Ski Resorts in Montana

[AsheanMT]

Disco whoops Snowbowl and Lost Trail's ass for terrain.

[Rasputin]

Thats what makes it rad?!?! It doesn't matter if SOME don't like it cause its filled with people who don't go anywhere else. Snowbowl does have some of the best terrain in Montana but the snow can suck big time (its like skiing on wood) and that added in with the clusterfuck of missoulians at the bottom can make for a shitty day.

Not to be critical, but it really sounds like you only skied there on Saturdays (which DO suck ridiculously bad sometimes), because on the weekdays the place is a ghost town.

As for the snow, yes Snowbowl is the only place in Montana where there are ever any bad conditions. The snow is ALWAYS like wood.

[RootSkier]

saturdays kill it because it's all gaper families. i've definitely had some of the best days at the bowl on weekends. let's not even talk about sundays.

[CountryFunk]

Let's face it - snow has been spotty at all the areas for awhile now - it's just that some of the areas have active cheerleading squads touting how great they are, and some don't.

[AsheanMT]

Your mom whoops Lost Trail for terrain.

Being that I just got my mom skiing for the first time in her 53 years of life at Lost Trail. My mom does whoop Lost Trail terrain.


Don't get me wrong, LT is prolly my favorite place in Montana due to its laid back tude and awesome pow (although last year sucked) but the terrain at LT is super mellow. Sure there are a couple spots where its steep but only for like 400 or 500 hundred vert.

[RootSkier]

Let's face it - snow has been spotty at all the areas for awhile now - it's just that some of the areas have active cheerleading squads touting how great they are, and some don't.

No doubt. But your rant almost makes it worth it.

You're not uncle crud, are you? If not, you should post more.

[CountryFunk]

No, not Uncle Crud.

If you think I'm cranky now you should see me in Dec. when CA, UT, CO, BC, ID all have snow and we're still looking at frozen snow from Oct.!

Not this year though, we're due. Uh, not to jinx anything or nuthin'.

[Rasputin]

It's a good thing Snowbowl has as much vert as it does, that way you only have to ski on mush in the rain for the second half of your run. I've heard it's good on a good pow-day, but how many of those does it get? Yeah, yeah, I've heard about that great powder day back in '88 about 25 times now, shut the fuck up!

After 14 years on living up here I've got to say there's a good reason why most MT ski areas are still Mom and Pop operations - it's because the skiing is consistantly shitty. If there was a consistant snowpack here there would be big commercial developments.

Don't talk to me about Big Sky - it was developed so that people from the mid-west could come out and feel good about themselves at the bar afterwards while they boast to their fat-ass buddies about "dropping into this shot" on a low-level blue square cruiser. Other than the tram, what the fuck is so great about pig sty unless you like 50 yd wide buffed low-angle highways? Ever ski the tram on a busy day? What a waste of time. Of course, if there's snow, and it's there's not many people there it can be great, but how often do those two stars align? It's a place for people without skiing skills to come a drop a shitload of cash and feel good about themselves.

Bridger Bowl - Easily the most overrated ski area I have ever been to. Put the fucking chairlift up to the top of the Ridge! Lift-served terrain is a generally a short vertical drop to a long slog over the flats to the bottom of the lift. Follow that up with a long slow chairlift ride back over those same flats for another tiny little shot of vertical. Or, you can join the groove-army and hike up the ridge for a sanitized "backcountry" experience on avalanche-controlled, patrolled terrain. Eat up the whole morning or afternoon for about 3 runs. If I wanted to bc ski why would I buy a lift ticket and go somewhere where hoards of trustafarians rip up the powder by noon? Apparently the best thing about it is that you get to wear your beacon and shovel on the lifts and around the lodge to let all the other groover a-holes know what a rad skier you are. I fucking hate that Bozeman hipster scene ...

