The owners of Big Sky Resort in Montana have announced a huge spending plan over the next decade that will see a complete overhaul of the area’s ski lifts, expansion and improvements of the resort base and the resort re-take the title of ‘biggest lift served vertical in the US.’
Big Sky is currently the second biggest ski area in the US and third in North America according to official measurements based on skiable acres. It was the largest in the US for a period after it purchased the former Moonlight Basin ski area next to it but lost that title when Vail Resort purchased and merged Park City Mountain Resort and The Canyons resorts in Utah last season.
Prior to that big sky also had the biggest lift-served vertical in the US for a period too, but lost that title by a few feet to Snowmass in Colorado when it built a high altitude drag lift.
The Big Sky 2025 (bigsky2025.com) project envisages a new lift “to achieve 4500 vertical feet for the most lift-served in US” is envisaged in the mid-term of the investment plans. This equates to at least 1370m – substantially ahead of Snowmass and third in North America behind BC’s Whistler and Revelstoke in Canada.
Other plans, laid out in three phases, include replacing most of Big Sky’s lifts with six-seater chairlifts or adding conveyor loading for faster operations of existing lifts; a new North Village Gondola, more on mountain dining, expanded snowmaking, a High Alpine zipline tour and a mountain coaster.
Beyond replacements, expansion plans in the long term includes Headwaters extension, a new lift on the South Face, a new lift near Moonlight Lodge and a Moonlight expansion lift whilst the ski resort itself will expand to the north.
