Skiing the Rest of Lone Peak

Looking up at the Lone Peak Summit from the lower mountain.

On the previous two pages, the skiing and snowboarding possibilities that are available from the summit of Lone Peak were discussed. If you are an intermediate or beginner skier, most likely you came away with an impression – hopefully – that this area at Big Sky Resort is not for you!

Happily, the vast majority of the remaining area at Big Sky Ski Resort (the Lone Peak summit routes are only a portion of the total size of Big Sky) contains a huge mix of nice intermediate and beginner trails, with some nice expert terrain thrown in as well. This page will cover the rest of the skiing that is found on Lone Peak that IS NOT accessed from the summit.

The skiing areas on Lone Peak beneath the summit are essentially divided into four distinct areas. Each of these main areas will be discussed separately for clarity purposes. The first area, called the “Lower Mountain”, is the huge portion of Lone Peak that lies between the top of the Swift Current Express Quad and the base area down in the Mountain Village. The second section consists of the famous “Bowl” which lies beneath the summit but which does not require summit access to reach – thankfully! The third section consists of the very nice, expert level terrain accessed off the top of the Challenger double lift. And the fourth area discussed is the Iron Horse area (which is also the northern most area at Big Sky).

Area 1 : Lower Mountain

The lower half of Lone Peak contains some of the best intermediate and beginner terrain at Big Sky resort. For clarity, the lower half is defined as that part of the mountain between the top of the Gondola and Swift Current Express chairlift and the Mountain Village area. The vertical on this section of the mountain is roughly 1600 feet, depending on what lift you take up to the top (the express quad gives you about 100 extra vertical feet over the Gondola).

Both intermediate and beginner skiers will enjoy the very wide variety terrain found on this section of Big Sky. The best intermediate skiing will be found to the east of the express quad chairlift. Good intermediate ski trails to take include Calamity Jane and Lobo. Intermediate skiers will generally want to take the Swift Current Express Quad instead of the Gondola to the top since this will give you a bit more vertical and easier access to the intermediate ski trails.

Beginner skiers, meanwhile, will want to ski the many trails that are found to the east of the Gondola lift. The beginner runs on this section are all well groomed (except during a snowstorm, of course), wide and have a gentle gradient. One nice thing about the beginner ski runs found on this section at Big Sky is that they are quite long – pushing about 2 miles in length. As such, these beginner skiing trails are excellent runs for new skiers to quickly learn the basics on.

See Map of Lower Lone Peak

One thing should be noted about the lower mountain section. The very bottom of the mountain is quite flat. All the intermediate trails require a rather long, flat run off to get back down to the base area. During cold weather, this is not a problem. However, during warmer weather when the snow is soft – be sure to keep up some speed and to expect to have to do some poling as the gradient is not quite steep enough to allow for decent speed in wet, sticky snow.

Area 2 : “The Bowl” at Big Sky Resort

“The Bowl” provides some of the finest expert skiing at Big Sky in an absolute stunning environment. “The Bowl” is a massive bowl that has two steep ridge lines on either side with the summit of Lone Peak at the head. Skiing in “The Bowl” is truly a beautiful and stunning place to ski. “The Bowl” is characterized by a mix of steep and moderately steep terrain in a completely open environment as it lies above tree line.

"The Bowl" at Big Sky Resort - expert skiing paradise.

“The Bowl” gets slammed with tons of snow each year. This is due to two reasons. First, “The Bowl” sits at a very high elevation. As such, it gets lots of snow and the higher, colder elevation prevents it from melting. And secondly, huge amounts of snow get deposited into “The Bowl” due to the wind blowing snow off the summit and ridgelines around it and then dropping it into the sheltered confines of “The Bowl”. For this reason, “The Bowl” is an excellent place to powder ski during periods of snow.

See Map of "The Bowl"
See Another Map of "The Bowl" Area

The skiing in “The Bowl” is accessed off of one chairlift, the Lone Peak Triple, which has a vertical rise 830 feet. There is only a handful of designated trails in “The Bowl”, but don’t let that fool you. From the top of the Lone Peak Triple chair, you can ski virtually anywhere you want to go. And if you want to hit the real steep terrain without having to come down from the summit, take the Turkey Traverse along the South Wall and then drop down wherever you want.

There is only one intermediate trail back in the bowl, Upper Morningstar. This trail, which is generally groomed, is a nice trail that less advanced skiers will be comfortable using. That said, there are better intermediate ski trails at Big Sky than this time – although none are as scenic!

