as anyone else to start recreating on snow, as avalanche forecasters, snow on the ground early in the fall makes us nervous about the season to come.
Thin snowpacks can change really quickly and often for the worse. Just a couple days of really cold temperatures can turn all the snow on the ground into a weak, sugary, non-cohesive type of snow known as facets. The thinner the snowpack, the faster that faceting happens. Once these facets
form, they can plague us for the entire winter season. Last year, avalanches broke on these weak layers through the whole winter and into the spring. The last avalanche was triggered on these early season weak layers at the end of March—taking out the entire snowpack and requiring a helicopter evaluation of the victim. A thin snowpack and cold temperatures combine to make the perfect recipe for forming these weak layers.
While seemingly a bummer for snowsports enthusiasts, a long, dry fall can actually be perfect to lay the foundation for a safe winter of recreating. The later snow starts falling, the more likely it is going to continue snowing after it starts, rather than having a cold and dry spell to weaken the snowpack while it is still really thin.
A thick, deep snowpack is the ideal outcome for both riding and for avalanche stability. What we hope for is that once it starts snowing, it just doesn’t stop. Once the snow is more than a couple feet deep, the faceting—weakening—process happens much more slowly. Weak layers can still form in a
deep snowpack, but they generally form at the surface and are not as troublesome for as long.
With all this said, we don’t have any control over the weather. All we can do is make the best ofwhat is given to us. If there is snow on the ground, go enjoy it! Just be careful of early season hazards (rocks, stumps, etc.) and remember that if there is enough snow to ride, there is enough snow to slide (avalanche).
Hopefully the snow will keep coming and we’ll have a long, deep, stable season ahead of us! But even if things go wrong and we end up dealing with a nasty weak layer at the base of the snowpack, there will still be plenty of fun to be had on lowangled slopes.
Stay tuned to the daily avalanche forecast at www. mtavalanche.com for the most current avalanche conditions as the season gets going. Let it snow!
Ian Hoyer is an avalanche forecaster with the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center.
Big Sky
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This is a perfect Meadow Village condo, with the largest floor plan in the only 4-plex in the Morning Sun Condos. 1-car attached garage.
1 BED, 1 BATH | 440 SQ FT
The perfect location in the Hill condos. This ground floor, corner unit is in the St. Mortiz building, furthest to the SW for views and privacy. MLS# 393897 | $435,000
21 Sitting Bull Road #1187, Big Sky
DISPATCHES FROM THE WILD: THE STATE OF WYOMING SELLS OFF LAND TO THE FEDS
EFFORT SAVES OPEN SPACE FROM DEVELOPMENT, BENEFITS WILDLIFE HABITAT AND RECREATION
BY BENJAMIN ALVA POLLEY EBS COLUMNIST
On Nov. 7, the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners voted 3-2 to sell a 640-acre Kelly Parcel of state land to Grand Teton National Park for $100 million. The sale will fund Wyoming public schools, and the land will benefit locals, tourists, and wildlife.
This parcel of land furnishes year-round habitat for bison, elk, moose and migrating mule deer and is along the Path of the Pronghorn, where antelope pass on their migration routes between summer and winter range. The land provides excellent habitat and recreation opportunities for locals and travelers alike.
The U.S. Department of the Interior is a willing buyer of Kelly Parcel. Selling the land to the national park keeps the land accessible to the
public, provides a financial legacy for Wyoming schools, preserves vital wildlife habitat, and ensures Americans enjoy unparalleled views and recreation opportunities for future generations.
The sale of this property follows years of conversations between Wyoming’s Board of Land Commissioners and Grand Teton National Park. Over the past dozen years, the board has sold three parcels to the Department of the Interior adjacent to the park, including Jackson Lake Parcel, Snake River Parcel and Antelope Flats Parcel for about $62 million in total.
The state of Wyoming has owned the Kelly Parcel since its establishment in 1890. However, it has only been part of Grand Teton since the park expanded in 1950. This parcel is state trust land, and the state constitution requires that assets from state trust lands generate income for public schools.
The sale of this land is a win-win situation for the national park, tourists, wildlife and Wyoming’s school system. Many people in Wyoming and
Why not open it up to development since the feds own 49.19% of the land within Wyoming borders? But on the other hand, why spoil a pristine place with breathtaking views and cover it with pavement when other beings besides humans will benefit from the land’s conservation?
Thousands of Wyomingites made their voices heard in favor of protecting open space, habitat, wildlife migration corridors, agriculture and hunting opportunities by including this parcel in Grand Teton National Park. Residents voted to save this piece of land, keep it free from development, and open it to various recreational opportunities. The government paid attention and now everybody wins.
Benjamin Alva Polley is a place-based storyteller. His stories have been published in Audubon, Esquire, Field & Stream, The Guardian, Outside, Popular Science, Sierra, and other publications on his website. He holds a master’s in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Journalism from the University of Montana.
500 years ago, at least 30 million bison roamed the plains. That number is now less than 30,000. The depletion of free range bison has been attributed to:
•Decades of over-exploitation
•Decline in genetic diversity
•Habitat loss
•Human Interaction
Yellowstone National Park boasts the nation's largest free range buffalo herd, but only two others remain - the Henry’s Mountains and Book Cliffs herds, both in southern Utah.
American Bison // Bison bison
M A R K E T I N G & T O U R I S M
December 10th
The Wilson Hotel Ballroom | 9AM - 12PM
Connect with local businesses, tourism professionals, and community members as we dive into Big Sky’s tourism landscape. Enjoy a delicious brunch while gaining valuable insights into the latest developments, marketing updates, strategies, and data trends.
