Montana’s answer to Jackson Hole and Sun Valley is rugged wintertime bliss.
It sounds like a New Age beauty product: Alpenglow. “Formulated by top Scandinavian cosmetologists,” the tagline might read.
But it’s not. Admittedly late in life, I learned that alpenglow is in fact the distinct salmon-y light that radiates from snow-covered mountains at sunrise and dusk. In defense of my ignorance, alpenglow is not something we Phoenicians typically encounter in our day-to-day lives. Not a lot of snow on South Mountain, sadly, even in January.
But there is a hell-ton of it on Lone Mountain, the premier peak at Big Sky Resort in Western Montana – along with a commensurate monster dose of alpenglow. The soft pink light hums to us as we crawl up one of the ski area’s pine-flanked slopes on a rugged Sno-Cat, about 10 of us bundled up together on the roof of the bus-like vehicle as it methodically claws into the packed snow.
It’s a hypnotically serene and beautiful journey, savoring the final fingers of daylight with the mighty pink peak rising up above us, this once-busy ski corridor – loaded with hot-doggers and snowboarders just an hour earlier – now eerily still and liminal as the freezing night streams into it.
And, soon: filet mignon and hot chocolate. Our reward for the Sno-Cat journey, waiting for us in a warm, music-filled dining yurt (essentially, a large, rigid tent, borrowed from the Mongols) perched at the top of the slope.
It will be the valedictory experience in this three-day Big Sky ski getaway – and, like most of my experiences here, it will not involve skiing. Set in one of the most gorgeous and most unspoiled pockets of American wilderness that simultaneously cosplays as a “luxury destination,” Big Sky is a many-splendored playground of outdoor fun, even in the winter.
Especially in the winter.
The Mountain
Big Sky tends to fly under the radar among elite American ski towns, and there are several good reasons for that – beginning with the fact it’s not technically a town. An “unincorporated community” of about 3,800 people, Big Sky sits in a rolling, forested river valley between two enormous mountain ranges located 50 miles northwest of Yosemite National Park.
Compared to the other two signature ski meccas in the Upper Rockies – Jackson Hole in Wyoming and Sun Valley in Idaho – Big Sky is a bit more untamed, a bit more remote and a bit newer, at least in terms of popular awareness. Which is to say, its wave of celebrity migrants (Justin Timberlake, Bill Gates and Tom Brady all reportedly own homes here) came crashing in later than those in Jackson Hole and Sun Valley.
Lifting my eyes from my phone to intermittently admire the snow-covered scenery during the 40-minute drive to the ski resort from the nearby town of Bozeman and its international airport (see Getting There), I learn that Big Sky comprises three distinct “villages”: meadow, canyon and mountain.
It’s the mountain ’hood I register first as we pull up to The Summit Hotel (60 Big Sky Resort Rd., 800-548-4486, bigskyresort.com/lodging/hotels) at the base of Lone Mountain – one of four hotels and extended-stay options operated under the Big Sky Resort (bigskyresort.com) umbrella. Spacious and well-appointed – with a heated indoor-outdoor pool that reaches out of the hotel to seemingly clutch the slopes themselves, perfect for a late-afternoon, après-ski soak – the Summit strikes me as the most “fun” of the hotels, with the best access to the village’s vast warren of restaurants and shops. Late in the afternoon, as the ski lifts empty, a cover band rocks out in the adjacent outdoor plaza, performing through sunset. It’s a fun scene.
For a more “resort and spa”-style stay, The Huntley Lodge (50 Big Sky Resort Rd., 800-548-4486, bigskyresort.com/lodging/hotels) is probably your best Big Sky bet, with upscale rustic-chic décor and a less-hurried vibe. It also boasts the village’s lone legit wellness option, the Solace Spa & Recovery Lounge, a cozy little hideaway where my downhill knots and pains are kneaded into oblivion by a masseur who clearly knows what he’s doing. Well worth the five-minute walk from the Summit.
One thing that all four of the resort’s overnight-stay options have in common: walk-out access to Big Sky Resort’s formidable sprawl of lifts and ski runs. Billed as the “biggest skiing in America,” the mountain property is actually the offspring of two large ski resorts – Big Sky Resort and Moonlight Basin – that merged in 2013 to create 5,800 acres of skiable terrain. (By comparison, Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff has 777 skiable acres.)
The ski resort is massive and gorgeous, and we do our best to make a dent in it through a day-and-a-half of skiing, navigating its complex network of lifts and connector trails, but have to throw in the towel after skiing perhaps 10 percent of its 300 runs.
After all, skiing is only part of the Big Sky experience.
Meadow & Canyon
The mountain village is not the only hospitality game in town – far from it. East of the ski mountain is a relatively flat area in the alpine valley known as the “meadow” village. Braided with small tributaries that feed the mighty Gallatin River, the meadow is also where you’ll find Big Sky Town Center (bigskytowncenter.com), a modern, high-end auxiliary settlement in the vein of Telluride’s Mountain Village or Jackson Hole’s Teton Village.
Besides the usual retinue of grocery stores and amenities, Town Center has two boutique hotels – the Marriott-Bonvoy-aligned The Wilson Hotel (145 Town Center Ave., 406-995-9000, thewilsonhotel.com) and lodge-style Gravity Haus Big Sky (88 Big Pine Dr., 406-668-0025, gravityhaus.com) – and serves as the epicenter of Big Sky’s chef-driven food scene. Exhibit A: Block 3 Kitchen & Bar, located at The Wilson Hotel, where dishes such as tartare of red deer (deliciously animated in an eggy French mustard sauce called gribiche and sprinkled with potato chips) and bison pot pie (baked in a fennel-kissed gravy of sweet peas, asparagus and summer squash) put a deft culinary spin on Montana’s typical game-meat-driven menus.
