Vail no longer the largest ski area in US

[abc]

The trip to Jackson Hole is worth it just for the views. Though, Alta/Bird is a lot easier, the snow is generally better and the terrain is almost as good. Still, nothing is like the Hobacks with 2,500 feet of vertical and a good chance to be the only person in sight.

I've heard great things about Big Sky, but with Utah being so easy and Jackson Hole being so good, it's hard to make the switch when I only go out one week a year.

I've been to both Jackson and Big Sky. I'd say Big Sky definitely worth the hassle!

That said, you have to understand what you're getting into. Travelling to Big Sky will make traveling to Jackson like an express! Though Jackson is a small airport, once you landed, you're less than 30 minutes from the village with freuquent and cheap transport. Bozeman? Not so much. You're facing an hour long journey that is served by only limited transport options. A rental car is pretty much required, on top of the often expensive flight.

Also unlike Jackson Hole, Big Sky is not a real town. The "town" is mostly just a cross road with a bunch of motel strung along the side. Stay ON the mountain, you'll pay through the nose. Stay "down the road", it's a long 30+minute commute by the time you count the walk from the parking lot. There're buses, but it's kind of sparse and the journey is long. That, compare with Jackson's shuttle of less than 30 minutes and relatively frequent service.

Almost all of Big Sky's worker live somewhere else. That translates to tourist pricing for everything in Big Sky, and limited supplies. Unlike Jackson, you can't just go outside and walk around town to the resturants...

If you have non-skiing spouse, forget about it!

Having said all that, the skiing is pretty amazing! The biggest advantage of Big Sky over Jackson is the lack of crowds. It also got big verticle just like Jackson. Much of Big Sky's "bowls" are not bowls but sustain pitches that don't slack off at all. And plenty of sick lines!

I think of Big Sky not so much like Jackson but more like Aspen. Both have good variety of terrain from beginner all the way to extreme. Both are hard to get to and expensive to stay. Well worth it if you have the funds.

 

[jaytrem]

You're facing an hour long journey that is served by only limited transport options. A rental car is pretty much required, on top of the often expensive flight.

Can it really be a journey if it only takes an hour??? Even the Utah places take about 45 minutes. Good info though, thanks for posting.

For price reference, the direct flights from Newark jumped around a good amount, it varied from a little over $500 to over $1000 (United). I checked it quite often while trying to find a good deal for a friend. They also had a lot of seats available for 25,000 miles RT, which is what I booked with. My friend ended up booking one way with miles and paying about $270 for the other. As for the rental, we did shockingly well with that. Only $262 total for a standard SUV for 9 days. Big Sky is by far going to be the most expensive part of the trip, the rest of MT is super inexpensive. I usually prefer the small out of the way places anyway. So if that's what you're into, a MT trip with 2 days at Big Sky and 6 1/2 at smaller places can be done for about $700-$800 + 25,000 miles (food/drink not included).

 

[Nick]

It would be interesting to have some threads about superlatives for ski areas, regionally and even internationally. The difficulty is there are so many ways to slice it. Is a resort that single resort, or is it all the resorts under a companies umbrella? Most acreage, most lift distance, most vert, steepest slope, etc etc. I'm sure it's all buried around AZ somewhere.

 

[steamboat1]

And you've been pretty much everywhere havent you?

Not really, plenty of places still on my hit list in North America not to mention I've never been to Europe.

Back to Big Sky. There is plenty of ample transportation from the airport to the resort. Once you are at the resort there is plenty of ample transportation to all the local restaurants both in the upper & lower village & to the several restaurants along the main road leading to the NW Yellowstone gate. One thing that always confused me is that Big Sky always rates low when it comes to eating in the ski mag surveys. I think the variety & quality of the local restaurants is well above average. There are also shuttles running down to NW Yellowstone so you could enjoy a day of snow mobiling in the park. Whoever said there wasn't amble transportation is mistaken. I'd still recommend renting a vehicle though because driving around after skiing or taking a day off to see the local scenery & abundant wildlife is half the fun of the trip.

Both times I've been there we had to transfer planes in Minn/St. Paul both going & coming. On one of the trips we also landed in Billings, MT for a short time before flying on to Bozeman. This is flying out of NYC.

As to the title of this thread I've been well aware that Big Sky/Moonlight has the most acreage of any ski area in the U.S. for quite some time. I don't think it's anything they tried to keep secret. Big Sky used to also advertise the most vertical drop in the U.S. I forget who took over that title from them.

 

[abc]

Can it really be a journey if it only takes an hour??? Even the Utah places take about 45 minutes.

While the journey itself isn't long, the lack of transport is the difference. When you factor in the time waiting, it's very different story.

Jackson's airport to ton transfer is cheap and frequent. Whilst the Bozeman to Big Sky transport only run a few times a day and is a lot more expensive. So most people end up needing to rent a car.

The 45 min in SLC areas are true 45 minutes. You don't end up wasting hours to adjust to the time table of the bus. The 1 hr in Bozeman to Big Sky in practice is a lot longer.

