5 Days in Big Sky

The historic Huntley Lodge is the building the resort started around, and the resort lists its breakfast buffet as an iconic daily institution. It's a big, hearty American breakfast with eggs, potatoes, bacon and pastries, and it sets you up for a long first morning at 7,500 ft.

If the buffet doesn't appeal, Mocha in the Huntley next door serves coffee and pastries, and Treeline Coffee Roasters, roasted in Bozeman, has a counter in Mountain Village. Be at the lifts by 9am on a weekday and a little earlier on a weekend.

Mountain Village is the main base, and the plaza has the ticket windows, the ski school, the rental shop and the bottom of the Explorer Gondola. Parking is mostly free; in winter the farther lots are served by a shuttle that runs every few minutes between 8am and 6pm from outside the Exchange building, and lots fill on weekends, holidays and powder days.

Check how your pass works before you ride. Lift tickets include the tram; Ikon, Mountain Collective and most season passes do not, so enable Autocharge on your account today if you plan to ride it on Wednesday.

The Explorer Gondola opened in winter 2025. It's a two-stage lift with 10-person heated cabins that runs from Mountain Village to the Bowl in about 9 minutes, and the resort calls it the fastest gondola in the world at 7.1 meters per second. A mid-station serves the beginner terrain, and the top station connects to the lower terminal of the Lone Peak Tram.

The ride is the fastest way to see the geography: Lone Peak above you, Andesite Mountain behind you, the Bowl in front. Take a good look at the tram station, because that's where Wednesday starts.

Spend the rest of the day on the groomed terrain under the Bowl. Swift Current 6 and the gondola feed intermediate runs such as Calamity Jane, and a local list calls it one of the mountain's best cruisers. If you need something gentler, Mr. K, Jay Walk and the runs under the beginner mid-station are green.

This isn't a day for chasing the steeps. Ski a few long loops, notice how little time you spend in a line, and keep your legs for later in the week. At 7,500 to 9,000 ft the first day is also when altitude sneaks up on you.

Westward Social is the resort's own restaurant in Mountain Village, with lunch, dinner and après, elevated Montana comfort food and craft cocktails. It's an easy first-night dinner because you can walk from your room or the lifts.

Book ahead on holiday weeks. If the plan is to get to bed early, grab a drink at the Umbrella Bar, the resort's all-glass European-style après spot with 360-degree views, and leave the big dinner for later in the week.

Ramcharger 8 was the first eight-place chairlift in North America, and the first with Doppelmayr's direct drive. It has heated seats and a blue bubble you pull down when it's windy. The ride takes 4.5 minutes and climbs 1,160 ft toward the top of Andesite Mountain.

The resort sells an add-on that gets you onto the lift an hour before the mountain opens. It's a splurge, but on a clear powder morning it's the best 45 USD you can spend: first tracks on groomed runs with almost nobody around. Only worth it if you're a morning person.

Thunder Wolf climbs the east face of Andesite Mountain and Southern Comfort serves the south side, and between them are the long intermediate runs that make Andesite's best cruising: Elk Park Ridge, Big Horn and Madison Avenue. Wide, fast and often empty at 10am.

If you want to see how a Montana grooming operation looks when it's done well, this is it. The runs stay consistent long after other areas have bumped up.

Everett's 8800 is the resort's fine dining restaurant at 8,800 ft atop Andesite Mountain. The resort describes it as a curated fine dining experience and notes that reservations are required. It's a sit-down lunch with real plates and a view of Lone Peak, so it's a very different thing from a cafeteria burger.

For a cheaper lunch, ski back to the Mountain Village and eat at Vista Hall, the resort's food hall with seven cuisines, or at the Carabiner Lounge patio. Don't go to Everett's with a ski-boot crowd that wants to be out by 12.

After lunch, find the trees. Blackfoot and Congo are the glades to look for, and the lower Andesite slopes hold Ambush, Safari and other tree runs. They're sheltered from wind and flat light, which makes them the right choice for a stormy afternoon.

The mountain's own list shows Mad Wolf and Crazy Raven as the moguls, and Snake Pit as expert terrain on the east side. If you want a challenge without the tram, Snake Pit is the east side's answer. Rocks are not always well marked off the groomers, so slow down in new snow.