Which leads us to Snowbowl. Shitty warm snow, the slowest shittiest, unreliable lifts in the state (and that's saying something), and maybe some good terrain if you know where you're going. The Missoula hipster scene rivals Bozeman's in its ability to turn your stomach. Can't these people move beyond the fact that they weren't in the cool clique in high school and get on with their lives? There's this faux local ski-bum scene going on at BB, SnowBowl, and even The Great Divide (which is a total fucking joke of a "hill") that their respective hill is the bitchin'est, and that therefore simply skiing there a lot somehow makes them rad skiers. When in reality they are all (except for the GD which is lame no matter how you slice it) pretty medicore hills unless all the stars line up and you have a good base, with a good amount of fresh snow on top. If you really live to ski so much - go somewhere where it snow fer chrissakes

Swear to God - people out here refer to 6" of new as "a dump" Fuck me.
Of course it's great on a great snow day - what fucking ski area sucks on a great snow dayt?

Big Mountain - FogHorn Leghorn? Hope you like skiing on cat trails, 'cuz that's a lot of what you'll be doing in between relatively short vert sections.

Lost Trail - Can't say nothing bad about it. It is what it is, and it doesn't try and pretend otherwise.

Disco - ditto.


If it doesn't snow up here this year I'm going to lose my shit ...

This was pretty funny.

[hialtitude]

Going to have to go ahead and disagree with the statement,"snowbowl has some of the best terrain in montana" It is a far distant fourth or fifth behind Big Sky, Big Mountain, Bridger and perhaps Lost trail.

What the fuck are you talking about?!?

Lost Trail? Better terrain than Snowbowl? Blow it out your ass.

And Big Mountain is now Whitefish Mountain, no?

[RootSkier]

Only rich fucknobs are calling it that. Jeez, get with the program.

[hialtitude]

Ok, geez. I will only shout it from the sunroof of my Hummer from now on.

[baseWeldr]

This was pretty funny.

damn I think countryfunk just pwn3d this thread... wouldn't be so funny if it weren't so true

[hialtitude]

It's a good thing Snowbowl has as much vert as it does, that way you only have to ski on mush in the rain for the second half of your run. I've heard it's good on a good pow-day, but how many of those does it get? Yeah, yeah, I've heard about that great powder day back in '88 about 25 times now, shut the fuck up!

After 14 years on living up here I've got to say there's a good reason why most MT ski areas are still Mom and Pop operations - it's because the skiing is consistantly shitty. If there was a consistant snowpack here there would be big commercial developments.

Don't talk to me about Big Sky - it was developed so that people from the mid-west could come out and feel good about themselves at the bar afterwards while they boast to their fat-ass buddies about "dropping into this shot" on a low-level blue square cruiser. Other than the tram, what the fuck is so great about pig sty unless you like 50 yd wide buffed low-angle highways? Ever ski the tram on a busy day? What a waste of time. Of course, if there's snow, and it's there's not many people there it can be great, but how often do those two stars align? It's a place for people without skiing skills to come a drop a shitload of cash and feel good about themselves.

Bridger Bowl - Easily the most overrated ski area I have ever been to. Put the fucking chairlift up to the top of the Ridge! Lift-served terrain is a generally a short vertical drop to a long slog over the flats to the bottom of the lift. Follow that up with a long slow chairlift ride back over those same flats for another tiny little shot of vertical. Or, you can join the groove-army and hike up the ridge for a sanitized "backcountry" experience on avalanche-controlled, patrolled terrain. Eat up the whole morning or afternoon for about 3 runs. If I wanted to bc ski why would I buy a lift ticket and go somewhere where hoards of trustafarians rip up the powder by noon? Apparently the best thing about it is that you get to wear your beacon and shovel on the lifts and around the lodge to let all the other groover a-holes know what a rad skier you are. I fucking hate that Bozeman hipster scene ...

