Three Kids and a Dog: Big Sky 2023

Skiing at Big Sky in Montana has been on my bucket list for more than 20 years now. However, it was still relatively new back then with not a lot of development. Even now, you see a lot of construction happening and everything is pretty new.

So last September, I happened to come across crazy cheap tickets into Bozeman, Montana during Martin Luther King weekend and decided to finally book that trip.

On top of the world!

We left early Saturday morning. I had hoped to maybe snowmobile in Yellowstone that day but by the time we arrived, eat, pick up our skis and lift tickets there just wasn't enough time to squeeze that in too so I guess we'll just have to come back.

The flights were rather uneventful but the Bozeman airport was quaint and cozy just like a log cabin with fireplaces burning. Getting our 'Turo" car from the airport was easy and we ventured into Bozeman for a quick bit to eat before the hour or so drive to Big Sky.

Our house we rented was gorgeous. New. Clean. Ski in and ski out. We always say the house makes the trip and it's so true. We eat a lot of meals in and usually dinners out when we can so it's nice to have a very nice place to hang out and do that. The house had a hot tub too which is one of my kids' requests after a hard day of skiing. The kids picked their rooms. Hailey chose from the built in bunk beds in the kids rec room downstairs with very plush bean bag chairs and a huge tv. All the bathroom floors were heated. The kitchen was stocked and we were off to a nice long weekend after we filled our bellies at a local pizza establishment called Ousel and Spur Pizza Co.

The next day, we woke early to get a head start on the skiing. However, putting on all that gear and helping the kids took at least 30 minutes. So we didn't get out the door until about 10:30am. Peyton had a meltdown because after putting the boots on she couldn't feel her feet and collapsed in tears. A little adjusting of her long underwear helped her blood circulate a little better and we were off.

Big Sky is well...big. It's one of the largest resorts in the U.S. so we had a lot of terrain to ski that weekend and we didn't even get to most of it but we did cover a big portion. Hailey (who isn't the biggest fan of skiing) was a trooper most of the day. She was a little slower than the rest of us but she did great until we hit some blue runs (which were hard). She was terrified of going down this one hill on the way back to our place and lost it on us shouting, "You're trying to kill me! I'm your daughter and you're trying to kill me!" It was all we could do to contain our laughter which irritated her even more. We did get her down the run eventually after losing some skis.

That night we went to Copper Brewing Company at The Wilson Hotel in Big Sky for dinner and discussed the possibility of Hailey going to ski school the next day. The big kids did not want to slow down for Hailey and we all wanted to ski more of the mountain than Hailey could handle. So after a few calls to ski school and knowing they had space available, Hailey agreed to spend the next day there.

Ski school started at 9:30am so Tom and I drove to drop her off since the other two were slow moving and weren't ready to start their skiing day. Hailey was looking forward to more breaks, lunch at the lodge with her group and skiing with kids at her own level so she didn't have to do anything hard. I was a little worried for her because we do help her a lot as the 3rd child. But she gave me a wave and off we went to get Austen and Peyton and start our day of skiing at 10am.

We got a lot of runs in as it wasn't too crowded. Big Sky has these amazing newer lifts that look like roller coaster seats. They were heated and it was snowing so you pulled a "bubble" down to protect you from the cold. The skiing was good with the fresh snow. Visibility was tough at the higher elevations but the runs were long and the views were amazing. We did get sidetracked on one of the runs and accidentally went down a blue run with moguls. Austen and I were okay but Peyton ended up launching herself into a pile of snow. Luckily it was soft. She took off her skis and walked herself out of those moguls. Tom happened to be doing a black run next to us and was wondering why it was taking us so long. Good thing Hailey wasn't with us was all I could think.

We skied until 2:30pm and then wanted to start making our way back toward Hailey which would take us a good 30 minutes. Peyton was spent from skiing and we took her down a challenging blue where she then declared that she was done with skiing. We dropped her at the house on the way back and ventured on to pick up Hailey. I was a little apprehensive about what she was going to say when we saw her. But she said she had a great day! She did have two crazy boys in her group (Hailey hates crazy kids). She liked the breaks. (The hot chocolate was gross. Lunch was good and she chose the chicken tenders. Her instructor was a girl named Emily whom she liked). She showed us her newfound skills (making better "S" turns rather than using "pizza" to ski all the way down the hill.) You could just tell she was more comfortable. She asked if she was going to go to ski school again tomorrow which was a good sign that she really enjoyed herself but we were headed home the next day. I think she'll want to do ski school again though if she has the choice over skiing with us. More kids her speed!

After returning to our townhouse, returning our skis, hot tubbing and doing a little shopping, we made our way to a fun barbecue place called Riverhouse. We ate and then it was home to pack and get some sleep before our early flight home the next morning.

Rarely are there places that I want to travel back to because I'm all about the next adventure but I have to say that Big Sky is definitely a place that I would visit again - it did not disappoint!