The Authentic Ski Tour: Big Sky, Day 4

..... Big Sky, Montana (Ski Press)-The first time you see Big Sky Resort?s Lone Peak it is like the first time you saw Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It or the young Scarlett Johansson in the Horse Whisperer. ?My god,? you think as you gaze on that marble palace of rock and snow holding the horizon, and start re-ranking your standards of beauty and all the places you have skied before. ?I can?t believe I?ve never been here.? ?There?s another great pullout for pictures up ahead,? Doug Wales said, the second time I asked him to pull over, trying to capture in a single frame this monument to nature, this triumph of geology. ?Amazing,? I muttered, snapping shots by the side of the road. We had driven north from West Yellowstone after a day cross-country skiing among the bison, coyotes and geysers. Along with Jeff Carroll of Red Lodge, I had soaked in the ambiance of Chico Hot Springs and sped down the slopes of Red Lodge before we had taken a detour to count coyotes in the National Park. And now Wales, the marketing director at Bridger Bowl, was getting me back on the lifts. Big Time. With the most vertical drop in North America (4,350 ft), and in conjunction with next-door-neighbor Moonlight Basin the most skiable acreage (5, 512 acres), Big Sky really is one of the giants of North American skiing. Founder Chet Huntley (the late great NBC news anchorman), who opened the area in 1973, built his mountain out of runs as wide as the Montana sky all falling into impossible views. Then in 1995, with the addition of the Lone Peak Tram, the resort went Richter on the advanced scale. Palm-sweating steeps like the Big Couloir, Marx, Lenin and Dakota Bowl were suddenly easily accessible, and Big Sky?s big mountain reputation quickly began to build around the world. That mix of family vacationers and hardcore shredders is present everywhere, obvious in the little clans carving down the boulevard-wide blue runs, and in the fast-moving shred posses, bouncing in line for the tram to whisk them back up Lone Peak for another adrenaline dose. It is in the confluence of our palatial rooms at the Summit Hotel, and the cowboys who open the door and park the car. ?The President stayed right here,? Dax Schieffer said at lunch, pointing back up at the hotel that last August had hosted President Barack Obama and his family. ?It was the biggest event, and you couldn?t say a word.? Big Sky?s director of public relations, Schieffer was part of a planning group called the ?Secret Keepers? that had to privately plan for the president?s arrival ? including blocking out 400 rooms around the village for security and personnel, and reserving the parking lots for the presidential helicopter detail. ?Once all those helicopters started buzzing in,? Schieffer smiled, ?It was hard to keep it secret anymore.? A sunny day, we sat on the deck in that first hint of spring in the mountains with people everywhere. And after lunch we went zooming down the runs. There hadn?t been snow for a little while, but the visibility was fantastic and the hardpack had that dry Rocky Mountain buoyancy of cold Styrofoam. ?Hero conditions.? We waited for the tram and watched a group of young skiers getting a class in steep chute skiing while their parents waited below. Everybody clapped when they were done. And we zipped around on everything from soft corn snow to little sections as hard as coral reef, running like little flashes of color in the sun. At the end of the day we drank Cold Smoke Scotch Ale to ease into the evening, and to help our minds feel as warm as our cheeks. We walked around the little village with the firepit burning and people talking in crowds and couples, moving with some relaxed destination around the mountain town. We had Chianti, minestrone and lasagna at Andiamo, the chic Italian spot with the fuzzy chairs and the high walls. We had espresso or grappa. And Dax said, ?Tomorrow we?ll ski the North Summit Snowfields over to Moonlight Basin. And there?s one section where there can be some significant consequences if you fall.? I said, ?I don?t like the sound of that at all.? So that when I woke up the next morning, it was the first thing on my mind. Links Big Sky Resort ? www.bigskyresort.com Dax and the President - http://meetingsnet.com/medicalmeetings/mag/0101-president-meetings-guest/ Cold Smoke Scotch Ale - www.kettlehouse.com

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