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LETS TALK ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH A BREATH OF FALL
BY NELSON VANTASSEL GUEST COLUMNIST
I awoke one morning not too long ago, feeling the full weight of fall. I was burnt out, depressed and simply did not want to get out of bed. I found myself placing my hands over my heart space and taking a large inhale, eyes closed, followed by a long exhale, an intentional smile, and the barely audible words, “I love you, Nelly.” It’s my mantra to start every day and often to get through most days in the fall.
Fall has always been a very difficult season for me. I have lost friends in the fall, gone through breakups, and historically I become very depressed. This year I wanted to try something new. Like many of you reading this, I have wished away many a fall craving the sensation of once again sliding down frozen water with my friends or grinning ear to ear as I receive the first divine facial covering of cold smoke powder. This year I wanted something different. I wanted to further engage in a newer activity and try to be more aware of the present and my accompanying breath.
As I prepared for hunting season and started to say goodbye to boating and biking season, I started to feel the all-too-familiar sadness, anxiety and lack of capacity creep in. I had hoped that learning to shoot my bow and the time scouting would pay off, but not in the ways one might think. Honestly, I have not enjoyed hunting much in the past. It is a lot of hiking, and I hate hiking. The process of filling my freezer and feeding myself, friends and family is very spiritual for me and in that, taking another being’s life is not necessarily something I look forward to.
Going into this season with a different mindset I found myself connecting to my breath like never before. Stopping and reminding myself how much I love myself during a prolonged exhale while standing atop a mountain. A heightened awareness of the present helped me realize just how thankful I really am for the spaces I am capable of occupying. Looking across a valley I had gazed upon hundreds of times before, I noticed features I had been oblivious to before, and this time, they brought a smile to my face. As the fall continued on, I found myself in the uncomfortable spaces I have in seasons past, but this year, even with major loss and mourning, I found it not to be as sharp. I had something to look forward to, prepare for, and when even that was not enough to fend off the sadness, I found myself connecting to my breath more than ever before. This fall I started to learn to sit in the moment and control one of the few things I can actually control: my breath and the connection to it.
In the past two years I have just started to learn the power of breath. I already knew very well how each breath brought oxygen in to bind to hemoglobin, the oxygen carrier for our body. Which then in turn delivers oxygen to every one of our oxygen-starved cells in the body. More recently I have begun to learn firsthand the less obvious—but still nearly as critical—power the breath possesses to ground and redirect. I have started to learn that through breath I can stop a negative thought cycle and redirect to the present, to reality. When anxious, feeling the weight of the world, and overwhelmed, feeling that I can barely handle another moment, my breath can calm my nervous system, redirect my thoughts, and bring me back to a functioning space.
By no means am I telling everyone to start hunting. I do ask each of us to find something new to try next fall. A dear friend told me, “When the world is too scary, too loud, too much: stop consuming, start creating.” Learn how to knit, start drawing, learn a new language, start hunting, start climbing
at BASE, ask your neighbor to go for a weekly walk—the options are endless, but I encourage us to create and engage with our breath, one of the few things we can truly control.
As we head into winter and once again get back to skiing, snowboarding, monoskiing, blading and the like, I ask us to sit with ourselves in reflection. I encourage you to reflect on this past fall with love and kindness and ask yourself how you did. Did you distract, numb, turn to coping mechanisms you know to be unhealthy? Where did you succeed? In what areas can you be proud of yourself? In our reflection my hope is that we can see areas to improve, things we are proud of, and healthier coping mechanisms for next fall or even practices we can begin to implement immediately so when things are difficult again, they are already a part of our routines. I hope you can connect to your breath and find space to simply be as we continue to wait for winter to fully pick us up in her loving embrace.
In this beautiful community we have a plethora of resources available for mental health! In direct relation to what I have written about, Santosha Wellness Center has offered breathwork practices, and any yoga class they offer will bring awareness to one’s breath. Wellness In Action is hosting a grief group on Wednesday evenings through Dec. 11 from 6 to 7 p.m. at their office. Monthly Holistic Emotional First Aid circles are offered at Moving Mountains from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m., and the next sessions will be Dec. 17 and Jan. 28. Wellness in Action also offers counseling from many different counselors, and they also offer scholarships and sliding scale payment.
Nelson VanTassel is passionate about mental health and the Big Sky community. He works as a ski patroller at Big Sky Resort and can be found skiing or snowboarding almost every day. He builds houses in the summer, spending as much time as possible on his bike or on the river.
Leaves turn in October at Spanish Creek in the Gallatin Canyon. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
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40± acre alpine meadow overlooking the Gallatin Canyon, outstanding views of the Spanish Peaks and Lone Mountain. Two adjacent 40± acre properties, designated building sites, end of the road privacy easy all season access. Close to Ophir School and the West Gallatin River.
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Big Sky
Enjoy privacy and outstanding views of Lone Peak from this beautiful Skywood Preserve property. Rolling forested hills combined with a grassy alpine meadow complete with a small natural pond create a beautiful 21± acre parcel, just minutes from Town Center or Meadow Village.
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Big Sky
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BACK 40
THE LAST BEST RIVALRY IN THE WEST
BY JACK MARSHALL III
This story originally appeared in the winter 2023 issue of Mountain Outlaw.
It’s a crisp November day in Bozeman, the kind that usually draws attention to the snow-dusted peaks and last golden leaves of autumn, but not today. Today’s spectacle is concentrated on Montana State University’s campus, where ESPN’s College GameDay, college football’s premier gameday show, is broadcasting one of the oldest rivalries west of the Mississippi, between the Montana State Bobcats and the University of Montana Grizzlies.
Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard and other college football celebrities are in Big Sky Country. “Today nothing matters more than taking Montana to the train station,” Davis bellows.
A brackish sea of maroon knit hats and blueand-gold jackets floods the area around Montana State’s Bobcat Stadium. The excitement of any football Saturday is ballooned by not only the intense rivalry but also that it will be showcased on national TV for three hours. The heat of the competition is as palpable as the near-zero-degree temps; it’s the coldest College GameDay on record. A crowd of more than 22,000 exhausted every last ounce of spirit in the stands, seeing the Bobcats to a 55-21 victory against the Grizzlies, a game that will be remembered for years.
What nearly 2.2 million people nationwide saw during that 2022 College GameDay broadcast is something that Montanans have long honored, from the sparsely populated rural farm towns to the bustling streets of the Bobcats and Grizzlies home dens in Bozeman and Missoula. It’s the Brawl of the Wild—the last-best rivalry in the West.
The rivalry dates back to 1897, less than 10 years after Montana became a state. At that point in time, the forward pass wasn’t even allowed in football. For more than two decades the annual football game was played in Butte in an event known as the Copper Bowl, but since 1952, the two schools have alternated hosting the brawl. While each school’s stadiums have grown over the years, the game regularly sets attendance records; when the teams play in Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, it becomes the seventh largest town in the state.
Scott Hirschi is a lifelong Montana fan who witnessed much of the rivals’ story, including when his beloved Grizzlies won 16 games in a row against “the neighbors,” as he calls the Bobcats. During that streak in the late ’90s, Hirschi was a radio host in Missoula and he devised a song known as “The Bobcats Suck Polka,” which he distributed via CDs. Eventually he led the University of Montana marching band in a live performance of the jingle.
“Why’s there a cow at every Bobcat wedding ceremony?” the polka jokes. “To keep the flies off the bride.”
“I think it’s one of the best,” Hirschi said of the rivalry. “My theory is that all the best rivalries are based on hatred.”
The physical manifestation of the Cat-Griz (or Griz-Cat if you’re petty enough) rivalry is the glorious Great Divide Trophy. Modeled after Bear Mountain on Homestake Pass, it was introduced in 2001 and is proudly housed on the campus of the winning school until the next game. This only adds to the already robust bragging rights, as the winning school can parade it around whenever it wants, including using it for recruiting photo shoots and fan photo opportunities. As if the symbolic weight of the trophy isn’t enough, this thing is massive. Montana football players weighed it in 2022, revealing the prize at a whopping 306 pounds. The trophy is usually brought into the stadium for each brawl in the bed of a truck, and upon victory, the linemen are often the team members parading it triumphantly. It’s meant to take up space, emblematic of the spirit of Montana.
Also true to Montana is the small-town camaraderie that keeps the rivalry fun amongst fans, players and coaches. Perhaps such culture is instilled by home state players like Bobcat tight end Treyton Pickering, who played sixman football in the (way) northern Montana farming town of Sunburst, or Griz lineman Sloan McPherson, who hails from the beet-growing town of Savage along the Yellowstone River. In these towns, which are closer to Canada and North Dakota, respectively, than they are to either Bozeman or Missoula, family and community
For Explore Big Sky, the Back 40 is a resource: a place where we can delve into subjects and ask experts to share their knowledge. Here, we highlight stories from our flagship sister publication Mountain Outlaw magazine.
Noun: wild or rough terrain adjacent to a developed area Origin: shortened form of “back 40 acres”
University of Montana Grizzly defender lunges for Montana State Bobcat quarterback Tommy Mellott in the 2022 Brawl of the Wild. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY
members still celebrate Saturdays in the fall getting decked out in Cat or Griz gear.
“These are local kids playing for local colleges and I think you know, win or lose, the winners get to say ‘I made the right choice’,” said Bozeman resident Dale Palmer, a Bobcat season ticket holder of 20-plus years and religious tailgater.
Cat and Griz players may also count themselves lucky for signing on to Division I institutions still bound to their traditions, while other famous rivalries in the West take new forms. Oregon and Washington just abandoned their in-state rivals in the PAC-12 to go play in the Big 10. Now the only option for those once-beloved rival games is in the early fall. There’s no more snowstorm Apple Cup that will determine a bowl game, or an Oregon rivalry that gives bragging rights heading into the postseason.
But in Montana, the Brawl of the Wild is still a pedestal game, the last of the season without exception. Every year, the game still has to kick off at noon so fans can drive home safely, some traveling several hours across the sagebrush land and mountain passes that Montana boasts. Don’t be fooled though—the spirit of the rivalry isn’t just contained to the November football game.
“Everybody focuses on the football game, but you talk to volleyball players, you talk to basketball
players, they want to beat the Griz or Cats just as much as the football team does,” Palmer said.
Both men and women Cats and Griz face off on the basketball court twice each season, usually yielding the most attended games of the season. The duel plays out in track, cross country, tennis and just about any other match-up between the two schools you can imagine.
Similar to the Great Divide trophy in football, the Main Line trophy in volleyball is yet another physical manifestation of the brawl. In the last two seasons, both Montana State and Montana have set individual school volleyball attendance records, and during the 2022 season, MSU set the Big Sky Conference volleyball attendance record in the rivalry match.
College sports are increasingly changing, but the Brawl of the Wild is steadfast. That’s what makes Montana and its flagship rivalry special. As long as the sun sets over the Treasure State, Montanans will always tune in to the last best rivalry in the West.
Jack Marshall is a born and raised Montanan who grew up skiing at Bridger Bowl and watching Bobcat football games. He attended the University of Montana and now works as a sports reporter in the state.
