Lone Mountain Ranch

About Lone Mountain Ranch

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Lone Mountain Ranch, homesteaded in 1915 and opened to guests by the Butler family in the 1930s, sits on 148 private acres ten minutes from Big Sky Resort and 18 miles from Yellowstone. It offers restored log cabins, 85 km of groomed Nordic trails, in-cabin massage, the Sleigh Ride Dinner and the Horn & Cantle restaurant.

A historic Montana ranch

Lone Mountain Ranch was homesteaded by Clarence Lytle in 1915 as a cattle and hay ranch, and in the 1930s the Butler family opened it to friends and guests from back East. Today it sits on 148 private acres in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, ten minutes from Big Sky Resort, 18 miles from Yellowstone and under 45 minutes from Bozeman airport. In the 1970s it served as headquarters for the people who planned the town of Big Sky.

Wellness

There is no spa on the ranch. Massage is given in your cabin by partner therapists, and the ranch drives guests five minutes into town to Santosha Wellness Spa for treatments and yoga classes.

The true experience of Yellowstone Country, in the ranch’s words, for more than 100 years.

The cabins

The ranch’s restored luxury log cabins line the North Fork Creek, with one to six bedrooms; the ranch’s pages give the number as 26 in one place and 25 in another. Many have stone fireplaces, such as Black Bear, built by hand in the 1920s, and the 1936 B-K Cabin, once the schoolhouse. Bison Lodge, a 5,000 sq ft retreat on a private ridge, has its own saloon with a poker table and a kids’ lounge.

Eating and drinking

Horn & Cantle serves ranch-to-table Montana cooking from local produce, the H&C Saloon pours Montana whiskey and craft cocktails with live music, and the Auric Room 1915 is a members’ supper club and speakeasy open to adult ranch guests, with phones checked at the door. The Trapper’s Den is a restored 1915 trapper’s cabin, and the Cigar Cabin is reserved for guests over 21.

Winter on the ranch

From December to mid-April more than 85 km of groomed Nordic trails start at your cabin, with 30 km of snowshoe trails. The Sleigh Ride Dinner, from December to April, is a 20-minute starlit ride to the North Fork Cabin for prime rib cooked on a century-old stove, with cowboy singers.

Our advice: mix Nordic and downhill days, reserve the Sleigh Ride Dinner, and ask for a cabin with a stone fireplace.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Lone Mountain Ranch before you go.