After a 17 year hiatus, out-of-base gondola service returned to Big Sky in December 2025.Explorer Gondola features the first three D-Line R2 stations in North American skiing.Downhill unloading area at the bottom terminal.Glass box station with Omega V cabins.Loading area at the northern end of Mountain Village.Ten place cabins with both door and twistin ski racks.Upper segment of the two stage gondola.Top terminal in the Bowl.View from the summit.The second section is steeper than the first with one segment reaching quite high off the ground.Conical tower along the upper line.View down line above the angle station.Gondola line crossing over Crazy Horse.Omega Vs passing along the upper line.Tower 18 with combination assemblies on both sides.Another view up the line.Four section splice tower.Towers along Mr. K.Upper line overview.Angle station with a single drive for both sections.Uphill half of the mid-station.View up from the mid.Even though there are two haul ropes, both sections must operate together with no option to split them.A cabin on opening day.View down the lower lift line.Lift line below the mid-station with Lone Peak in the background.Cabins passing a tower with Andesite Mountain and Ramcharger 8 in the background.Lower terminal with Lumiplan display.View down from the mid.Lower half of the mid-station.Another view of the angle station.Cabin with individual heated seats.Double grooved bullwheel driving both sections.Operator controls at the bottom terminal.Upper station next to the Lone Peak Tram.Unloading and loading area at the mid.View from the top of the cabin parking facility.Looking down below the mid-station.Support tower above Mountain Village.View uphill near the base.Tower 4.Operator controls at the drive.Inside the long top station.All three stations feature diesel engines – this one powers tire helper motors in case of a power outage.Tensioning system in the top terminal. The bottom station also has tensioning for the other haul rope.Diesel evacuation drive in the mid terminal.Three ring direct drive identical to several others at Big Sky.View from inside the mid.Rotating bike cabs for summer ops.Fully automated parking for all cabins as well as a future capacity increase.D5000 grip.Tunnel for cabins to transfer between the angle station and lower level parking.
Having done the install the R2 enclosure is nice, it goes up fairly easy, and I find it stays a more pleasant temperature inside both summer and winter. I doubt we will see many R2s in the states though, as the glass and added structure is quite the premium over the R1.
It’s such a good looking lift. I was skiing Big Sky the week leading up to the opening and spent a lot of time admiring it. At first I wasn’t sure about the decision to go with the R2 terminals instead of matching the other D-Lines out of Mountain Village, but after seeing it, they definitely made the right choice. Can’t wait to ride it when I go back in 2 weeks!
I wonder if they’ll still need to run Swifty in the summer. Obviously this will run to access the Tram/Kircliff and the Explorer mountain biking trails, but technically the top could serve the Swifty mountain biking trails too
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Beautiful lift! I like the look of the R2 terminals.
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Having done the install the R2 enclosure is nice, it goes up fairly easy, and I find it stays a more pleasant temperature inside both summer and winter. I doubt we will see many R2s in the states though, as the glass and added structure is quite the premium over the R1.
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It’s such a good looking lift. I was skiing Big Sky the week leading up to the opening and spent a lot of time admiring it. At first I wasn’t sure about the decision to go with the R2 terminals instead of matching the other D-Lines out of Mountain Village, but after seeing it, they definitely made the right choice. Can’t wait to ride it when I go back in 2 weeks!
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Does this run on the same alignment as gondola 1?
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The first stage follows the alignment of the Explorer double, but the top terminal is in the location of the Gondola One top terminal
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Such a sweet lift. I’ll bet that extra head space in the terminals is really nice for mechanics. Thanks for getting photos so soon
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I wonder if they’ll still need to run Swifty in the summer. Obviously this will run to access the Tram/Kircliff and the Explorer mountain biking trails, but technically the top could serve the Swifty mountain biking trails too
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Such a stunning lift. The R2 looks even better than R1!
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Why wasn’t it built with the option to run as two separate lines? similar to DV’s New Gondola.
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