Which leads us to Snowbowl. Shitty warm snow, the slowest shittiest, unreliable lifts in the state (and that's saying something), and maybe some good terrain if you know where you're going. The Missoula hipster scene rivals Bozeman's in its ability to turn your stomach. Can't these people move beyond the fact that they weren't in the cool clique in high school and get on with their lives? There's this faux local ski-bum scene going on at BB, SnowBowl, and even The Great Divide (which is a total fucking joke of a "hill") that their respective hill is the bitchin'est, and that therefore simply skiing there a lot somehow makes them rad skiers. When in reality they are all (except for the GD which is lame no matter how you slice it) pretty medicore hills unless all the stars line up and you have a good base, with a good amount of fresh snow on top. If you really live to ski so much - go somewhere where it snow fer chrissakes

Swear to God - people out here refer to 6" of new as "a dump" Fuck me.
Of course it's great on a great snow day - what fucking ski area sucks on a great snow dayt?

Big Mountain - FogHorn Leghorn? Hope you like skiing on cat trails, 'cuz that's a lot of what you'll be doing in between relatively short vert sections.

Lost Trail - Can't say nothing bad about it. It is what it is, and it doesn't try and pretend otherwise.

Disco - ditto.


If it doesn't snow up here this year I'm going to lose my shit ...

[Gripen]

And Big Mountain is now Whitefish Mountain, no?

I hate the name change....

First person that calls it that to my face gets a free kick in the nuts.

Next thing you know they will changes the names of all the runs in Hell and rename the Ho Chi Minh Trail... oops, already did that too.

And the CountryFuck post was kinda funny, there was certainly an ounce of truth in there...

[CountryFunk]

I'm not gonna weigh in on how funny it was, but there was way more than an ounce of truth in that rant.

Yeah, I'm a JONG, what is pwn3D?

I come from a long line of Douche Bags. Lord and Lady Douche Bag to be specific ...

[hialtitude]

I'm not saying none of it was true, or that it wasn't funny.

It cut deep, and reflexes told me to deflect... douche

[AsheanMT]

I'm not gonna weigh in on how funny it was, but there was way more than an ounce of truth in that rant.

Yeah, I'm a JONG, what is pwn3D?

I come from a long line of Douche Bags. Lord and Lady Douche Bag to be specific ...

HERE ya go JONG.

and I agree, you did pwn3D this mothufuckin thread.

[CountryFunk]

Thanks, and thanks.

[mtcham]

It's a good thing Snowbowl has as much vert as it does, that way you only have to ski on mush in the rain for the second half of your run. I've heard it's good on a good pow-day, but how many of those does it get? Yeah, yeah, I've heard about that great powder day back in '88 about 25 times now, shut the fuck up!

After 14 years on living up here I've got to say there's a good reason why most MT ski areas are still Mom and Pop operations - it's because the skiing is consistantly shitty. If there was a consistant snowpack here there would be big commercial developments.

Don't talk to me about Big Sky - it was developed so that people from the mid-west could come out and feel good about themselves at the bar afterwards while they boast to their fat-ass buddies about "dropping into this shot" on a low-level blue square cruiser. Other than the tram, what the fuck is so great about pig sty unless you like 50 yd wide buffed low-angle highways? Ever ski the tram on a busy day? What a waste of time. Of course, if there's snow, and it's there's not many people there it can be great, but how often do those two stars align? It's a place for people without skiing skills to come a drop a shitload of cash and feel good about themselves.

Bridger Bowl - Easily the most overrated ski area I have ever been to. Put the fucking chairlift up to the top of the Ridge! Lift-served terrain is a generally a short vertical drop to a long slog over the flats to the bottom of the lift. Follow that up with a long slow chairlift ride back over those same flats for another tiny little shot of vertical. Or, you can join the groove-army and hike up the ridge for a sanitized "backcountry" experience on avalanche-controlled, patrolled terrain. Eat up the whole morning or afternoon for about 3 runs. If I wanted to bc ski why would I buy a lift ticket and go somewhere where hoards of trustafarians rip up the powder by noon? Apparently the best thing about it is that you get to wear your beacon and shovel on the lifts and around the lodge to let all the other groover a-holes know what a rad skier you are. I fucking hate that Bozeman hipster scene ...

