On Nov. 23, opening day at Big Sky Resort, I was sitting on the year-old Swift Current 6 chairlift at Big Sky Resort on my way to my second run of the season, snow still falling for a historic opening day on the 11,166-foot Lone Mountain. I watched the flurries swirl and skiers and riders below carve fresh tracks, their cries euphorious over the untracked powder, the open space and life.
“I’ve been skiing here since 1975,” the man next to me said, pulling the bar down as we settled into our 7-minute ride to the top, our behinds warmed by the heated seats. “My wife and I brought our first kid home to our little place off of East Tamarack [Street] in Bozeman. They all learned to ski here,” he said, referring to his children, now grown and moved away.
The resort has grown since then as well. As we climb up the side of the mountain on our high speed mechanical steed, the cement platform of what will be the new Tram dock appears surrounded by signs of halted construction, paused for the great blanket of snow that will sit until next summer. Below, the fixed grip Explorer, the last original chairlift on the mountain that greeted people for the opening season in 1973, chugs away for a last winter.
After some back and forth about housing prices and what used to be dirt roads-now-paved, the gentleman and I agreed on one thing—that no matter the change, skiing in Big Sky always makes for a good day spent.
That’s the lens through which we’d like to celebrate in this sixth issue of VIEWS. magazine—what it still means to be a good neighbor, even if there are a few more of them.
Happy reading and enjoy the VIEWS.
Mira Brody
Managing Editor