University of Montana Grizzlies hoist The Great Divide trophy in celebration after winning the 2023 Brawl of the Wild in Missoula. PHOTO BY BELLA BUTLER
2024 Gift & Gear Guide
Looking for the perfect gift for the outdoor enthusiast in your life? Our local gift and gear guide has something for everyone, from top-notch products that support local businesses and stocking stuffers, to sturdy mountain-tested gear for your off-piste adventures. Peek inside for incredible RegenMarket meat for your next family gathering, complete with tried-and-true recipes, to a handcrafted Santoku knife from NewWest Knifeworks, a trip to Turks and Caicaos with Seven Stars, or heated socks and gloves by Thaw Gear to keep your fingers and toes warm, found locally at Big Sky ACE Hardware.
This guide is your one-stop shop for thoughtful, locally-sourced gifts that will inspire your loved ones to get outside and make the most of every adventure. Happy holidays!
– The Editors
Scan to start shopping online!
LMNT
I’M GENUINELY HOOKED.
BY JACK REANEY
When I first tasted LMNT in the summer of 2021, the intense flavor was surprising and not enjoyable. But I knew these folks were on to something—my peers in the fitness world, especially endurance athletes, had been talking about the benefits of salt in the diet. I realized that my performance and recovery was improving significantly when I drank LMNT during or after workouts, and I also trusted what I was putting in my body. Salt is the headliner, but potassium and magnesium are a nice bonus.
I also feel benefits in my brain: in the earlyafternoon doldrums, I feel that LMNT gives me a more sustainable pick-me-up better than any caffeine. LMNT sharpens my mind.
Here’s the secret to taste: although LMNT recommends one pouch per 16 to 32 ounces of water, I think anything under 32 ounces is a little too strong. I aim for at least 32 ounces, nearly one liter of water—it not only dilutes the strong saltiness, but it spreads out the hydration over more sips.
Finally, I was intrigued when LMNT released its aluminum can holding a slightly carbonated sports
drink. Not only is aluminum highly recyclable, I found the can to be portable and convenient for certain activities. And again, I thought the carbonation tasted odd at first, but I eventually found myself reaching for more.
In my apartment, I still have a few tubes full of Nuun, an electrolyte tablet competitor. I purchased them years ago amid my years of loyalty to that brand. Now I simply prefer LMNT for its taste and effects, and if you’re an athlete, I think you will too.
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LONE PEAK CANNABIS COMPANY
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MT Kush Pre-Rolls
A sativa that is both relaxing and energizing. Watch your dosage or it can be couch-lock time, but with proper usage can keep you feeling happy all day long. Great for body pain! Very mellow, yet powerful and long lasting.
CLEAR Disposable Live Rosin
This perfectly light golden honey rosin serves up a balanced and interesting blend of grapefruit citrus-earthiness without the cloying sweetness of some strains. Its effects range from engaged to fuzzy depending on the dose. Unless you’re looking for an extremely specific effect or flavor profile, you can’t go wrong grabbing one of these
half gram carts. It’s smooth and clean, which in addition to generally better flavors and highs is why it’s always worth it to cough up the money for a rosin vape. The cartridge itself looks like ceramic which is always a plus and certainly lends itself to a better experience throughout the cartridge in my experience with disposables.
Smokiez: Sour Watermelon Gummies
Based on the effects I experienced across multiple times of day, it’s likely to be more firmly in the middle of the hybrid continuum for many people. That said, if you want to get lit, you won’t have to work terribly hard to accomplish the mission. Its effects for me ranged from mentally engaging and even introspective on the small dose side all the way to a pronounced yet relaxed fuzziness when I took a few chews. If you’re looking for a highquality edible to take the edge off, that won’t leave you mentally bereft of common sense (unless you really go to town on it) that has great flavor, you should definitely grab a pack of Smokiez Edibles. Visit lonepeakcannabiscompany.com
REGENMARKET
STANDING RIB ROAST (BONE-IN PRIME RIB)
12 HOURS IN ADVANCE OF COOKING
1 tsp coarse salt per pound 1/2 tsp coarse black pepper per pound 1-2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• Spread over all sides of rib roast including bone side
• Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate (at least 8 hours, no more than 12)
2 HOURS IN ADVANCE COOKING
• Remove rib roast from refrigerator and let come to room temperature
COOKING
• Preheat oven to 425F
• Place rib roast on rack in roasting pan, rib side down/fat side up
• Insert oven safe thermometer, careful to not touch bones
• Cook for 30 minutes
• Drop oven to 375F
• Baste with pan juices and continue cooking until thermometer reads 120F for rare or 125F for medium-rare (approx. 1 – 1 ½ hours / time will vary depending on size of roast)
• Remove from oven and put roast on large rimmed cutting board
• Tent loosely with foil and let rest 20 minutes
HORSERADISH SAUCE
1 cup sour cream
2 tbls prepared horseradish
2 tbls chopped chives
Pinch of salt
• Combine well and serve in individual ramekins or serving dish
BIG
SKY BUSINESS IS A WINWIN FOR CUSTOMERS AND MONTANA RANCHERS!
BY SARA SIPE
Get ready for the holiday season by ordering from RegenMarket now. They offer a huge variety of ultra-high quality, Montana raised meats that can be delivered directly to your doorstep or shipped across the country. They are based in Big Sky and value relationships with their local customers and Montana ranchers.