Which leads us to Snowbowl. Shitty warm snow, the slowest shittiest, unreliable lifts in the state (and that's saying something), and maybe some good terrain if you know where you're going. The Missoula hipster scene rivals Bozeman's in its ability to turn your stomach. Can't these people move beyond the fact that they weren't in the cool clique in high school and get on with their lives? There's this faux local ski-bum scene going on at BB, SnowBowl, and even The Great Divide (which is a total fucking joke of a "hill") that their respective hill is the bitchin'est, and that therefore simply skiing there a lot somehow makes them rad skiers. When in reality they are all (except for the GD which is lame no matter how you slice it) pretty medicore hills unless all the stars line up and you have a good base, with a good amount of fresh snow on top. If you really live to ski so much - go somewhere where it snow fer chrissakes

Swear to God - people out here refer to 6" of new as "a dump" Fuck me.
Of course it's great on a great snow day - what fucking ski area sucks on a great snow dayt?

Big Mountain - FogHorn Leghorn? Hope you like skiing on cat trails, 'cuz that's a lot of what you'll be doing in between relatively short vert sections.

Lost Trail - Can't say nothing bad about it. It is what it is, and it doesn't try and pretend otherwise.

Disco - ditto.


If it doesn't snow up here this year I'm going to lose my shit ...

Nice summary.

So do you use skins or sleds or both for your skiing enjoyment???

[Sufferfest]

It's a good thing Snowbowl has as much vert as it does, that way you only have to ski on mush in the rain for the second half of your run. I've heard it's good on a good pow-day, but how many of those does it get? Yeah, yeah, I've heard about that great powder day back in '88 about 25 times now, shut the fuck up!

After 14 years on living up here I've got to say there's a good reason why most MT ski areas are still Mom and Pop operations - it's because the skiing is consistantly shitty. If there was a consistant snowpack here there would be big commercial developments.

Don't talk to me about Big Sky - it was developed so that people from the mid-west could come out and feel good about themselves at the bar afterwards while they boast to their fat-ass buddies about "dropping into this shot" on a low-level blue square cruiser. Other than the tram, what the fuck is so great about pig sty unless you like 50 yd wide buffed low-angle highways? Ever ski the tram on a busy day? What a waste of time. Of course, if there's snow, and it's there's not many people there it can be great, but how often do those two stars align? It's a place for people without skiing skills to come a drop a shitload of cash and feel good about themselves.

Bridger Bowl - Easily the most overrated ski area I have ever been to. Put the fucking chairlift up to the top of the Ridge! Lift-served terrain is a generally a short vertical drop to a long slog over the flats to the bottom of the lift. Follow that up with a long slow chairlift ride back over those same flats for another tiny little shot of vertical. Or, you can join the groove-army and hike up the ridge for a sanitized "backcountry" experience on avalanche-controlled, patrolled terrain. Eat up the whole morning or afternoon for about 3 runs. If I wanted to bc ski why would I buy a lift ticket and go somewhere where hoards of trustafarians rip up the powder by noon? Apparently the best thing about it is that you get to wear your beacon and shovel on the lifts and around the lodge to let all the other groover a-holes know what a rad skier you are. I fucking hate that Bozeman hipster scene ...

Which leads us to Snowbowl. Shitty warm snow, the slowest shittiest, unreliable lifts in the state (and that's saying something), and maybe some good terrain if you know where you're going. The Missoula hipster scene rivals Bozeman's in its ability to turn your stomach. Can't these people move beyond the fact that they weren't in the cool clique in high school and get on with their lives? There's this faux local ski-bum scene going on at BB, SnowBowl, and even The Great Divide (which is a total fucking joke of a "hill") that their respective hill is the bitchin'est, and that therefore simply skiing there a lot somehow makes them rad skiers. When in reality they are all (except for the GD which is lame no matter how you slice it) pretty medicore hills unless all the stars line up and you have a good base, with a good amount of fresh snow on top. If you really live to ski so much - go somewhere where it snow fer chrissakes

Swear to God - people out here refer to 6" of new as "a dump" Fuck me.
Of course it's great on a great snow day - what fucking ski area sucks on a great snow dayt?

