Some Snow For Lynn!!

[jbotti]

They got 2 inches last night at Big Sky. This means that higher up on the mountain they may have gotten 6-8 inches and on some of the ridges they will have some wind loaded spots where it might be a foot. Big Sky under reports there snow more than any place I have seen (Squaw over reports it by a good bit!!). Should be a pretty good day for her!!! Hopefully she gets out and skis hard. Make a few turns for all of us Lynn!! Best, JB.

[jim-ratliff]

Very interesting.? A little bit of snow in Big Sky, but if she had stayed home they are expecting 5-10 inches around New York City and up to 30" north of the Poconos where her other house is.? A lot like the weekend we went to Sugar Bush and had a little bit of snow there while Northern Virginia got inundated with 20" (and another 10" three days later).? This might be a great weekend to ski Elk (or Blue, Phil?) for anyone that is close.

Lynn and her friend are really liking Big Sky, other than a somewhat limited shuttle transportation system.? She says that the place is just huge (they have combo tickets for Big Sky and ??Moonlight Basin?.? They have had some light snows and have found glades that still had limited amounts of fresh snow among the trees.? Her friend is mostly an East coast, groomed slope skier so that has been working out just fine.? And, amazingly, the medical OB-GYN conference has had good speakers and been quite informative so far, so that's a win-win.

I imagine Big Sky will be one of the places we ski next year (hopefully with a side trip to Yellowstone).

[jim-ratliff]

They got 2 inches last night at Big Sky. This means that higher up on the mountain they may have gotten 6-8 inches and on some of the ridges they will have some wind loaded spots where it might be a foot. Big Sky under reports there snow more than any place I have seen (Squaw over reports it by a good bit!!). Should be a pretty good day for her!!! Hopefully she gets out and skis hard. Make a few turns for all of us Lynn!! Best, JB.

thanks John.
Interesting timing.  I just received a one word message from Lynn.   "powder"   
They will be skipping the afternoon conference session for sure, now.

[LivingProof]

thanks John.
Interesting timing.? I just received a one word message from Lynn.? ?"powder"? ?
They will be skipping the afternoon conference session for sure, now.

Jim,
A minor revision to an old saying  "No Midwif's on Powder Days"!

Snowing mightily in Philly, but, I'd rather be in Big Sky!

[jbotti]

Hey, 6-8 inches in Big Sky is better than 30 inches in the Poconos any day. At least you have some real pitch to ski on and 6000 skiable acres to explore!!
She will have a blast today!!

[jim-ratliff]

Hey, 6-8 inches in Big Sky is better than 30 inches in the Poconos any day. At least you have some real pitch to ski on and 6000 skiable acres to explore!!
She will have a blast today!!

I cannot argue with that logic AT ALL!!   

Hey Living Proof, what's the total snowfall forecast for Philly?

[LivingProof]

Hey Living Proof, what's the total snowfall forecast for Philly?

The storm was a non-event in Phillly. When I wrote it was snowing hard, my view was away from the streets and it never started to lay there until night. Maybe 4 inches where I live and no real wind.

Blue, the Pocs, Elk and Greek did OK. Blue Monday coming!

Use it or loose it.

[jim-ratliff]

Elk is reporting 20" of powder and still snowing.? But, as JB said, they don't have 6000 acres of terrain.

And Lynn is saying that Big Sky does have a LOT of rocks.  Says they just jump up through the snow.

[jbotti]

Yeah welcome to skiing in MT. When you get to know a resort you learn where to watch and where to actually traverse very slowly so that you don't blow out a ski. With the coverage we now have in MT I can ski my mountain reasonably safely and very rarely hit a rock. Someone skiing the mountain for the first time would most likley hit many. It's an unfortunate fact of life in Soutwest MT ski resorts.

[midwif]

Thanks for sending that snow my way JB!
Big Sky needed it.

It is amazing out there. The sky really is BIGi!
The vistas are incredible.  The mountain is huge and there is a lot I did not have a chance to explore.

My colleague is mostly a groomed run skier, I think mostly due to lack of opportunity to expand. I mostly stayed with her with some exceptions. She learned to ski as a child and her first pair of skis were wood.

I really enjoyed Blue Room, a fairly easy glade. And by the end of the week, Heidi was looking for easy glades as well. And enjoying them.
She went from not wanting to do any bumps to being pretty consistent by the end of the week. More consistently than I can do them!

The one thing we both unequivocally wanted to do was take the tram up to the top. But it was Heidi who planned our descent down. I would have happily taken the tram back down. We had quite an adventure.