Before getting ready to prepare items for this review, I visited their website, which states, “All RegenMarket products are produced using regenerative agriculture practices, which forms the base of the food chain for humans and land animals, ensuring the highest level of quality nutrients in your food.” That sounds good, right? But what does that mean? It means that RegenMarket’s focus is on the food the animals eat, caring for the land, and elevating relationships with Montana ranchers. What I really hoped is that
would translate into a delicious holiday meal for my friends and family. And boy did it ever!!
I prepared a standing rib roast for a “mock” Christmas. The smell in the house was enough to bring the neighbors over. I used a simple dry brine and herbs. I wanted to make sure the flavor of the meat stood on its own and wasn’t masked by too many strong flavors or spices. What we ended up with was a perfectly cooked, medium-rare, bone-in prime rib that was absolutely delicious. It was tender and flavorful. I served it alongside a horseradish sauce, spicy creamed spinach, and roasted new potatoes. It was a huge hit with my guests!
The next product I tackled was RegenMarket’s half ham offering. This is a foolproof product that takes very little effort but yields great results. This is precooked so getting it on the table is hassle free and doesn’t take long. I did a simple brown sugar, orange soda, and clove glaze and served it alongside roasted carrots and mashed potatoes. This would be perfect for any end-of-year holiday gathering or special occasion. In addition to being so easy to prepare, the leftovers were put to good use as part of a morning eggs benedict and in an au gratin potato casserole.
HALF HAM (COMES FULLY COOKED)
COOKING
• Preheat oven to 325F
• Place ham on rack in roasting pan, bone up/flat side down
• Pour 1 cup of water into bottom of the pan and cover in tinfoil
• Cook for 8 minutes per pound
• Remove from oven
• Remove tin foil and baste with glaze and pan juices
• Return to oven - uncovered
• Continue basting every 5 minutes for 20 minutes
• Remove from oven and tent loosely with foil and let rest 15 minutes
GLAZE
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup orange soda
(can substitute orange juice)
1/2 tsp ground clove
Pinch of salt
RegenMarket offers monthly subscription plans for ordering from their entire product offering, as well as special holiday gift boxes. They will deliver locally and are also able to ship throughout the country. The products they offer include beef and bison, pasture-raised pork, poultry, lamb and fish (fish is one of the few items not from Montana). They also offer prepared meals and sides, along with grains, legumes, honey and oils.
PROS: Extremely high quality, regenerative ranching practices, local community focused, great customer service, free monthly trial.
CONS: May be cost prohibitive for some, currently only a monthly subscription option (however, you can sign up for the free trial and then place all your holiday orders).
OVERALL: I highly recommend RegenMarket. This is an incredibly high-quality product line that does not disappoint in the taste department. I love the variety of RegenMarket’s meat offerings, and other specialty products like regional honey and grains. It just feels right to order from a local Big Sky business that is so focused on regenerative ranching practices and collaborating with Montana ranchers. It really is a win-win.
Visit regenmarket.com
SEVEN STARS RESORT & SPA
A TURKS AND CAICOS’ GEM
BY JOSH TIMON
If you had to choose one spot on earth that naturally boasts the quintessential cyan blue, you’d have to be on the beach at Seven Stars Resort in Turks and Caicos. Never have I seen a more perfect hue of the dynamic, turquoise-colored water kissed by the soft, white sand beaches for miles. It gave me pause to think I had the opportunity to walk this path every day for the next week, the exact recharge I had needed.
Our hotel guide was clever to take us to the beach as the first part of our tour, leaving us with that
memory in front of mind. As she took us to the room, we saw the luxurious property from the fifth level, and we were astounded at the perfectly placed deck chairs, various staff tending to guests and quiet hum of festive music playing from the deck bar overlooking the beach. We could not wait to take it all in!
Our room was as luxurious as the rest of the resort: well-appointed; clean; spacious; and modern. I loved having the kitchen to make my morning coffee in the room, laundry to wash swimsuits each night, and the huge patio to sit out and take calls in the shade in the afternoon while watching the waves roll in and out.
We ate at all the restaurants on-site and had great food throughout. I recommend the Greek salad and curried chicken sandwich poolside, the lobster bisque from The Farm, and the grouper at Seven. Many other great restaurants were within walking distance, and we felt safe doing so. A great grocery store is located just across the street.
We went out on a clear bottom kayak excursion one morning, and it was magical. Getting so close to the sea turtles to hear them take a breath for air was unmatched. The people of this island are treasures, and Seven Stars has given us the opportunity to be pampered by them and discover this magical paradise while doing so. Thank you!
Visit sevenstarsgracebay.com
LUCCHESE BOOTS
MAKE A STATEMENT, EMBRACE THE WESTERN SPIRIT
BY JENNY BLUE
Buying a pair of Lucchese boots is a whole experience, not just your average shoe shopping trip. It’s near impossible to just try on one pair of boots, but I ended up purchasing the gorgeous Myrtle boots. Dark blue, lizard skin with various shades of teal leather makes a statement, and the wood bottoms make me feel like a true cowgirl living out West. Whether you want a classic brown boot or something to catch onlookers’ attention, Lucchese boots will always deliver with exceptional customer service and a wide variety of boots in both styles and materials. If you’re looking to truly spoil someone special in your life, take them to experience buying a pair of Lucchese boots. Each and every time I wear mine, I look forward to the day I get to buy my next pair.
Visit lucchese.com or their bozeman location at 131 E Main St.
406 AGAVE
AÑEJO OLD FASHIONED: A TASTE OF MONTANA’S SPIRIT
BY TUCKER HARRIS
Nestled in the heart of Big Sky, Montana, 406 Agave boasts tequilas born of rugged landscapes and artisanal craft. Made by generations-old distillers in Jalisco, Mexico with 100% Blue Weber Agave, the Blanco, Reposado or Añejo tequilas are sure to serve the perfect cocktail this holiday season.
