ULTIMATE COMBO: Big Sky, Moonlight offer Joint Pass
Just when you think the world is rife with antagonism and contempt, goodness shines through with the warmth of Lassie and the heroism of Luke Skywalker. Or something like that.
Last week, as Americans were hit with more distressing news about Iraq, and skiers were bamboozled with word that Jackson Hole planned to decommission its tram after next winter, Big Sky and Moonlight Basin, Montana, stepped up to the plate of kindness. Beginning this fall, the two neighboring resorts will offer a joint pass, a deal produced by years of legal discussions over a shared boundary. Skiers will now be able to descend nearly all sides of 11,166-foot Lone Peak. And with the Jackson Hole tram ostensibly going under, the move thrusts the two Montana resorts into the limelight for skiers wanting to go big off a high-mountain tram. “We’re pretty excited because there’s some mean stuff off the top of the tram,” says Big Sky public relations manager Dax Schieffer.
The two resorts share the same mountain—Lone Peak, roughly an hour from Bozeman. In the past, the resorts shared several trails and a lift but you had to purchase a ticket or season pass from each if you wanted to ski them both. This year, skiers have the option to purchase tickets and passes allowing access to both resorts. The cost of the pass has not yet been finalized.
While the two areas are boasting “unlimited access” to and from the resorts, this winter there will still be zero access to Moonlight from the top of Big Sky’s Challenger lift, which summits at the rope line along some very juicy Moonlight terrain.
Schieffer says the decision to locate access gates at select points along the mountain instead of removing the boundary line altogether was made so that each resort maintains their own individual character. “The important thing is that we’re getting along,” Schieffer says. “But we still have our own identities and we’re still in business for ourselves.”
The combined pass provides lift access to terrain that was previously accessible only by hiking. Combined, the two trail networks offer nearly 5,300 acres of skiable terrain and the second-biggest vertical descent in the country at 4,350 feet. Between them, the two resorts operate 23 lifts. Schieffer says the new access off the tram puts skiers at the top of an eight-mile run. Such distance within a skiable area is usually reserved for European resorts.
The interconnect is the result of ongoing discussions between Stephen Kircher, a principal of Boyne USA Resorts, owner of Big Sky Resort, and Moonlight Basin partners Lee Poole, Joe Vujovich, and Keith Brown. “This region is the last great major ski destination in the U.S.,” says Taylor Middleton, general manager of Big Sky Resort. “By offering joint tickets, Big Sky and Moonlight Basin will offer what may well prove to be the largest amount of skiable terrain in the nation. And given that we have famously low-skier density, the expanded trail network will provide even more elbow room for our guests."
Burt Mills, CEO at Moonlight, called the new program “a milestone in American skiing. What we’re doing is closer to the European model.”
Joint lift tickets are a rarity in the United States. Until now, only the Utah resorts Snowbird/Alta and Brighton/Solitude had offered joint passes.