Area 3 : Challenger Area

Big Sky resort has no shortage of expert skiing. And if skiing down from the summit of Lone Peak or hitting the beautiful terrain of “The Bowl” isn’t enough, then you can always head over and ski the all-expert terrain found off the Challenger double chair. The expert terrain found off the Challenger chair is excellent, containing a huge mix of chutes, steeps, open terrain and glade skiing. It needs to be noted that there are no intermediate or beginner ski trails on this section!

The terrain off the Challenger Chairlift.

The Challenger terrain has some significant vertical, all of which is skiable, at more than 1600 vertical feet. For expert skiers who want to ski some significant vertical, have a wide variety of terrain and don’t want to wait in line at the Tram, skiing off the Challenger chairlift is an excellent place to go.

At the top of the Challenger chair, you have several options on the direction to go.

See Map of Challenger Terrain

If you want to ski some chutes, take off to the left once at the top, heading down Country Club. Initially, Country Club provides for some steep, open terrain skiing. However, this terrain soon ends, giving the skier the option of cutting down the Little Gullies trail or on another ski trail, Cache Trees. Cache Trees is a mix of light tree skiing and some chutes, while Little Gullies contains a number of steep, rocky chutes.

Glade skiing can also be found by heading to the left at the top of Challenger. The Little Tree, Zucchini Patch and Highway ski trails all head down through gladed areas, although open terrain skiing is also available just off these trails. Little Tree is rated a double diamond while the other two are rated a single diamond. Moreover, another excellent gladed area lies just beneath these trails, called St. Alphonse Trees. If you like tree skiing, be sure to take this trail. Just be warned, the trees are thicker on St. Alphonse than on the other gladed ski trails found above!

If the steeps are more your thing, you can head down right back down beneath the lift, on the Big Rock Tongue trail. This ski trail resembles a mini bowl in some ways and provides for some very steep, open terrain skiing.

Additionally, more terrain from the top of the Challenger lift opens up by going to the right. The Moonlight and Midnight ski trails cut their way down the right side of this area and are rated as a single diamond. You can also head off into the trees, too, although the trees are a bit thick off these ski trails in places. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that if you take these two trails all the way to the bottom, you’ll be unable to hop back onto the Challenger lift. These two trails merge into another single diamond trail called Bad Dog which then heads down to the bottom of the Iron Horse Quad lift and the Moonlight Basin ski lodge.

Area 4 : Iron Horse Area

The final area on the lower mountain at Big Sky resort is the Iron Horse area. The Iron Horse area is served by the Iron Horse Quad, which is a fixed-grip quad, not a high speed one. The vertical of the Iron Horse area isn’t the greatest – being only about 870 feet.

The skiing in the Iron Horse area consists of a mixed variety of single diamond and intermediate trails. The ski trails off the Iron Horse lift are nice, but there isn’t many of them – there are only really 5 trails served by this lift. Intermediate skiers will want to take off the right at the top of the lift, heading down the short but nice intermediate ski trail named Powder River. Expert skiers will want to cut left off the top of the chair, heading down either the Bad Dog ski trail or the Iron Maiden ski trail.

It should be noted that the Iron Horse chairlift is used by both skiers of Big Sky resort and the new Moonlight Basin ski area. At the top of the Iron Horse chair, be careful about going to far to the right. While signs clearly mark the border between Big Sky and Moonlight Basin, they can be easy to miss in foul weather. Also, if you happen to be over in the Iron Horse area, be sure to take your skis off and pop into the Moonlight Basin ski lodge – it is quite the lodge and from what I hear has excellent, if somewhat pricey, food.

Summary : Lower Mountain Skiing at Big Sky Resort

The lower mountain at Big Sky resort offers a huge variety of skiing that will keep any skier happy for many, many days. A beginner skier will find several excellent beginner runs that are quite long. Intermediate skiers have a nice variety of groomed trails to wander around. And expert skiers have virtually unlimited skiing possibilities in “The Bowl” and from the top of the Challenger double chairlift.

And if all this wasn’t enough, Big Sky resort has yet more skiing opportunities on Andesite Mountain, a small mountain that rises rather abruptly up from the Mountain Village area. The downhill skiing on Andesite Mountain at Big Sky Resort is discussed on the next page.

Next Page : Skiing Andesite Mountain

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