The Añejo Old Fashioned transforms tequila into a cozy, smooth and sophisticated treat. In this cocktail, aged tequila meets a spoonful of agave syrup, plus dashes of orange and Angostura bitters, creating a harmony of smoky and citrusy flavors. Served in a rocks glass over a large ice cube and garnished with orange zest, it’s a cocktail meant to be savored with friends.
The Añejo’s journey from field to bottle echoes in its impeccable quality, meticulously handcrafted in small batches to ensure the smoothest drinking experience. Perfect for gifting or sharing at festive gatherings, it’s more than a drink—it’s a celebration of Montana’s spirit and the joy of the season. Cheers to the holidays with every sip of 406 Agave!
Visit 406agave.com
WILDRYE DISTILLING
APPLE PIE LIQUEUR
BY JEN CLANCEY
Wildrye Distilling accomplished the perfect flavor for fall and the winter months in its Apple Pie Liqueur. While attempts at capturing these flavors in a bottle can teeter into syrupy, oversweetness, Wildrye lands on the warm apple and aromatics smoothly, achieving a not-too-sweet liqueur. The spirit includes
fresh apple cider, spices and Montana honey to create a rich flavor to enjoy in cocktails in the winter.
The Queen Bee Honey Gin also has Montana honey in it, and has a robust, rich flavor. As a person not keen on sipping gin by itself, this one stood out to me. It was warm and smooth. I would describe it as not only pleasant, but fitting of its name, holding a depth from the smidge of honey, and once again, balanced out with spices and a thoughtful process.
Visit wildryedistilling.com or in person at 111 E Oak St #1E, Bozeman.
BIG SKY NATURAL HEALTH
WINTER WELLNESS BOOST
PACKAGE
BY LESLIE KILGORE
For those on the gift list who like to be proactive when it comes to their health and wellness, and especially during the colder months, the Winter Wellness Boost package at Big Sky Natural Health is the perfect stocking stuffer.
The package includes a series of three vitamin shots taken 4-6 weeks apart that improve mood, energy, boost the immune system and help with sleep, among other benefits that are felt almost immediately. Taking a series of shots during winter can ensure a healthy and vital flu season even more. The generous doses of B vitamins and Vitamin D can also help to quell those winter blues.
This wellness package is a great gift choice for parents who are constantly on the go and needing more sleep, or for those who need to hustle and stay healthy while working outside during the ski season.
Visit bigskynaturalhealthmt.com
BIG SKY ACE HARDWARE
STAY WARM THIS WINTER WITH THAW GEAR FROM BIG SKY ACE HARDWARE
BY SOPHIE GOTWALD
The THAW Heated Oversocks, Knit Beanie and Rechargeable Hand Warmers should be staples in your winter gear setup. For the person whose winter activities are cut short due to cold feet in their boots or not being able to feel their fingers, these are a game changer.
The Heated Oversocks come with three different modes to allow you to adjust the amount of heat you need that can last for up to eight hours. The battery-powered hand warmers fit easily in your pockets to give your cold hands the warmth they need at any given moment while you’re out in the elements.
Luckily, our local Big Sky ACE Hardware carries these products! Stop by to pick up the perfect gift that will keep you warm and make recreating in the elements more enjoyable.
Visit acehardware.com/store-details/15730 or in person at 1565 Lone Mountain Trail.
SMITH DELIVERS ON ALL FRONTS WITH MISSION HELMET AND ARVO SUNGLASSES
BY HILLER HIGMAN
Smith Mission Ski Helmet
The Smith Mission is the best ski helmet I’ve ever owned—though, to be fair, it’s also the only one. After nearly 50 years of skiing, I finally decided to give helmets a try, and so far, it’s been great. From the moment I put it on, it fit perfectly right out of the box.
It pairs seamlessly with my Smith goggles—no fogging or awkward gaps—and is super lightweight. I was worried a helmet might feel bulky or uncomfortable, but I barely notice it’s on.
The removable ear flaps are a nice touch—perfect for those cold, sub-zero Montana days, but easy to pop off when spring skiing rolls around. The
vents are another great feature, keeping everything comfortable no matter the weather.
For my first helmet, the Smith Mission has made the transition easy. Going from a hat to a helmet was a no-brainer, and I’d highly recommend it!
Smith Arvo Sunglasses
I’m 100% sold on Smith sunglasses. The Arvo is the first pair I’ve owned, and they’re a definite step up from any other sunglasses I’ve used. What really stands out are the flexible hinges—they have just the right amount of give, so the fit is always comfortable, even after hours of wear. The wraparound design is perfect, offering excellent coverage without feeling bulky, and it seems to fit my face better than other pairs I’ve tried.
WHY TURTLEBOX IS THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE SPEAKER
BY ELI KRETZMANN
Did you know trout are drawn to late ‘90s rock ’n roll? Yeah, we didn’t either, until we brought Turtlebox waterproof speakers fishing with us.
The lenses are another highlight. They’ve got a great finish that cuts glare and enhances clarity, which I’ve especially appreciated on bright days. Whether I’m hiking, biking, or just running errands, these have become my go-to sunglasses. They stay put during activity but are still lightweight enough for all-day wear.
If you’re looking for a versatile, comfortable pair of sunglasses that can handle both outdoor adventures
TURTLEBOX SMITH
already thinking about getting a second pair!
