The Sky Got Bigger

MONTANA’S PRE-EMINENT SKI RESORT, ALWAYS A WONDER, HAS GONE SOPHISTICATED—AND WEARS IT WELL. By Everett Potter

In the two decades or so that I’ve been skiing Big Sky Resort in Montana, I’ve watched it grow and change as much as any mountain in the country. When I first arrived in the ’90s, I was struck by the limitless, jaw-dropping expanse of snowy peaks and the vast, seemingly endless sky that gives the Montana resort its name. It was a drop-dead gorgeous resort.

What also struck me was how sleepy the place was. The vibe was laid-back cowboy cool, with unremarkable lodges, pickup trucks aplenty in the parking lot, Moose Drool brown ale in the bar and gnarly steeps skied by a macho ski crowd, terrain that locals call “Triple Black.” This was not Vail, Park City or Aspen. You skied, ate a bison burger and went to sleep.

Big Sky Resort was conceived and opened in 1973 by the late NBC newsman Chet Huntley, and was later bought by Michigan-based Boyne Resorts, which still owns it. On an early trip, I took the tram to the 11,166foot summit of Lone Mountain and skied the famous Dictator Chutes, named after Castro, Lenin and Marx. These are steep, intimidating runs with unbelievable views that appear to go on for 100 miles. They are legendary among hard-core Big Sky skiers.

I also skied the mountain’s delightful groomed runs, corduroy highways that were the widest trails that I’d ever skied. There were no lift lines, so you could exhaust yourself on the slopes. The base resort was centered on the Huntley Lodge, the original hotel. There were a handful of bars and restaurants. The only one of note was Buck’s T-4 Lodge, a motel outside of the village that had a Wine Spectator Award-winning wine list. You could ski like a cowboy and drink like a prince. The mountain was like your own secret stash. Mention Big Sky back East and you’d mostly get blank stares.

Cut to 2022 and you’ll still find evidence of all of the above on a mountain that has nearly doubled in size and has vaulted to the ranks of ultra-sophisticated resorts, with a vibe that is no longer sleepy. It now caters in part to a new kind of guest who flies private to the airport in Bozeman, just an hour away, before checking into a five-star luxury resort where his or her ski concierge awaits. There are now 39 lifts and more than 300 runs, and you won’t ski half of it in a week here.

The changes were years in the making. Boyne Resorts went on to purchase an adjacent start-up real-estatedevelopment-turned-ski-resort called Moonlight Basin. That suddenly gave the resort a lot of intermediate- and beginner-friendly terrain. Not to mention luxury homes, condos, town homes and cabins, with a handsome Western look of stone and timber.

Boyne also developed nearby Spanish Peaks. All told, Big Sky now weighs in at a staggering 5,800 acres of terrain, well ahead of Vail’s 5,289 acres, and thus is the largest ski resort in the United States.

It wasn’t just the acreage that changed. The money changed as well. Big Sky was one of those resorts that had long harbored a lot of quiet money, much of it from the Midwest. It’s no longer so quiet.

What drove a lot of change was the opening in 1999 of the Yellowstone Club, where the slogan “Private Powder” was coined. I visited the Club during that first year, as the founders began rounding up moneyed members like cattle on the range. The celebrated club is not technically part of Big Sky, but lies adjacent. Sitting on more than 13,000 acres, it includes Pioneer Mountain, which has more than 2,000 skiable acres, and a private 18-hole golf course designed by Tom Weiskopf. It’s the original billionaire’s ski club, with membership capped at 864. That’s membership as in Bill Gates, Tom Brady, Eric Schmidt, Justin Timberlake and Phil Mickelson. Passing personal and financial muster from the board in order to get accepted is just the beginning. Membership costs are in the millions when you factor in the price of building a home, which is north of $5 million.

Call it the Yellowstone Club boom. The wealthy neighbors brought an infusion of capital and spawned the luxury leap at Big Sky in the ensuing years. The development at Moonlight Basin was surpassed by the luxury homes at the 3,530-acre Spanish Peaks area and, in 2021, the 59,000-square-foot Lake Lodge at Moonlight Basin. It brought such amenities as the Three Forks Tapas Restaurant and Bar, an indoor threepoint basketball court, an indoor climbing wall and a 3,000-square-foot outdoor pool with lap lanes and slide.

This past winter saw the opening of Montage Big Sky, a kind of crowning glory. Located within Spanish Peaks, this is a $400 million resort with ski-in/ski-out access and 139 guestrooms, suites and residences. This is a contemporary take on the classic North American lodge, with six dining venues, including the signature restaurant Cortina, serving rustic northern Italian. The property also includes Spa Montage Big Sky, a 10,000-square-foot space with 12 treatment rooms, an indoor lap pool and a state-of-the-art fitness center surrounded by mountain views.

It’s not over. Next on deck is another ultra-luxury brand, One&Only, which chose Big Sky to open its first American property. One&Only Moonlight Basin will have a lodge and 62 private residences with prices starting at $8.45 million.

The sleepy cowboy ski mountain now deals with lift lines and there are now six- and eight-passenger lifts, and even they can seem inadequate on powder days when demand is high. A bigger tram is in the works, and the area’s first gondola should be running by 2024.

There’s a lot more of everything here, from money and lodges to restaurants and bars, not to mention people. Bozeman Yellowstone Airport has grown, allowing more flights and yes, more skiers.

Yet the place is so large that it’s handling the growth with aplomb. The secret is out, but there are still mountains as far as the eye can see, and Big Sky may well be America’s most distinctive and dramatically beautiful resort.