Big Sky, Big Everything
Chaos Getting to the Lifts
We woke up to a crisp 22 degrees inside the van, a reminder that winter camping isn’t for the faint of heart. Luckily we have plenty of blankets! After cranking the heater and defrosting, we headed to the resort. Big Sky makes a hell of a first impression: it took 15 minutes on the highway to drive from one end to the other, the “shuttles” are actually Rivian electric trucks pulling 15-passenger trailers, and the lifts feature heated seat cushions and wind-blocking bubbles.
The scale and beauty of the mountain is immense, though the commercial feel is a far cry from our home turf at Loveland. When I went searching for coffee, I was directed to a massive hotel only to find a line so long I had to bail to keep my friends from waiting at the lift too long!
“Let’s Split Up, Gang!”
The mountain seemed determined to split us up today. Rosalea, exhausted from the past few days of skiing and a lack of sleep, decided to trade the slopes for a rescue mission: she drove an hour back toward Jackson to retrieve my Kindle that I’d left at a gas station (pretty sweet girlfriend, amirite?).
Not five minutes later, while getting off a higher lift, Josh tweaked a tendon in his thigh. We considered leaving him at a mid-mountain igloo bar to recover, but once he saw the $22 price tag for a cocktail, he decided a beer at the base was a better remedy. And then there were two.
Monika and I headed up a different lift for some less popular terrain. After getting separated on a tricky, snowboard-unfriendly traverse, I ended up on a solo mission through some glades and then a maze of cat tracks. I eventually found myself in a quiet neighborhood of cabins far from the main base. With almost no snow on the ground, I had to walk through what felt like a ghost town until I found an old two-seater lift that slowly shuttled me back toward civilization.
After almost an hour we reunited at the bar to debrief. Between my tired legs from Jackson and the overwhelming everything at Big Sky, we decided to call it early and stay one more night to let Josh heal, then head toward Schweitzer, Idaho, to catch a storm cycle predicted for the weekend.
Evening Reset
We met Rose back at the campsite for a much-needed “adulting” afternoon, tackling a deep clean and reorganization of the van. We spent the evening in our own version of a ski lodge: Monika painted a view of Lone Peak, Josh watched Jurassic Park, I played some bass, and Rose cooked dinner. As the temps dropped again, we called it a night and hunkered down with our books. It was the perfect, low-key end to a hectic day, and just what we needed before the long haul to Northern Idaho.