Visit smithoptics.pxf.io/EEaqRK
We like our jams on the river. As guides who spend our summers in the backcountry, we are always looking for that portable speaker system that checks all the boxes: large sound, battery life, and weatherproof. Enter Turtlebox. Left out overnight in a rainstorm? No problem. Bouncing around with the rest of the gear in the back of the truck? No problem. Strapped to the raft pumping beats through the whitewater? No problem.
Considering we spend six days at a time in the backcountry, we need a speaker that lasts. Giving guests the option to play their favorite tunes on the raft is pretty slick. Plus, sometimes the campfire circle just wants to jam out. With several Turtleboxes on the river this past summer, we pretty much had all our bases covered.
Now about those trout and music…We can’t say with scientific accuracy that ‘90s rock brings the cutthroats to the surface, but it sure does add a lot of fun to long days on the water.
and daily life, the Arvo is a great choice. I’m
STIO
THE PERFECT BLEND OF STYLE AND FUNCTION STIO WOMEN’S CREDENTIAL JACKET AND PANTS
BY ELLIE BOESCHENSTEIN
The Stio Women’s Credential jacket and pant set is everything I hoped for and more. It feels stylish but athletic, which is exactly the look I’m going for when hitting the slopes. The fit is flattering and true to size with room to add layers underneath. The pants have an adjustable waist allowing me to customize the fit to my liking. I love this feature, especially after an après burger and beer. The jacket
BATTLE OF THE BOOTS – HIGH OR LOW? WHICH STIO COLTER BOOT FITS YOUR MOUNTAIN STYLE?
BY TUCKER HARRIS & MEGAN PAULSON
COLTER WATERPROOF LOW BOOT
The Women’s Colter Chukka Boots are the perfect winter boots, insulated and weather-resistant with a good-gripping rubber outsole for traction. These are the perfect shoes for taking my dogs on long walks in sub-freezing temperatures. Their easy slip-on and lightweight design make them convenient for heading out the door on a quick errand and they’re stylish enough to be worn out on the town too. I can’t wait to switch out of my ski boots and into the comfy Colter Chukka Boot at après after a long day of skiing once the lifts start spinning!
Visit stio.com/products/womens-colter-chukka-boot
COLTER WATERPROOF TALL BOOT
Everyone knows a solid boot is key in the mountains and Stio’s tall waterproof version of the Colter is no exception. These are some of the lightest, best fitting and coziest boots I’ve worn. The Colter Tall is quick and easy to slip on and off for running the kids to school, shoveling the driveway and heading to the mountain for some turns. In addition to being waterproof, the boots have durable treaded soles that have proven to be grippy on wet and snowy surfaces. Stio was able to incorporate a merino liner topped with fleece that keeps my feet warm but doesn’t overheat, a bonus for wearing these all day long.
is the perfect length and has great coverage without feeling bulky. I love how when fully zipped, I can pull it up to cover my exposed face or use it to keep the wind and snow away from my fuzzy buff.
This set is designed for mountain weather, and it shows. The waterproof, breathable shell keeps me dry in heavy snow and the jacket’s wind resistance is impressive. I also appreciate the ventilation options, which help manage temperature, perfect for spring skiing. The fabric has a slightly stretchy feel, so movement feels natural when I’m skiing.
Here in Big Sky, Montana we can experience some brutally cold temperatures, but we can’t let that stop us from taking on the mountain! I once was told “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.” This set locks in warmth and allows me to own those “bad weather” days.
I was thrilled to see the set was offered in my favorite color, navy blue. If that’s not your favorite
color, the set is also offered in a few other popping colors. I never want to be super flashy in my ski fit and this set makes me feel cool, confident and ready to ski in any conditions.
stio.com/products/womens-credential-jacket
WARMTH, STYLE AND WESTERN FLAIR THE STIO TURNBOLT JACKET
BY TAYLOR OWENS
The Stio Turnbolt Down Jacket is a fantastic investment for anyone facing truly cold winter days and wanting a stylish, high-performance layer. Right away, the down insulation feels impressively warm and light—perfect for freezing temperatures without the bulky look. The windproof and water-repellent fabric feels reliable and keeps out chill and light snow, making it ideal for staying cozy during mountain getaways, urban commutes, or après-ski adventures.
Adding a uniquely Western flair, the jacket’s color palette and inner lining evoke a classic mountaintown aesthetic. It feels right at home on the slopes, at a ranch, or in town, effortlessly blending rugged practicality with style. This is the jacket you can wear straight from a backcountry trail into a small-town saloon, fitting right into the modern outdoor scene while capturing that Western look.
The Turnbolt Down Jacket is the perfect choice if you want something stylish, functional, and incredibly warm. It has quickly become my go-to jacket this winter, perfect for everything from walks in the mountains to chilly evening strolls in town.
Who doesn't love 2 for 1? When I found out Dovetail – a made-bywomen-for-women brand - had a reversible sherpa fleece / flannel jacket offering this winter I was all in. Dubbed ‘utility apparel’ the Old School Reversible Work Jacket is versatile and works equally well for outdoor chores, walking the dog and daily office wear. It packs a lot of warmth when the wind picks up and is equally comfortable wearing indoor. Bonus features – easy snap closure on both sides, big pockets, and soft feel. The color-blocked sherpa fleece is my favorite side and packs a cozy, retro style. The ladies on your list won’t be disappointed if this Old School jacket ends up under the tree. Tip: The sizing chart online is a little difficult to understand but just go with your regular size and the oversized girlfriend fit will give you plenty of room to layer.
