Skiing - Montana - Big Sky and Moonlight Basin 2005
It was such a treat to enjoy the fresh powder at Big Sky!
Lone Mountain is the hallmark of Big Sky. At over 11,000 feet it towers over the resort. This picture was taken at 6:30 a.m. just as the sun was peeking over the horizon in the east. This was one of only 2 days out of 7 that we got to see this beautiful peak, most of the time it was socked in by clouds. However, those clouds brought snow nearly every day!
Big Sky Resort held the first annual Boat Luge while we were there. It was quite comical to see the kayaks, inner tubes, rafts, and other "questionable" snow vehicles work their way down the luge course. The kids on top of the snow bank threw snowballs at the participants, despite the pleas from the announcer to stop!
Bighorn Sheep; Ovis canadensis
We saw these Bighorn Sheep rams along the road on our trip back to the Bozeman airport. They are attracted to the salt used to melt the snow on the road. One man called these "curly horned goats"! Sometimes it is difficult to keep a straight face when I hear comments like that!
We had great views from the slopes of Moonlight Basin until the snow moved back in. The area is being highly developed with high-priced vacation homes which can be seen in the valley.
A view from the slopes of Moonlight Basin.
The groomers had just finished a long night of making fresh corduroy on the slopes at Big Sky. Too bad it was the day we had to leave!
This old guy looked like he had spent a few too many days in the mountains! He "greeted" visitors at one of the hut cafes at Moonlight Basin. He was just a mannikin, but he had a resort employee's name tag!
Elk; Wapiti; Cervus canadensis
There are lots of elk at Yellowstone, they come down into the valley in the winter. The males lose their antlers in the winter.
Mammoth hotsprings at Yellowstone.
Yellowstone National Park was open at just the north entrance in late March.
I liked to get in the powder to practice, we don't get much of this in Tennessee!
The base at Big Sky has a luxury lodge, a cafeteria, restaurants, and many shops.
I celebrated my "over-the-hill" birthday at Big Sky. I decided to try the half-pipe (sort of!) for my big challenge! The resort had just received its' new half-pipe cutter from Switzerland the week before we arrived.
A view from the shuttlebus on a MT Highway.
Moonlight Basin is located next to Big Sky Resort. If you stay at Big Sky you can ride a shuttle to Moonlight and ski all day, at the end of the day you can ski back to Big Sky!
One nice aspect of Moonlight Basin is the lack of crowds! :) We skied these trails and saw just a couple of other people!
On one of our free days we decided to try snowshoeing. What a way to rest your legs! :) It was our first time on snowshoes. We rented them from Moonlight Basin resort. The pole in the snowbank shows how deep the snow was off the trail. The trail was packed, so we didn't sink.
This little brown mouse ran next to me and snuggled down into a snowboarder's footprint in one of the bowls. That was quite a surprise!
The entrance gate at Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was the first national park in the US.
This section of the hotsprings is "dead", it no longer flows (which explains why there is snow on the steps). Steam can be seen from an active spring in the distance.
A pretty waterfall at Yellowstone.
I stepped off the trail at Big Sky while watching the Boat Luge, the snow was very deep!
A kayaker zooms down the Big Sky Boat Luge run.
Skiers can catch a ride on the Big Sky shuttle from the parking lot or the Mountain Inn. The road was very icy from the frequent snows, so it was safer to ride the shuttle than try to walk in ski boots!
There are no lift lines at Moonlight Basin! This lift is shared by both Big Sky and Moonlight Basin.
We enjoyed deep fresh powder at Moonlight Basin. It was well-groomed too, so we could bail out. We aren't used to skiing in powder much deeper than 2 inches in Tennessee!
A beautiful view of a dead tree at Moonlight Basin.
The trail was a 3-mile loop that had been trekked on earlier, so it wasn't too hard to traverse. I got pretty warm from the exercise, I had to unzip my jacket.
Yellowstone National Park has lots of bison that can be seen from the road. There wasn't much snow due to a drought year.
The hotsprings in Yellowstone have many different colors due to the bacteria and algae growing in the water.
North American Black-billed Magpie
Pica hudsonia Magpies are common in the Rockies. They look like large black and white crows. We saw this one in the parking lot in Yellowstone.
Kris and Ken at Big Sky. This was one of the few clear, snow-free moments we enjoyed there.
The rafts had a hard time going very far down the run due to the fresh snow, maybe they need to stick to rivers! :)
Ken and I skiied at Big Sky Resort in southwest Montana during March 2005. It was our first time to ski in MT. After an unusually dry spell with very little snow, we were delighted to get nearly 3 feet of snow during the week we were there!
The base lodge at Moonlight Basin resort is very nice. This resort, which is next to Big Sky, is in its second year (in 2005). In 2006 Big Sky and Moonlight Basin finally cooperated with each other and started offering a dual-resort ticket deal.
There were 2 nice ungroomed bowls at Moonlight Basin.
Montana geology is interesting. We saw these volcano dikes along the road on our way back from Yellowstone.
Soldiers' chapel is located in the town of Big Sky. The backdrop of Lone Mountain in the distance added to the beauty of the scenery.
This coyote was seen next to the road, I took this picture from the van window at Yellowstone National Park. Coyotes are omnivores, they will eat plants, animals, carrion, and even pets.
A small tree is enveloped by travertine and shrouded in fog at Mammoth hot springs in Yellowstone. This mineral is formed by the decomposition of limestone by the hot acidic water. The mineral precipitates out of the water forming the famous stepped springs.
Pronghorns (a.k.a. "antelope") are numerous in Yellowstone and the Tetons. We saw these just outside the park.