The long weekend in the Lionhead was a mere warm-up for the bulk of my planned media trip to Big Sky and Bozeman, Montana. Our team of writers and editors has been hard at work documenting the best adventures around the world and writing guidebooks for the top mountain destinations across North America and Europe. Inside the borders of the USA, arguably the most prominent mountain destination that we had not yet covered was the greater Big Sky/ Bozeman area… and I aimed to change that.
After doing initial research, I planned to break the region down into three different sections, allocating a week to each:
The area in and around Big Sky
The Gallatins, just south of Bozeman
The Bridgers, just north of Bozeman
I was most stoked to visit Big Sky, as I have read about this fabled mountain destination since I was a teenager. Big Sky has long been known as one of the rowdiest ski resorts—not just in the Lower 48, but across the entire North American continent. The tram delivers skiers to the top of an insanely steep, wide-open mountain face, with narrow 55-degree couloirs directly adjacent. Looking up at the mountain in the summer, I grew nervous even thinking about snowboarding it. Snowboarding is my current winter sport of choice, and I’m not nearly as adept on the board as I once was on skis.
Inbounds Bike Terrain
For years, this reputation as a brutally-difficult destination also extended to Big Sky’s bike park. The original trails off the Swift Current Lift were steep, gnarly, old-school skidder trails that were cut in by a talented group of core local riders. Those core riders would skid down those old school lines year in and year out, loving them to death. Most of these trails are still accessible in the resort today.
But about five years ago, Big Sky decided that things needed to change. Solely offering pro-level double black diamond tech lines was so 1990s. In the intervening decades, not only have big jump and flow lines become a thing, but a focus on building progressive terrain that allows riders to increase their skill level through a series of trails that gradually increase in difficulty has swept across the planet’s bike parks.
Big Sky decided they needed to play catch up, so they’ve been building progressive flow lines at an incredible pace! At the time of this writing, in 2021, they now offer an entire suite of trails that can entice even the most beginner of riders to rent a bike, hire a guide, and hit the lifts.
Also accessible from Big Sky’s lifts, but running from the top of the bike park all the way down to the town of Big Sky, is the backcountry flow trail known as Mountain to Meadow. This roughly 6-mile flowy singletrack ride is ultra-accessible! Even though competent beginners can ride it, it’s still so fun for riders of all skill levels that it might now be the most famous trail in Southwestern Montana.
Big Sky has radically transformed their mountain biking experience over the past five years, but they’re not done yet. Mountain biking is their fastest-growing summer segment, and they’re continuing to build new trails and improve their lift infrastructure to provide a world-class mountain biking experience. The fact that the resort operates three chairlifts to serve the bike park shows the serious investment that Big Sky is making in mountain biking. Even the most famous bike parks in the USA run just one or two chairlifts for mountain biking during the summer. Three is almost unheard of. Venerable Whistler runs five, and that’s if the Peak is open, and you count the gondola.
Out-of-Bounds Terrain
I stayed for four days in a beautiful ski in/ski out condo in the heart of the village at Big Sky Resort, pedaling manicured singletrack directly from my door. Getting out of the van for a few days to soak in a luxurious tiled shower, with evenings spent sitting on a deck overlooking the resort with a cold beer in hand, was a welcome break from the #vanlife routine. And while I had been looking forward to my stay at the resort, I was most excited to head deeper into the mountains and explore the formidable peaks and endless ridges and meadows of Southwestern Montana
For the remainder of the stay in Big Sky, I dispersed camp out in the national forest, with a hitlist of big backcountry loops to explore and one sort-of shuttle run to try out.
The mountains and rivers of the Southern Gallatins create a stunningly-beautiful landscape that is quintessential Montanan: wide, shallow rivers; endless meadows; rolling ridges covered in towering pines; and vaulted peaks off in the distance standing sentry above the more moderate landscape below. By “more moderate” and “rolling ridges,” I mean mountain ridges that require 4,000-5,000 vertical feet of climbing to ascend, oftentimes with substantial hike-a-bike involved. From a distance, the mountains look soft, but up close, the sheer scale of the undertaking weighs down on you, and you realize you’re in for a big day in the mountains no matter what.
While you can read about the few gems like Portal to Porcupine, I found the out-of-bounds terrain around Big Sky to not quite meet my expectations. I was greeted by grassy, overgrown trails, dozens of downed trees that hadn’t been cut out yet (despite the summer being halfway over), singletrack turned into quadruple-track by commercial horseback riding outfits, and heat and bugs that were so oppressive, some people I spoke with simply couldn’t hack it and just… left.
I initially felt defeated, thinking that I’m not nearly as badass as the average Montanan mountain biker. Ok, actually… that’s a given. They breed ’em tough up here in the Northern Rockies.
But I eventually realized that I had come in with very high hopes for Big Sky, and the out-of-bounds terrain just didn’t live up to the hype in my head. I came to this realization because my expectations for the Gallatins just south of Bozeman were quite low—it just seemed like a box that needed to be checked for work.
But my experience in the Gallatins FAR exceeded my expectations in the best way possible! Stay tuned for the next installment…
PS: To see a chronological list of all the destinations that I’ve visited while living #VanLife, be sure to check out my dedicated #VanLife landing page! There, you’ll find links to guidebooks, resources, and recommendations from every single destination.