DOVETAIL FRESHLY DROP SEAT OVERALLS, THE PERFECT SOLUTION FOR COZY, CONVENIENT STYLE
BY CONNER CLEMENS
The Dovetail Women’s Freshly Drop Seat Overalls are a game changer for anyone tired of the usual struggle with bathroom breaks in overalls. I recently got to experience them firsthand, and the innovative zipper at the back made it incredibly easy to “drop and go” without removing the entire outfit—such a time-saver. Made from thermal stretch denim, these overalls kept me warm and cozy, with a smart, slim fit that didn’t feel bulky. Whether you’re at a tailgate, working outdoors, or just want a cute pair of overalls, the thermoregulating insulation offers just the right amount of warmth without overheating, while also being eco-friendly. Functional, comfortable, and stylish—these overalls made my day a lot easier.
The first time I tested out the 7-inch Teton Edge Santoku knife from New West Knifeworks, I was putting it up to the true test of what it claims to do: slice, dice and mince. I made a simple beef chili – a recipe that half of the time is spent chopping up vegetables. However, with this new Santoku knife, the dreaded task became a breeze. I started out with the onion: a smooth and crisp slice. I then moved onto dicing the celery, peppers, tomatoes and jalapenos. The edge of the knife ensured nothing stuck to the sides. And finally, I minced the garlic. All scooped up with the wide blade and thrown into the pot, this knife made everything so simple.
The 7” size is comfortable for the average home chef, with the quality and elegance of a superior chef knife. Beyond just the technical benefits, the look and design of the knife is beautiful. The Shoshone colorway and Teton Edge give ode to the origin of New West knifeworks in Jackson Hole. The Teton Edge has me excited to try many more recipes with lots of slicing, dicing and mincing.
Whether you’re a modern adventurer or avid outdoorsman, the TJB Hatchet should be a top item on anyone’s gifting list. TJB collaborated with Adler, a German company with over 100 years of hatchet and ax-making mastery, so the TJB is made in Germany and high quality and powerful given its compact size. Chopping kindling for our fireplace and wood for our camp firepit was done with ease – the Hatchet has a great swing weight and super sharp blade making it easy to crush through outdoor tasks. It looks great too – a green accent stripe compliments USA-sourced hickory, all-steel blade, black handle and leather sheath. Plus the TJB Hatchet comes packaged in an all-wood gift case with unique clasps and the TJB x Adler story, making it feel even more elevated out of the box. You won’t even need wrapping paper for this outdoor staple!
TJB ELLIS MULTI-TOOL
Rivers, trails, and DIY projects are no match for the Ellis Multi-Tool which successfully tackled any task I asked of it in both the extreme outdoors and during everyday activities. The James Brand created a sleek design with the Ellis, so it’s small and easy to carry along in your pocket but didn’t disappoint when needed to carry out big tasks. On the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, a scenario that demands constant maintenance of gear, the Ellis Multi-tool came in handy for tightening oars, cutting rope and fixing my tent in a windstorm. Its razor-sharp, stainless-steel blade and pry bar provided quick fixes on a hiking trip, and excelled on the job site when I needed to pry nails and tighten screws. The clip that attaches to your pants or pack is handy, while the tool's scissors provide extra utility for precise cuts. I’ve even found myself using the serrated blade for cutting small branches for fires. These tools are designed for adventure, whether in the wild or on the job, and are built to last. The most difficult decision you have to make is what color best matches your vibe.
BRIDGER ANIMAL NUTRITION
WEST PAW TOPPL
BY PATRICK MAHONEY
Are you looking for the perfect gift for your dog this Holiday season? Then look no further than the West Paw Toppl. Being the owner of a pair of cattle dogs I can tell you that physical activity doesn't always get the job done by the end of the day. No matter if we go on countless walks, chase the ball, or hit our favorite hiking spot, these dogs are still ready to rock and roll. That's where the Toppl shines. The Toppl is an extremely durable treat dispenser built for the toughest of chewers. I like to fill mine with a mixture of pumpkin puree, peanut butter, kibble, and treats. I freeze my Toppls overnight and give them to my dogs at the end of the day to provide mental stimulation as we wind down into the evening. Shortly after they are done you can hear that sweet, sweet sound of snoring dogs.
What separates the Toppl from other treat dispensers is its wide mouth. This gives the dog access to the entire bowl making sure it's licked clean. Other dispensers you may have to clean by hand if your dog can't reach the bottom. The Toppl is also made from recyclable material and is dishwasher safe.
You can pick yours up at Bridger Animal Nutrition. They are a one stop shop for all things pet related! Cattle Dog Approved.
Visit bridgeranimalnutrition.com or their Bozeman location at 501 Evergreen Dr.
HEY BEAR
GRIZZLY 399 TRIBUTE COLLECTION
BY SARA SIPE
Hey Bear is a Big Sky based business with a global mission – how to live and travel safely within bear country. In addition to providing an incredible platform for information on how to coexist with bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, they have dedicated their brand to education and awareness, and most importantly giving back to “likeminded non-profits to support their environmental causes and projects”, according to their website.
Hey Bear Stocking Stuffer Recommendations:
In addition to being a great “conservation brand,” what I like best about Hey Bear is their incredible logo and colorful retail line. The logo is reflective of a well-known Thomas Mendelson photograph of iconic Bear 399. It is incorporated into a fully developed line of comfortable and casual outdoor wear including t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, hats, and bear spray utility belts. These items will hit home with the adventurers and wildlife lovers on your holiday gift list!!
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to pre-order Grizzly 399 memorabilia. Hey Bear is offering a custom designed t-shirt and hat with $10 of each sale going directly to the “Hwy 191 Wildlife Crossings Project.”
$10 from each item purchased goes directly to the Center for Large Landscape Conservation and their Hwy 191 Wildlife Crossings Project.