Town Center is the nearest thing Big Sky has to a main street: a cluster of restaurants, bars, a grocery and a few outdoor shops about 6.5 miles (10 km) and 12 minutes from Mountain Village, with Meadow Village a short drive away. The Skyline Bus links it to the mountain for free.

Don't expect a historic town, because the whole place is younger than most of its visitors. The ranch that Chet Huntley turned into a ski resort in the early 1970s became a town only slowly, and it still has the feel of a resort that's been built in a hurry.

Beehive Basin Brewery is the local taproom, at 245 Town Center Avenue, and its page lists it open daily from noon to 9pm. It has a handful of house beers and a short rotating list, and its page mentions food trucks at events rather than a kitchen, so plan to bring food.

Order a pint and a slice from Pinky G's a short walk away (see Wednesday), or take something from the Hungry Moose Market and Deli. It's the sort of low-key local place that Big Sky doesn't have many of.

The current tram was installed in 2023, 50 years after the resort opened. It replaced a 1995 tram whose lower station sat on an active rock glacier and was slowly drifting out of place. Two cabins carry up to 75 people each, travel at 10 meters per second and climb 2,142 ft to the summit in just under 4 minutes.

The money part matters. A lift ticket includes the tram for the day. Ikon, Mountain Collective and most season passes don't, so each ride is charged to your card at the gate by Autocharge, between 10 and 40+ USD (9-36 EUR) at rates the resort posts after 9am each day. Add up your laps before you decide.

Kircliff is the glass observatory at the summit of Lone Peak, 11,166 ft above sea level, with 360-degree views across the Madison Range. The tram ride grants entry, so skiers and snowboarders can step inside; walking guests need a scenic ticket, which the resort lists as coming soon for winter 2026/27.

It's a good place for a photo and a rest before you drop in. Wind can be savage at the top, so zip up and put your goggles on.

Most of what the tram opens is black or double black, and it's genuinely steep: the Gullies, Liberty Bowl, Marx and Lenin, Dictator Chutes and the Big Couloir all start from the summit ridge. Ski patrol controls the access, and the Big Couloir has its own sign-out at the top: secondary sources agree on a sign-out, a beacon and a partner, while shovel and probe are reported as required or only recommended, so ask patrol before you go.

The resort's safety page is blunt about the rest: the alpine terrain has real avalanche risk and there are two backcountry gates off the top of Lone Peak. If the descent looks beyond you, ride the tram back down. Nobody will think less of you.

The Iglu is a bar carved from snow and ice at the lower tram terminal, with seats for 60 inside and more outside under Lone Peak. The resort lists drinks and après only: champagne, Montana craft beer, specialty drinks and hot cocoa. It's a place to warm up and compare notes with whoever just came down the Gullies, not a lunch stop.

For food, ski down to Vista Hall in Mountain Village, the food hall with seven cuisines, or sit on the Carabiner Lounge patio, which has its own view of Lone Peak. Both are quicker than the sit-down restaurants.

Shedhorn, a high-speed quad on the lower south face of Lone Mountain, and Dakota, a triple chair further west, serve a quieter sun-warmed side of the peak. Runs such as Dakota Gully, Screaming Left and Yellow Mule are advanced, and the sunny exposure helps in the afternoon.

It's a good place to finish if the summit was busy or windy. Most of Big Sky faces north or east, so the south side is the exception and gets the sun.

Pinky G's makes New York-style pizza by the slice in Town Center, at 47 Town Center. Its page lists the Big Sky shop open daily from noon to 8pm, with hand-tossed pies and a featured pizza with spicy sausage, buffalo mozzarella and basil.

After a day on the tram, a hot slice is more satisfying than a three-course dinner. A pie plus a beer a short walk away at Beehive Basin Brewery is a very good evening.

Moonlight Basin and Big Sky shared a north-facing slope of Lone Mountain for years as separate resorts, and in October 2013 Big Sky bought the Moonlight terrain and merged it into one mountain. The Madison base, at 7,400 ft, is the old Moonlight side's main entrance, with its own parking, lessons and food.

It's a smaller, quieter base than Mountain Village, with its own ticket and lesson offices and a slopeside grill.

