Big Sky Ski Team

Confirm Reservations for YSL Races at Showdown by 1/4/09

Per a previous post, Tina Coyle has arranged to hold a block of six rooms at the Spa Hot Springs Motel in White Sulfer Springs for the YSL Super G races at Showdown on 2/5/09 - 2/8/09.  Interested families must contact the motel directly and provide a personal credit card by 1/4/09 in order to confirm a reservation.

The Missoula ski team is feeling anxious about rooms, so the folks at the Hot Springs want to make sure that everybody else is actually going to use the rooms that are being held.

The number of the Spa Hot Springs Motel is 406-547-3366.

Update: Discounted Big Sky Junior Season Pass

The good folks at Big Sky Resort are, for the first time, offering a discounted season pass for Juniors (11 to 17) who are paid participants in BSSEF programs.  The discounted price is $570, which is equal to the rate currently offered to Big Sky residents who don't participate in the special Ophir School pass program.  In effect, Big Sky Resort is extending its discount pass program to Junior racers who live outside of the Big Sky community.

Here's how the discounted pass program will work for the 2008-2009 season:

• Enroll in the appropriate BSSEF program and pay the full amount of the program cost.
• On a weekly basis, Jeremy Ueland will submit a list of paid participants to Big Sky Resort's accounting department.
• The accounting department will forward the list to the Big Sky ticket office.
• A week or so after you pay your fee to BSSEF, go to the Big Sky ticket office and buy your pass at the discounted rate.

Big Sky Resort supports BSSEF's Alpine programs in many ways: these discounted Junior passes; complimentary day passes for visiting coaches and race workers; season pass support for BSSEF's coaches; unrestricted use of Hangman's for gate training; use of Hangman's and other runs for races during the season; and use of the race shack at the base of the Ramcharger lift. Thank you, Big Sky!

Boyne Resorts Deepens Its Relationship with CNL Lifestyle Properties

Earlier this month, Boyne Resorts, the owner and operator of Big Sky Resort, raised additional investment capital in the form of a loan from CNL Lifestyle Properties:

CNL Lifestyle Properties, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on lifestyle properties, is providing capital to Boyne Resorts in order for Boyne to, in part, make property enhancements at Big Sky Resort in Big Sky, Mont. This investment includes an option to purchase the resort within the next two years. Boyne Resorts, a leading operator of destination resorts and day-ski areas, is also the operating tenant for seven ski lifestyle properties owned by CNL Lifestyle Properties.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the press release.

Junior Unlimited Season Passes at Big Sky Resort

James Bildahl is working with the management at Big Sky Resort to enable registered and paid BSSEF 2008/2009 program participants to purchase Junior (11 to 17) Unlimited Season Passes at a discount to the $835 list price.  Watch this site for more information.

Fun with Technology!

Click on the image at left to see an annotated photograph of BSSEF's Hangman's race course taken from space, courtesy of Google Earth.  That's pretty cool.  What's even cooler (at least for us geeks) is the image has imbedded GPS data.  That makes it easy to calculate that the vertical drop of GS setup on Hangman's is 250 meters, which is within USSA requirements.  The average slope of the course is 19 degrees (31%), which—according to SkiStats—makes Hangman's an upper-intermediate slope.  For the sake of comparison, Lenin (off the Tram) is as steep as 50 degrees and has an average slope of 37 degrees.

Impression of Lone Peak

It looks as if the cold brought an inversion this morning.  The fog below and sunshine on the peak made for a beautiful, if fleeting, effect on the resort cam—Claude Monet paints Lone Peak.

After 14 inches of new snow earlier this week, Big Sky is reporting 24 inches at mid-mountain and 30 to 40 inches at the top of the mountain.  Resort spokesman Dax Schieffer said, "Saturday is shaping up to be one of the best opening days we've seen in my short 10 years here."

Big Sky to Open Saturday, November 24th

Big Sky Resort has pushed back its opening day to Saturday, November 24th.  See the Big Sky website for more.

Big Sky Targeting Thanksgiving Opening

Although the top of the mountain is covered in white, the reported snow depth mid-mountain is a meager eight inches.  Nevertheless, per the resort web site, Big Sky still anticipates a Thanksgiving opening:  "Right now, the plan is to get open for Thursday.  As soon as temps drop again the snow guns will fire up and we'll try and get as much terrain open as we can."  Stay tuned for news regarding the first day of training for the Junior Development Team, which is currently scheduled for next Friday, November 23rd.

Super-G on Hangman's

One of the ways Big Sky Resort supports BSSEF is by giving the team training access to Hangman's—a run that can be used for slalom, giant slalom, and super-G.  It is a terrific resource.  (Click on image on left to see an enlarged trail map.)

Last March, BSSEF hosted the Northern Division YSL championships.  In the following video clip, (then) J4 Madison Bildahl shows off Big Sky Resort, Hangman's, and her super-G skills on a beautiful Spring day:

Video provided by Left Field House Productions

Big Sky Gets 6 Inches of New Snow

Big Sky Resort reported six inches of new snow over the last day or so.  Opening day is only 46 days away, so every little bit helps.  It looks like winter, in any event.