Sunday, January 2, 2011

For New Year's eve some friends and I got a suite for a couple of days up at Big Sky—an incredible ski resort located a bit more than an hour's drive west of Bozeman.

Big Sky differs from Bridger, our local ski hill, in a number of important ways. While the great advantage of Bridger is its proximity—only fifteen miles from Bozeman and an hour from my front door to the top of the mountain—Big Sky is a bit more difficult to get to but well worth the effort. Unlike Bridger, where we just go for the afternoon, Big Sky is a real scene—there are lots of hotels, bars, etc. Big Sky is also a bit higher than Bridger, and way brighter. It's an incredible place.

The weather was chilly—on Friday it got down to -11 (-24 Celsius) in the afternoon—but when the sun shines it always seems like a good idea to be upon on top of a mountain in the middle of winter, skiing down.

All in all, we got in three full days of skiing—we arrived in the morning on Thursday, skied all day, then checked into the room after the lifts closed. On Thursday and Friday, skiing was followed by margaritas in the suite, then extended visits to the saunas and indoor/outdoor hot tubs downstairs (discovering one another's hair was frozen was fun, though it probably seemed a lot funnier than it was) before heading back up to the suite for dinner then back down again to check out Big Sky's (semi-cheesy) night life.

All in all, it was a blast. Sometimes I just can't get over how wild and stunning Montana is.  


It was pretty hazy at first when we skied on Thursday


But by the end of the day things had brightened considerably


Big Sky had gotten ten inches of snow the night before we arrived


Sometimes I can't help stopping mid-mountain to just look around...and catch my breath


The suite was great—and with three people, a much better deal than a normal room. This photo shows about one-third of our accommodation—we also had a very serviceable kitchen, a balcony, a nice big bedroom, two bathrooms, and a murphy bed. It was great getting to cook our own food, and the margarita bar we set up came in handy, too.


View from the balcony, looking left


View from the balcony, looking right


As pretty as Bridger skiing can be, Big Sky is truly breathtaking. I still can't really believe I spent the last three days constantly looking at views like this.


Shot from the lift—even if we weren't skiing down, just taking a funicular up to the top of these mountains to see the view would be worth the trip


I was feeling very moguly this weekend, and now these moguls are feeling so sore! They were ambushed! 


From the base


Hey, they don't call it 'Big Sky' for nothing


Just another day in the northern Rockies


(searching for words)


Sometimes I feel like I'm about to ski straight off the edge of the planet




And another New Year's adventure draws slowly to an end


On the way back to Bozeman—those are the Bridger mountains in the background

Sunset behind one of Four Corners' famous four corners

And now....on to DC, where the Borderlands Lodge will be temporarily relocating for the next several months while I toil away as a research scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center. If all goes well, I start the trip on Monday.

It's a long drive Montana to DC, so you've got to hang on!




Anyway, happy new year to everyone in the Borderlands—have a great 2011! 
____