Madison 8 replaced the Six Shooter lift in 2024 and nearly doubled its capacity. It's an 8-minute ride and the longest eight-place lift in the world according to the resort, with heated seats and a blue bubble. It climbs 1,846 ft from the Madison base toward the north side of Lone Mountain.

From the top you can lap Powder River, Park Avenue and the other blue runs that Moonlight skis best. Moonlight and Bad Dog are the moguls a local list names, and they're a fine workout if you like bumps.

Headwaters Grille is the resort's slopeside bar, grill and patio at the Madison base. It's close enough to the lifts that you can ski to the door, and it is a simpler and often quieter lunch than the Mountain Village restaurants.

A burger or a bowl of chili with a beer on the patio is the whole plan. If you've been out since the first chair, this is where you take a proper break before the afternoon.

Lone Tree and Challenger climb the north side toward the upper bowls, and the mountain's steeps list names Big Rock Tongue and War Dance. Horseshoe Bowl and Headwaters Bowl, on the same side, are expert terrain.

These runs are genuine advanced and expert terrain, so it's not the right afternoon for an intermediate group to split from. If you'd rather keep it easy, finish on the long blue runs back to the Madison base.

Broken Spoke is a bar and grill at 120 Big Pine Drive in Meadow Village, a few minutes from Town Center, that regional listings credit with slow-smoked brisket and pulled pork; review sites mostly list it open from about 4pm to 2am. Barbecue is not a Montana specialty the way it is in Texas, but it's a good mountain dinner.

It's the one place in the plan where the sauce, not the view, matters. Call before you go, because its winter hours aren't confirmed.

West Yellowstone is a small town of about 1,300 people just outside the park's west entrance, and in winter it becomes the base for snowcoach and snowmobile tours. It's 57 miles (92 km) and about 78 minutes from Mountain Village on US-191, which runs down the Gallatin Canyon along the Gallatin River.

Most Old Faithful tours meet and leave around 8am and return around 5pm, so plan to leave Big Sky at about 6:30am in the dark. Wildlife accounts for about a quarter of crashes on US-191, so drive the canyon slowly in the dark.

A snowcoach is a van or small bus on tracks or oversized tires, and it follows the groomed snow road from the West Entrance through the Madison and Firehole river valleys to Old Faithful, about 32 miles (51 km). Yellowstone Vacations runs Old Faithful tours from West Yellowstone from 15 December to 15 March, leaving around 8am and returning around 5pm.

Expect to stop for bison, elk and the steam rising off the rivers. Book early for weekends and holidays, and ask the operator three things: is park entry included, is lunch included, and can they pick you up in Big Sky. Park entry is usually charged on top of the tour price (another West Yellowstone operator lists 20 USD per person aged 16 to 61 and sells Old Faithful day trips from 190 USD). Visitors who live outside the US also pay a 100 USD (90 EUR) fee per person aged 16 and over on top of the standard entrance fee, tour or not, unless they hold an annual or America the Beautiful pass.

Old Faithful erupts on average every 92 minutes, with gaps between 35 and 120 minutes, so you'll almost certainly see it go. In winter the steam hangs in the cold air, frost coats the trees and the crowds of summer are gone. It was the first geyser in the park to be named, in 1870.

The visitor center and the Old Faithful Snow Lodge are the winter anchor of the area; the tour usually allows time to warm up and eat. Walk the boardwalk by the geyser if the operator allows time, and look for bison near the steaming ground.

The Old Faithful Snow Lodge is open in winter, and tours usually build in a lunch stop at or near it. Operators sometimes include a packed lunch, so ask before you buy anything.

If you're not sure, pack a sandwich from the Hungry Moose Market and Deli the evening before and bring a thermos. Food options in the park in winter are limited and the line can be long at the lodge.

After about 12 hours, a burger is the right answer. Montana Jack is the resort's craft burger and beer taphouse, with live music weekly.

It's the closest thing to a casual dinner in the resort. For something calmer, Chet's Bar & Grill is the resort's family tavern with homestyle Montana fare. If you arrive after the kitchen closes, Pinky G's in Town Center is the fallback, and Hungry Moose has sandwiches.