 

[jaytrem]

Big Sky used to also advertise the most vertical drop in the U.S. I forget who took over that title from them.

Snowmass

 

[darent]

at the Boston Ski Show BS/MLB advertised themself as the biggest ski area in the states and the least crowded.

 

[skiNEwhere]

To clear up any confusion, the acquisition took place early October of this year, so any point before that, Vail was still the largest

 

[deadheadskier]

Isn't Powder Mountain, Utah technically the largest ski area in the US? They advertise 7000 acres of terrain.

 

[goldsbar]

ABC, Steamboat1 or anybody, how do you rate the challenge of Big Sky compared to places like JH? The trail map looks pretty sick. I've heard stories of many hidden rocks, though. FWIW, as far as challenge, my ratings of the places I've been out West would be:

1. Whistler
2. Jackson Hole
3. Snowbird
4. Alta
5. The rest (Canyons, Deer Valley, Solitude, Steamboat, Grand Targhee)

 

[jaytrem]

Isn't Powder Mountain, Utah technically the largest ski area in the US? They advertise 7000 acres of terrain.

That's only if you count all their add on stuff, buses, cats and helicopters. Once you start doing that there are a bunch of other places that could inflate their stats also. I'll give them the bus terrain in the count since that's included with your standard lift ticket.

 

[SKI-3PO]

The challenging stuff requires a lot of snow - it's rocky. The best stuff is off the tram, making it difficult to lap. And also making it difficult in a group of mixed abilities. It's a great place though. I'd rank it somewhere between 3 and 5 on the above list.

 

[Jersey Skier]

Heading there in 2 weeks. Direct flights from Newark were easier to get than SLC for some reason this year. Staying slopeside for a few days, then up to Bozeman to ski at Bridger Bowl for a day or 2. Never been there before, but will report back. Between miles and rewards points it's no more expensive than our trips to Steamboat, Snowmass or Park City.

 

[dirtbagking]

Besides skiing Big Sky make sure you get Lost Trail Powder Mt. on your list. Awesome place with great snow. They're closed M - W, so try to be there on a Thurday morning. It will be you, your friends, 6 ski bums from Missoula and a dozen kids skiing in jeans on 1982 equipment. Stay at Jackson Hot Springs in Jackson, Mt. Very cool place with very cheap deals for staying and skiing LT. A couple years ago it was something like $79 for the room, hot spring pool and 2 lift tickets.
Another is Discovery Ski Basin. They are kinda near each other depending on travel conditions. " Disco " is a steep, demanding place. You'll need legs for there. They don't get the same snow that LT gets but the same crowd. Sort of like a mini Jackson Hole. These places are West of Butte, on the Idaho border.
Bridger means lift lines then hiking with all the kids from Montana State U. There is some great skiing there but it can be crowded. Think MRG. Whitefish is a good 6 hours North. Not too bad but I find it boring. Snowbowl isn't worth the effort and Red Lodge has never had a good day of snow in it's history.
If you really had an epic Montana trip going, I would go North of the Border and hit Castle Mt, Alberta. Find their web site and check it out. They have huge vertical ( I think 3300' ) and it is steep. In every direction. The trails don't intersect either which makes for some crazy long, steep runs. It's cheap and you can get a bag of weed from almost any one of the thirty skiers there.

 

[DPhelan]

flying into billings is also worth looking into. usually cheaper than flying into bozeman, but adds an extra hours +/- of driving. still a shorter drive than denver to steamboat, assuming you don't fly into hayden

 

[jaytrem]

Thanks for the tips dirtbagking. Discovery is one of my favorites and I made sure to schedule it into our trip. They do have some crazy cheap midweek ski and stay deals. I've only been to Lost Trail on a weekend, was a great day. One thing I remember is it seemed liked everybody that skied that day was there when they opened and still there when they closed. Basically 1000 people booting up in the parking lot at the same time. Never seen anything like that anywhere else. Anyway, right now my current plan is....

Sat - 1/2 day at Bridger
Sun Big Sky
Mon Big Sky
Tue Bridger
Wed Showdown
Thur Discovery
Fri Teton Pass
Sat Bear Paw
Sun Great Divide

Works out that it's the first day of the week for Showdown/Teton Pass/Bear Paw. The extra potential snow days have worked pretty well for me in the past, so hopefully my luck continues. Some people think it's kinda silly to go hunt down the smaller places, but those are often the ones I end up enjoying the most. After this trip the only MT ski area I'll be missing is Red Lodge, but I'm all ready thinking ahead to next year. I don't mind a little rock dodge.

 

[abc]

In terms of challenging terrain, it's right up there with Snowbird/Alta. But I think Alta-bird had the edge on snow (actually, a big edge since their top terrain are open most of the time)

When I was there, there's enough snow but the peak was clouded in often enough that I only made it up there twice (in 4 days).

On the other hand, there're tons of "pretty darn challenging" but not quite sick-in-the-stomach kind of terrain to keep one happy.