Got cash burning a hole in your back pocket? Come ski in Big Sky Montana this winter. It’s not the ski resort’s new tagline, though it could be – nowhere in the North American Rockies is stepping up in the high-roller stakes quite like Big Sky.
That’s not to suggest regular skiers are being turned away from the mountain. I’m just saying: if you’ve got the moolah, Big Sky has the suite for you. Truth be told: I barely recognise the place. When I visited a month before COVID-19 shut down world travel, late in the winter of 2019-20, luxury digs weren’t even an option – aside from legendary private community Yellowstone Club, whose residents include Bill Gates (good luck getting in there).
Now two of America’s most prestigious alpine resorts have opened here, right on the slopes. One&Only Moonlight Basin is one of the most anticipated North American on-snow accommodation openings of the past decade. It’s the first One&Only Resort in the US and the first anywhere on a mountain across the world.
Famous for one-off resorts in the world’s best destinations, it’s easy to see why the company chose this location. I’m balanced along a ridgeline, in a golf cart, travelling past villas built among pine groves on the northern perimeter of Big Sky Resort’s massive 2400 hectare ski area. Below me – beyond the basin – lie the protected lands of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. If I look long enough, I might see a grizzly bear down there.
There’ll be six restaurants and bars on-site, but for now, I make do with one. I arrive at The Landing Restaurant expecting a snooty country club atmosphere, but the vibe’s as chilled as the dress code (resort casual). Locals – it’s open to everyone – sit at a long bar, looking out through floor-to-ceiling windows to the region’s peaks as a guitarist plays old Neil Young faithfuls. The food is straight off the ranch – and when the sun comes out, I sit on the sky deck, spotting herds of elk below.
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.
That’s one side of the “new” Big Sky Resort. The other is home to a $US400 million ($620 million) Montage Resort, one of North America’s most exclusive luxury resort brands. The ski area is so huge that it takes me 40 minutes to drive from One&Only to the Montage Resort, built along the southern fringe of the resort. But new gondolas connect guests to all four Big Sky resort zones.
Montage Big Sky still feels mostly down-to-earth – despite the fact there’s caviar on the nibbles menu at apres bar Alpenglow. But I don’t see any fur-lined coats. And the skiing is still what should bring you here. There are no lift lines – even at holiday times, and that’s priceless. And while there are slopes here that’ll terrify you, half the mountain is designated beginner or intermediate terrain.
A new brand of luxury is creeping across Big Sky. Even at the oldest accommodation – Lone Mountain Ranch, built in 1915 – I discover a new member’s-only supper club. There are only 180 members, though tonight, as their guest, I’m sharing the venue with only 15 others. I sit at a cowhide-swathed booth, below velvet curtains and a tin ceiling. Lone Mountain Ranch also has plans to build a four-bedroom cabin in its best location – looking out over the Rockies – with a hot tub on its deck, and its own private chef and butler service.
I have a room at the Rainbow Ranch Lodge, 30 minutes’ drive from the resort. It starts at $US295 ($425) a night and comes with breakfast and a slow-moving creek off my back porch, where I can catch trout and look for grizzlies in the woods. Big Sky still works for all budgets.
THE DETAILS
STAY
At One&Only Moonlight Basin, options include rooms, cabins or private homes, from $US1169 ($1815) a night. See oneandonlyresorts.com/moonlight-basin
Rooms at Montage Big Sky start from $US670 a night. See montage.com/bigsky
Rainbow Ranch Lodge rooms start from $US295 a night. See rainbowranchbigsky.com
FLY
Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines fly direct to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport via hubs such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. Big Sky is an hour’s drive by hire car or road shuttle.
MORE
visitbigsky.com
bigskyresort.com
The writer travelled courtesy of Visit Big Sky and Brand USA.
Craig Tansley is a Gold Coast-based freelance travel writer with a specialty in adventure, and a background in the South Pacific.