Not that I’ve the slightest problem with Big Sky’s regional preoccupation with bison, deer and other hunt-able proteins. This place is the Disneyland of game. And it’s no coincidence that our most memorable Big Sky meal takes place at Horn & Cantle, a lodge-style, log-construction restaurant with 30-foot ceilings and antler chandeliers, set at a guest ranch just outside Town Center called Lone Mountain Ranch (750 Lone Mountain Ranch Rd., 406-995-4644, lonemountainranch.com).
Offering rustic protein cuts in virtually every permutation you can imagine – from elk meatballs to bison Bolognese – the restaurant makes nary a misstep. My bison filet, seared just enough to forge a salty outer mantle, concealing just a bit of spice underneath, is pure carnivorous pleasure.
As we leave, I admire Lone Mountain’s guest cabins set in a tidy creek canyon, only a few minutes’ drive from the slopes. The set-up is reminiscent of L’Auberge at Oak Creek in Sedona, and it occurs to me that this dude ranch would make for a superb summer visit, after the snow melts and the creek-side cabins can be properly appreciated (see sidebar).
Not that you need to wait for warm weather to fully savor Big Sky’s outdoor bounty. Venturing south from the meadow village, we arrive for a date with fishing outfitter Gallatin River Guides (47430 Gallatin Rd., 406-995-2290, montanaflyfishing.com) in Big Sky’s rugged “canyon village” – so named for the wide canyon carved into the wilderness by the Gallatin, which flows off the Rockies to form the headwaters of the Missouri River.
Fly-fishing is the core competency of Gallatin River Guides – and their sage guidance (and rentable dry-suits) are particularly welcome in the winter, when a minor misstep or poorly chosen cast spot can turn a potentially idyllic morning into a frozen, limb-benumbing nonstarter. Thankfully, our GRG guide is aces. Driving us about 10 minutes from the ship to a bend in the river that he suspects will yield some bites, he hands us our pre-tied rods, shows us where to stand in the icy water, provides some simple casting advice (“Stop at 10 o’clock and let the line follow through”) and sets us loose.
And, yes, the haul is copious: pink-streaked rainbow trout, yellow-hued browns, even a few elliptical mountain white fish. We catch (and release) more than a dozen of them. But even more rewarding: The rugged, dumbfounding beauty of the flowing river, so infinitely animated in motion and light, under bright winter sunlight teased by fast-moving clouds. The sounds, the rhythms, the freezing water. It’s intense and indelible.
Inevitably, one of us does fall into the water, and we cut the fishing a bit short. But the high doesn’t leave us for the rest of the trip.
The Mountain, Redux
Bless them, the activity managers at Big Sky Resort don’t try to boot you from the mountain once the sun goes down. Quite the opposite – they’re always devising ways to lure you back onto it.
During the winter, the resort unveils Enchanted Forest, a walkable trail of more than 10,000 electric lights set high on the mountain. Wending through stands of fir trees, the kilometer-long lumenal path is the stuff of German folktales, magical and slightly creepy all at once, culminating in hot chocolate around an outdoor fireplace. Despite the sub-freezing temps, getting to the aerie-like attraction is not painful – you get there via the cutting-edge Ramcharger 8 lift, with heated seats and weatherproof bubbles.
Also worth the journey: Visiting the 11,166-foot summit of Lone Peak, via a new tram lift that was unveiled in 2023. The views of Gallatin County are unbeatable, and the black-diamond ski runs are supposed to be transcendent, too – not that we’d know. Blue squares only for our crew.
Still, the best view involving Lone Peak proves ultimately to be the alpenglow money shot on our Sno-Cat ride to the Montana Yurt Dinner Experience – like Enchanted Forest, sequestered high in the pines of this glorious Montana mountain range.
Two hours and change later, we make the return trip down the mountain, piled on top of the Sno-Cat again, replete with French onion soup and filet mignon. A little colder this time, a lot darker.
It makes me wish the Scandinavians could bottle alpenglow, somehow.
Big Sky Summer
According to locals, summer is the true high season in Big Sky. Find the main highlights below.
Golf
Though fully camouflaged during ski season, Big Sky Resort’s 18-hole championship golf course – splayed under Lone Peak – is majorly enticing for links enthusiasts come May.
Scenic Lift Rides
Just because the snow is gone doesn’t mean the lifts stop. Hiking, mountain biking and disc golf are just a few of the high-elevation delights that snowmelt reveals in the summer.
Yellowstone National Park
Though technically open year-round, access to America’s premier national park is severely restricted and condition-dependent in the winter. Summer is the time to see Old Faithful and friends.
Getting There
American and Southwest airlines fly direct from Sky Harbor to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport year-round. Alternately, Allegiant flies direct from Mesa-Gateway.
New Luxury Option: One&Only Moonlight Basin
Big Sky’s one-percenter residents use the Yellowstone Club and its private lifts to access the ski mountain. The rest of us stay in the mountain village. Somewhere in between is this adjacent ultra-elite resort and spa from the esteemed Dubai-based hospitality group One&Only Resorts. Ameniites include three elite dining options and a world-class spa. oneandonlyresorts.com
