Skiing in Yellowstone's backgarden: why Big Sky, Montana should be your next winter destination (2024)

The American resort, Big Sky comes with epic steep-and-deep skiing and the chance to explore Yellowstone National Park. ​

Balancing on a narrow ledge at the top of Lone Mountain Peak, I peer down one of North America’s steepest and most challenging ski runs, the Big Couloir — a triple black diamond-graded gully ranging from 40 to 50 degrees over an intense 460 vertical meters. I’m going to ski down alone, with just the voice of legendary extreme skier Dan Egan cheering me on from behind. It’s the last day of Big Sky’s Steep and Deep camp, led by Egan, and this is the crux moment.

Founded in 1973, Big Sky resort was for many years an isolated skiing area known for its tree runs — mostly suited to intermediate skiers — and the intimidatingly steep Lone Mountain that dominates the surrounding landscape. Before 1995, skiers had to hike the peak to access the steepest terrain, until a small (15 people) and frighteningly exposed ‘tram’ was constructed. This season, though, a new cable-car with a 75-person capacity opens, helping to put the resort firmly in the category of one of America’s premier skiing areas.

But for many travellers there’s already a great reason to make the journey out west: the chance to combine skiing with a day-trip to explore the world’s first national park. Right on Big Sky’s doorstep are the wilds of Yellowstone, whose ancient forests and grasslands are home to wolves, bison and a 45-mile-wide volcanic crater, a hot-spot populated with more than 10,000 geothermal features, including Old Faithful geyser.

Taking a break from the Steep and Deep camp a few days before, Yellowstone’s legendary geyser had been the focal point of a two-hour skidoo adventure across an epic winter landscape. Hammering through the park’s snowy highway at 30 miles per hour, I spotted vast herds of bison, a bald eagle, coyote and a bobcat. The scenery is surreal, primordial and cinematic — as steam rises up through the ground, acidic water bubbles through the rock and the visible crater rim reminds me that we’re actually inside one of the largest super-volcanos in the world, albeit a long time dormant.

During summer, visitor numbers to Yellowstone are huge but we raced along apparently alone in the wintry wilderness. The park’s bears are happily hibernating at this time of year, but we see bison and stop to let them pass as they trundle across our path just a few feet ahead. At Old Faithful, it spurts steaming water bang on cue. While it’s not the largest geyser in the park, it is a great place to show off Yellowstone’s force of nature. The build-up of pressure in the chamber below explodes skywards with Swiss timing.

But back on the slopes of Big Sky, my own pressure is building as I prepare to drop into the Big Couloir. Every turn counts and a fall could mean a long slide down, dodging rocks and jagged bands of cliffs. After several days of skiing Big Sky’s 45-degree slopes, I should’ve found my nerve, but Big Couloir is as intimating as anything I’ve attempted during 40 years of skiing. Reminding myself this is, after all, Wild West country, I take a deep breath and drop in.