Big Mountain - FogHorn Leghorn? Hope you like skiing on cat trails, 'cuz that's a lot of what you'll be doing in between relatively short vert sections.

Lost Trail - Can't say nothing bad about it. It is what it is, and it doesn't try and pretend otherwise.

Disco - ditto.


If it doesn't snow up here this year I'm going to lose my shit ...

So, shall I just not bother going to Montana? Do you work for the tourist board by the way?!

[FreakofSnow]

No doubt. But your rant almost makes it worth it.

You're not uncle crud, are you? If not, you should post more.

This was my exact thought, wow.

With any luck maybe all your tears will freeze and we'll have an epic winter

[Rasputin]

So, shall I just not bother going to Montana? Do you work for the tourist board by the way?!

He's got issues. But he does have a wry wit.

The truth is that there is an attitude at some of these little rough ski areas, given that we do have droughts sometimes, and no big dumps, and have thaw refreezes which leave the whole of the bowls a frozen coral reef, so the attitude is if you can ski this mountain well, you have the skills to ski anywhere. I've never found this to be untrue.

Paedde hit it just right when he came through here the season before last. He skied here 2 or 3 days in some of the best conditions of a pretty good season. He always uses storm tracking technologies available through the internet. You can always PM me be fore you travel, and I can give you a heads up as to the current conditions. I ski there every day, and I watch the NOAA forecast discussions as well as the jet stream, and the infared satellite.

Last year Paedde called me to see if the conditions were worthwile, and I warned him off, so I'll offer as much for you.

[Mike Pow]

Echo the good things others have said with one addition:

Turner - Big Mountain - Castle Mountain - Fernie

Of those four, the only one I've had shit turns at is the one that's bigged up for it's pow.

[Sufferfest]

He's got issues. But he does have a wry wit.

The truth is that there is an attitude at some of these little rough ski areas, given that we do have droughts sometimes, and no big dumps, and have thaw refreezes which leave the whole of the bowls a frozen coral reef, so the attitude is if you can ski this mountain well, you have the skills to ski anywhere. I've never found this to be untrue.

Paedde hit it just right when he came through here the season before last. He skied here 2 or 3 days in some of the best conditions of a pretty good season. He always uses storm tracking technologies available through the internet. You can always PM me be fore you travel, and I can give you a heads up as to the current conditions. I ski there every day, and I watch the NOAA forecast discussions as well as the jet stream, and the infared satellite.

Last year Paedde called me to see if the conditions were worthwile, and I warned him off, so I'll offer as much for you.

Cheers Rasputin, I'll definitely take you up on that!

[CountryFunk]

Alright, so I was little on edge last week ... don't let me scare you off.
Skiing can be good up here, and when it's good it's really good. And there can be more to it than just the snow.


True story of one of my favorite ski days - a few years back;

Tuesday night drops 20" of new at the Disco ( a snow report you can trust) so McBall and I agree "fuck work" and head up first thing Wed. morning.

We ski all over the backside with like, six other people until the legs are gone gone gone and head home with big shit-eatin' grins on our faces.

On the way through Anda-conda we stop at a bar for some beers. We're sitting at the bar this guy comes up and says "Hey, we've got a bunch of extra food in the back area here, if you guys are hungry come and get something to eat." Turns out they were having a wake for a co-worker who had passed away. So after the second time we get asked we head back and heap up plates with chicken, mashed potatoes, and all the trimmings, say thanks and head back to the bar.

By the time we're done gnoshing some of the folks are starting to filter out to the main bar area, and we try and get some beers for them, but they're not having it and buy us a pitcher. They come over and get our story, we get theirs and the story of their co-worker, and a few more pitchers bite the dust. I think they finally let us buy one pitcher.

So we had great snow, a mountain essentially to ourselves, a free dinner and beers, and got to meet some nice people. That's what it can be like up here when it's good.