About the rocks........
One quicky learns to assume any darkening or twig like object is either a rock lurking beneath or is a small tree whose tip is just protruding from below.
Even the groomers would have random loose rocks just sitting on top of the snow. Probably rolled from elsewhere, but you definitely have to be aware.

I can see that it just becomes part of your skiing experience there and wasn't that big of an issue overall.

Moonlight Basin makes Big Sky look crowded. We would come down a trail and sometimes never see another skier there. Loved going by some of the beautiful homes off on the sides.

I am thinking of doing this again next year and perhaps, expanding the trip.

JB, any info on Bridger Bowl and Grand Targhee? I will look up drive times to these. Have you been to either?

Inquiring ski minds would like to know.

Oh and btw, I did not COMPLETELY blow off the morning session the day it snowed. Just left a teensy bit earlier.  ;)I leaned over to Heidi and whispered "how often are we going to be in Big Sky on a powder day?". She sat for a minute and we both quietly packed up and left. Many of the attendees didn't even show up at all!!

Lynn

[jbotti]

On Bridger and Targhee, I have never been to either. Bridger takes about 45min to and hour to get to from Big Sky. It's a smaller ski area with an older lift system (lots of slow lifts). Having said that it gets pounded with snow. It gets easily 50% more snow than Big Sky. It is the first mountain range that gets hit as storms come down from the North. The locals I now that frequent Bridger say that the best terrain at Bridger is not purely lift accessed, but requires a little hiking to get to. Evidently some of this terrain is awesome.Targhee is also supposed to be a great resort, and also more of a locals spot. I know less about it. I know that Jackson Hole takes about 3:15 from Big Sky. Targhee is about 30 minutes closer, so for sure less than 3 hours to get there from Big Sky.

I am glad you enjoyed Big Sky. It really is an area that few North American skiers know about. Very few realize that the combo of Big Sky and Moonlight basin (skiable on one pass) is as large or larger than Vail with 80% less people and easily as much snow!! It is still a great undiscovered spot with terrain that will challenge the best skiers in the world.

[midwif]

Thanks for the info, JB.
Though Google maps said Grand Targhee is 5+ hrs. from BS.  Hmmm. Will recheck.

Yes, I really liked Big Sky. Very down to earth place too. Didn't see a single Kjus outfit there.
Not that I have anything against the brand.

While waiting for Heidi at the lift one day, I made of game of checking what brands were the most common at Big Sky.
Columbia and North Face topped the list. Lots of Spyder too.

I met way more New Yorkers than I could have imagined on the lift. Mostly from NYC! A number of retirees who have chosen the mountain life.
 
Hope the place stays low key.

[jbotti]

I am reasonably sure that I am correct (within 30 min or so) and that google is wrong on this one. I do know that JH is only 3:30 max from YC. I pulled what googls says and they created a route through Yellowstone park. While this may be the shortest # of miles, it is definitely not the fastest way to get from Big Sky to JH (mainly because the 50 mph speed limit is strictly enforced in the park). If you come down through Idaho it is faster and as you come along Rt 22 past Driggs you come past GrandTarghee about 30 minutes before you get to JH.

I have never done the drive, but friends of mine have and I have been told 3:14-3:30 from JH to Big Sky through Idaho.

[LivingProof]

This year we did the bus trip from JH to Targhee. At least an hour. Looked at Google and it's 150 miles from BS to Driggs Id which is the nearest town to GT. 15-20 minutes from the town up to Targhee. The roads are generally good, so, JB's 3 hours is a good guess.  In my opinion, no way I'd leave Big Sky to go to Targhee, barring really poor conditions in BS. From Jackson, it's a very worthwhile day. Go when you can see though, we did it in low visibility. On a clear day, the Targhee view is just  . Snow is also  .

Lynn, would you leave Big Sky for a really long day trip???

A side note, did Blue today. Really heavy spring snow. Left after lunch. Pa skiing is winding down. St. Paddy's day is a typical closing benchmark.

[jbotti]

I regularly (probably should I used to regularly) do day trips to Tahoe which is 3 hours each way from my home in Marin County. I generally only go up on powder days which makes it worth the drive. In theory, driving 2.5 -3 hours to GT or an hour longer to ski JH is very doable. The real problem is when I drive to Tahoe from Marin, I can't already ski in Marin!! I have talked about driving to JH for a day or two for 3 seasons now and it has never happened. The snow outside my door always looks just as good if not better than the snow 3 hours away in JH!!!

Perhaps if I had someone I reallly wanted to ski with or hadn't seen in years it would happen, but I would certainly invite them up to ski in MT first!!

For someone that has a goal to ski all the major resorts in the US or the world who is in Big sky for a week or two, it's a layup!! Otherwise it may be hard to make it happen.