34 replies to this topic

[SkiBachelor]

Today I went to Big Sky Resort and took some pictures. The conditions sucked big time. There were a lot of rocks and not a whole lot of snow. The mountain was only about 50% open so I managed to get a decent amount of pictures but not the lifts I wanted. From the looks of things, the Southern Comfort Express is REALLY behind schedual. I wasn't able to hike up there because it was all roped off and I didn't feel like getting in trouble. But from what I thought I saw from the Ram Charger lift, none of the terminal skin is on, just the shell.

If you want me to post some pictures from today I can. Just name some of the lifts and I will get busy posting them.

[ccslider]

Sure, post away. I'm planning a trip there in early mid January so I hope it snows there by then!

[SkiBachelor]

Here are some pictures:

The Lone Peak Tram:
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The Lone Peak Triple:
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[SkiBachelor]

Since we got up late today, we decided to go to Moonlight Basin since Bridger Bowl is about 1.5 hours away from here at Big Sky. Anyway, when we got there the parking lot was empty and that was at 10 am even though the mountain opened at 9 am. We walked into the little lodge and bought out lift tickets and there was a buy one, get one free special going on since it was early season. After buying the tickets we walked outside and were greeted by two mountain tour guides and they said that we were the first ones to show up. So the two mountain guides came along with us to show us the mountain. I was suprised to ski empty slopes until 12 when some people started to show up but it never got to be over 20 people the entire day, not counting the employees. I felt like I was skiing the Yellowstone Club, it was pretty sick. We talked to our guide and asked them why there was hardly anyone here and he said that hardly anyone knows about Moonlight and think that it's a section of Big Sky. Also, where it's located, you wouldn't expect to find a ski area just 2 miles down the road and it looks more like a real-estate area than a ski area. Anyway, the terrain at Moonlight is really awsome even though it wasn't 100% open, it was still a lot of fun. The grooming was really good along with cover even though there is no snowmaking at Moonlight yet. I personally like Moonlight Basin a lot more than Big Sky and it's probably one of my favorite ski resorts even though it's kind of small right now but there are more lifts planned.

Another thing that amazed me was the Moonlight lodge. It's like the type of lodge you would find at Deer Valley, but probably more elegant. It was kind of sad to just see this nice big lodge completely empty except for two other skiers in there and some people who worked there eating lunch.

I will post some pictures of this place later tonight, but if you ever come to ski Big Sky, be sure to check out Moonlight, it's pratically like the Yellowstone Club and it's very weird to see the slopes empty and no lift lines.

[liftmech]

Do you happen to know which lift at Big Sky was old Chair 9 at Crystal? It would be a fixed trive, return tension lift with the big CTEC A-frame terminals (the Enterprise model, it was called). I know that it was supposed to go back up at Crystal but they were so behind in getting approval that Boyne sent it to Montana instead.

[SkiBachelor]

Yea I saw the lift today and I think I might drive to it on Thursday and get some pictures of it. The lift isn't open yet for the season and on the trail map it says that those lifts are for ski in and out purposes only, so I'm not sure if I would be able to ride them even if I skied to the base.

[Bill]

Yes, Please get pictures. This one is a big PLEASE for me. :)

[SkiBachelor]

I'll try to drive up there to get some pictures. It will be kind of hard since my aunt usually tags alogn with me when I go driving because she figures that I will be going into town while I'm just going up the road.

Well here are some pictures of Moonlight:

Here is the parking lot. As you can see there arn't very many cars.
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Here are some pictures of the Moonlight lodge. This is one really nice lodge. There is an ice skating pond on the left and a swimming pool on the right. The second picture of what the lodge looks like inside. I will get some more pictures of this lodge soon.
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Here are some pictures of the six shooter express. As you can see from the last picture, the lift turns about 1 degree near the top, like the cabriolet at the canyons.

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P.S. As you might notice, this lift has the same carrier design as used on the Eagle Peak Acc. at Willamette Pass. I noticed that these are straight and don't hurt your back but the ones at WP are curved.

[SkiBachelor]

Lone Tree Quad at Moonlight Basin:

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[SkiBachelor]

Today I went to Bridger Bowl and skied the entire mountain. That place has some pretty sweet areas to it, but I was kind of pissed about skiing over a lot of rocks under the deer park lift. I thought there was enough snow cover because there was 5 inches of new snow and i didn't see the rocks and i was pissed when i went over them. But I was able to get picturs of all the lifts except for the secret t-bar that is just above the top of the bridger lift. But I noticed that two of the riblets there were upgraded by Garaventa CTEC with new hydraulic tension stations and some electronics.

[ccslider]

Isn't the "secret Tbar" above the Bridger Lift just for ski patrol access to the ridge. I've heard that the skiing public has to hike up to earn their turns on the steep terrain above the lift served trails while patrol gets to ride. Never been there but hope to in mid January.

[SkiBachelor]

Yep, it's near the top station of the Bridger Lift and you could be right about that because I only saw one patroller riding it up while i was on the lift. It appears to be a Doppelmayr t-bar though.

[SkiBachelor]

Here are some pictures that I took at Big Sky today.

Here are some pictures of some lift mechanics moving the tram cabins of the lone peak tram to the other haul rope. My dad asked the ski patroller and he said that big sky just installed a new haul rope for it. I'm not sure why big sky is doing it this way but I think it would be logical to just take the cabins off the haul rope instead of moving it to the other side.

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Okay, here are some pictures of the Cascade lift, the former lift from Crystal I believe. This lift looks to be opening soon but I'm not sure when.

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Here is the former Majestic lift at Big Sky. As you can see the lift isn't complete yet.

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[SkiBachelor]

Here are some pictures from Bridger Bowl Ski Area

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[Bill]

If that was Rendezvous at Crystal then the Motor Room (C9 seemed bigger) is different as well as the counterweight/tension system. Otherwise the chairs and towers are a duplicate.

[liftmech]

No, the motor room seems about right. Boyne looks to have replaced the counterweright with a hydraulic ram on a pedestal; does anyone else think that looks funny? I miss that lift... spent a lot of time there as an operator and a lead. One of the cooler-looking terminals CTEC came up with, I think.
Nice to see somebody bought the Majestic and is giving it new life.

[SkiBachelor]

No one bought the Majestic lift, Boyne just relocated it like C9 from Crystal. Brighton is owned by Boyne too.

[liftmech]

Oh yeah.

[SkiBachelor]

Today I had the chance to ski Red Lodge, MT. The conditions wern't that great because the only snow they reall have was all man made and it was really icy. Anyway, while I was taking lift pictures, a lift mechanic came up to me and asked me why I was taking pictures. I told him about this site and he seemed really interested about it and said that he would take pictures of the high speed quads for me since they arn't open yet because of the lack of snow. But what was cool is that he let me ride on his snow mobile with him and he took me to some of the lifts that were closed so I could get pictures. He took me to the top of the Grizzly Peak lift and the bottom of the Midway Express lift. He also told me about the future expansion and how the Willow Creek, Midway Express and Grizzly Peak lifts will be removed and there will be a high speed quad that will run from the base to the top. I also presume the Triple chair will be replaced in the near future too.

[liftmech]

Sweet. What was the guy's name? I may see him at RMLA this May.