January 27-28, 2016 Big Sky, MT

It has been a year since our last visit to Big Sky. We used our MAX Passes to get our free tickets.  They have changed the ticket operation so that you have to get a new wicket ticket daily.  They don't use the RFID system now due to folks selling their MAX Pass card.  It is interesting to see the change from wicket to RFID and back to wicket – don't know if all MAX Pass areas are doing that or just Big Sky. 

The ski area was very quiet and it was great.  All the terrain was open, and we just followed the packed powder groomers.  On the 27th the top of Lone Mt. was covered by clouds.  On the 28th it was sunny and breezy.  You could see a few skiers/boarders dropping into a couple of chutes that had some coverage.  Most of the chutes needed more coverage, but some  “out of the area” folks (not locals) were going down, often then side steeping until they found suitable exits in the chute.

The first day we skied at the Mountain Village area, and we saw only 1 or 2 folks on the trail.  We followed the sun as we skied the area.  On the 28th we drove to Madison Base, i.e. Moonlight Basin.  It's about a 3-mile drive.  The elevation is about the same elevation as at the Mountain Village. We arrived at 8:45am and were the second vehicle in the parking lot, and had to walk all of  30 feet to put on our skis.  We received our free day pass and skied down to the Six Shooter 6-seat express.  There were no other skiers/boarders, 2 employees to scan our tickets, and a liftie at the loading spot.  We skied all of the groomers on the Moonlight side.  Big Sky is BIG, BIG, BIG; their trail maps and signs all say  “The Biggest Skiing in America”.  You can spend days skiing the resort, and their grooming is fantastic.