feb 18-24, 2006, Big Mountain, Montana

Apart from Amtrak being completely unreliable in both directions this is a great trip. Just roll with the flow for the train ride and don't have too many expactations about their timing and all will be well.<br><br>Arrived early in the morning and had the entire family - all five - on the hill by 11am Saturday under blue skies and very cold temps in the 10 degree range.<br><br>The next days provided 5-12 inches of new powder and temps in the 20's each day which could be enjoyed on top of impeccably groomed and LONG runs or in any number of tree lines and less travelled routes. <br><br>They have a nifty little cat skiing operation in which we partook on Wednesday. They combine lift rides with cat rides which means you never wait for the cat. Many gorgeous, steep, deep and untracked lines mostly in reasonably spaced trees for a total of about 12,000 vert that day. Many face shots.<br><br>Thursday I accidentally happened onto their free mountain tour with my older two sons who are 7 & 11 and good intermediate skiers. The 'ambassador', once he saw there was a certain level of competence, showed us a bunch of runs that seemed known by only a few, and the three of us put in a total of nearly 24,000 feet in nearly all powder conditions. Not bad for a 7 and 11 year old (not to mention me) and they were grinning until the very end! The guide said he'd never been able to take kids on those runs before. Yeah, I was pretty proud of them. Wish I had done the tour the first day as there were many runs I would have liked to repeat that were enough off the radar we hadn't spotted them earlier in the week.<br><br>Highly recommended as a family or hard-core destination. Nice people, reasonable prices and great powder snow. LOTS of terrain and variety. If anyone needs any intel feel free to PM or email.

Apart from Amtrak being completely unreliable in both directions

<br>No surprise here...<br><br><br>Nice report, I'm glad you had a good time. Big Mountain is definitely one of my favorite ski areas. Lots of powder, and great, long, untracked runs. It's not too crowded, and lots of nice people too.<br>