Montana is like the final frontier for skiers. If you haven’t skied the Big Sky state, you’re missing the big picture. Let me paint it for you: far less crowds than most Colorado or Utah resorts, magnificent 11,000’ mountains, superb scenery, and serious snow.

We skied Montana's Biggest Skiing in America ski areas, Big Sky and Moonlight Basin  - 5,500 acres of vast terrain, and easy to reach under an hour from the Bozeman airport.

Big Sky’s vertical is 4,350’, skiing from the top of Lone Peak to the Mountain Village is a six-mile run taking you from steep snowfields like Liberty Bowl and the Dictator Chutes, to powder fields, glades, groomers, even a natural halfpipe along your way.

With 3,812-acres encompassing seven different aspects, and 150 named trails from wide-open runs to extreme NFT (no fall terrain), there is truly something for everyone. I loved the groomers on Andesite, and the steeps off Lone Peak. My husband liked Challenger’s au naturelle glades. My teen daughter thought the parks off the Swifty lift were steezy. My 18-year-old son loved the beastly bump runs.

Big Sky is big on families, kids 10 and under ski and stay free. Après ski activities for families are bustling at Base Camp. You can tube, snowshoe, bungie jump, zipline or send the kids to Kids’ Club for fun and games while you enjoy adult après ski at the cowboy style Carabiner bar with Moose Drool beer. We ziplined one afternoon, just $20 for two screaming rides high above the ski slopes soaring 1,500’ past the high speed quads and over the village. For a day off the slopes (not a bad idea with such big mountain, high elevation skiing), tour Yellowstone National Park by snowcoach or snowmobile to see bison and beautiful geysers.

The Summit, a four-star slopeside hotel with sumptuous western décor and outdoor heated pool, is perfectly located for first tracks. And it’s good enough for the First Family; the Obama’s stayed here last year.

Riding up to 11,166’ on the 15-passenger Lone Peak Tram, you can’t help but be impressed by the Grand Teton views, and the vision of John Kircher, of the Boyne Resort family. In 1993, he heli skied off this pinnacle and planned a tram to take skiers to the top. The Tram opened in 1995, a feat of engineering that has made this big mountain terrain accessible by lift, unlike anything else in the country. Skiing Big Sky’s Lone Peak is like heli skiing without the pricey chopper.

Big Sky skis off of three separate mountains, the largest of which is Lone Peak. On its north side is Moonlight Basin ski resort. Big Sky and Moonlight offer an interconnected ticket, the Biggest Skiing in America encompassing more terrain than Vail at 5,512-acres.

Moonlight Basin is one of the newest ski resorts, opened in 2003 on family owned ranch land. Moonlight feels like a private resort where you can score powder stashes and perfect cord all day long. David Letterman was “moonlighting” here last week; apparently he prefers this ski terrain over the posh private runs at neighboring exclusive Yellowstone Club and Spanish Peaks.

If you visit Big Sky for a week, you must ski Moonlight for several days just to savor the soft untouched snow, meet the super friendly staff, and likely see some wildlife – my husband skied by a fox during our first tracks. I was awed by the vast wilderness dotted with occasional majestic rocky mountain homes and the Moonlight Lodge with its grand fireplace (so big there are mountain goats climbing up the rocks).

Moonlight has more skiing than meets the eye from great cruisers off the super speedy Six-Shooter lift, to glades and steeps on Lone Tree, and hair-raising chutes and powder bowls off the Headwaters lift. There is more in store, plans for expansion once Moonlight Basin straightens out their Lehman Brothers financial botch.

Do yourself a big favor and plan a ski trip to Big Sky and Moonlight, and a stop at Bridger Bowl (more on that Montana gem later). The scenery, the snow, the acres of terrain, the grand western lodging, and the friendly Montanans really make it worth the western ho. So giddy up and go.

Our Ski Reviews of Big Sky Montana l Yellowstone Club l Moonlight Basin

See our Ski Photos of Big Sky l Moonlight Basin l Yellowstone Club l Bridger Bowl