Big Sky: the back story

About Big Sky: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Big Sky Resort began as the idea of the NBC newsman Chet Huntley, who came home to Montana in the late 1960s. Half a century on, under the family-owned Boyne Resorts, it spreads across 5,850 acres below the pyramid of Lone Peak, with one of the most advanced lift networks in North America.

A newsman comes home

After nearly 15 years presenting NBC’s nightly ‘Huntley-Brinkley Report’, Chet Huntley returned to his Montana roots and, from 1968, began planning Big Sky. The resort opened for its first winter in 1973, with the Huntley Lodge, the Mountain Mall and four lifts: Andesite, Explorer, Lone Peak and the first gondola, whose colourful egg-shaped cabins came from Pomagalski of France. Huntley died in March 1974, three days before the resort’s dedication.

The Kirchers

In 1976 Everett Kircher bought Big Sky for Boyne, his family-owned resort company, and set about building lifts: Mad Wolf on Andesite Mountain, Gondola Two in 1984, and in 1988 the Challenger chair, which opened the steep, high-alpine terrain the resort is now known for.

Lone Peak rises 4,350 vertical feet above the valley to an 11,166-foot summit.

A tram to the top

In the 1990s Everett’s son John Kircher, then general manager, wanted a lift to the summit of Lone Peak. With no access road, crews built the upper station entirely by helicopter, and the Lone Peak Tram opened in 1995. A new tram took its first flight in the 2023/24 season.

Far beyond

The Explorer Gondola, which the resort calls the world’s fastest 10-person gondola, now runs from Mountain Village to the Bowl at the foot of the Tram, and Kircliff, a two-storey glass observatory at 11,166 feet, looks across three states and two national parks. For 2026/27, Chef Grant Achatz’s M by The Alinea Group returns for a second winter.

Our advice

Fly to Bozeman, where early arrivals from many US cities allow same-day skiing; the drive up the Gallatin Canyon takes about an hour. Uber and Lyft do not operate in Big Sky, so book your transfer ahead.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Big Sky: the back story before you go.