Lift line.Garaventa six-passenger chair.Tower 22 looking up.Bottom terminal and towers.Garaventa CTEC Stealth top terminal.Arriving up top.Bottom station and lift line.Top terminal, lift shack and maintenance rail.Another view of the bottom return station.Top terminal from below.Looking down the very long lift line.In this photo taken from The Headwaters, the turn is obvious.Doppelmayr Worldbook entry.
Because it’s not a Doppelmayr. It was built during the short period when the two companies were under the same name but operating separately. Doppelmayr and CTEC built their own products at their own facility but both were sold as Doppelmayr-CTEC.
Thank you for clearing that up, and I apologize for the misinformation. Their must have been a communication error between myself and a friend who was there at the time of it.
I really like the idea of the second lift. It would really leave Lone Tree to only be a lift to lap the steeps off of. It will be REALLY nice to have a second lift out of that base area. Six Shooter just isn’t enough. I wonder what they’d do about the current 6er though.
But if you do that you only get the benefits of a new lift on that side, you still have to ride the freezing and long six shooter to get back to big sky. If you do the mid station you pay more for the one lift but you effectively removed the need for a second lift and all the terrain has bubble coverage. Six shooter right now only does 1800 pph and it never runs full speed so a 3000-3200 six pack bubble would cover that side just fine, plus you could re-align Lone tree and keep it there so you could still lap Obsidian and Dont tell mama.
Detachable midstations are incredibly expensive; it’s rare to see non-gondola lifts with one of them, let alone multiple. A midstation is essentially the line equipment of an entire terminal (minus bullwheels) per side direction of lift – if both the uphill and downhill side goes through there (as is usually necessary for a significant direction change) the station needs two sets of acceleration/deceleration equipment. By the time you’re having multiple midstations it almost always makes more sense to just build multiple lifts, even if those lifts are all detachable.
Why would you even want Six Shooter to go to the tram? Sixer is meant to serve the terrain on the north side. If you want to get to the tram you can SKI to the other side of the resort…
Option 2 doesn’t make any sense. This area has two distinct pods: the one served by Six Shooter (Cinnabar, Wagon Train, Snakebite, Elkhorn, Runaway, Park Avenue, Merriwether, etc.) and a second pod currently served by a combination of sixer and Lone Tree (Lookout Ridge, Ice House area, Broken Heart, Whiskey, Trembler, Horseshoe, etc.).
Ideally these pods would both have a D-Line 6 pack with bubbles and heated seats, which I don’t think is a far fetched possibility. Taylor Middleton has already publicly said “Lookout Ridge 6” will likely be the next project after the tram/gondola. The addition of this missing lift would fill a void in the lift network on the Moonlight side and be one of the highest impact projects yet.
For a little while a combination of the current Sixer and the new Lookout Ridge 6 will serve this side exceptionally well, with the new D-Line providing direct access to Lone tree terrain in only one lift ride, and drastically increasing capacity out of Madison, but it is no secret that Six Shooter has been suffering reliability issues and is extremely cold, meaning that a direct replacement of Six Shooter with a D-Line 6 also isn’t far out. Therefore all the terrain will have bubble coverage without the need for an impractical mid station route which would just add to the ride time for an already extremely long alignment.
I think a high speed six or eight like swifty or ramcharger along the current six shooter route would be really helpful, along with a 6 identical to swift current going from Madison to the top of Lone Tree. If Big Sky really wanted to get into it, they could also add a UNI-G or D-Line HSQ (do they do D-line HSQs?) from the bottom of trembler, going to the top of Lone Tree, mid-station at lookout ridge, and another similar lift going to the base of the Deepwater Bowl, so that Horseshoe Cutoff is a way to avoid the lines and congestion. A fixed grip double or triple from the base of the Deepwater Bowl to the bottom of the NSS would be unnecessary but nice, because it would provide lapping access to the Upper Deepwater Bowl trails like RIPs, Tears, etc.
I don’t see Six Shooter needing to be replaced with an 8 pack, and don’t think Big Sky would install a second 8. It sounds like the D-Line 6 pack out of Madison to the top of Lookout Ridge will happen, and Six Shooter is a mainline lift that will Big Sky will eventually want to replace and bring up to “Big Sky standards”.
Also, there isn’t enough traffic in the Lone Tree terrain pod for those additional lifts from the bottom of Trembler, at least initially. Having two new lifts out of Madison should solve the congestion issues down there.
They desperately need to increase capacity on this lift, whether that’s adding more chairs or replacing it. There was a 45 minute line for this lift this morning and they weren’t even running this lift at full speed. There was 14 second chair spacing making the capacity 1540 pph which, as the only lift out of Moonlight Basin and for the amount of terrain it serves, is just way too low.
The 5 minute line has been a myth this weekend. Today I waited a long time for Six Shooter and yesterday I waited 10 for Ramcharger and I’ve waited 15-20 several times for Swift Current (although since as you said that’s being replaced it doesn’t really count). Covid wasn’t reducing capacity either; they were fully loading every chair.
I was at big sky yesterday and they were definitely not loading every chair to capacity. Ramcharger was loading 3-5 per chair and swifty had loads of 2s and 3s. Didn’t get over to six shooter but that lift often doesn’t run full speed so I wouldn’t be surprised if it had a huge line, especially with how they are loading chairs these days.
Really? Every time I’ve been over there they’ve been loading 4 on every single Swift Current chair, and they were fully loading ramcharger when the lines were bad on Saturday.
I know from various sources within the resort that BS will replace this lift with a D-line six moving 3200pph at some point in the future as this lift is the definition of a mainline lift and is critical to the product on the north side and future expansions on Moonlight. I expect they will reuse the existing lift in a shorter peripheral location such as on Flatiron mountain or in the Ice house area of moonlight as these Stealth 3 detachables are solid machines, but there is some debate as this lift could also be sent east to a boyne resort that has similar Garaventa Ctec equipment…. I just hope the replacement is moving to up in priority as the last two seasons the lines have been getting ridiculous even when they stack 5-6 a chair and keep the wheel turning.
I have never been to Big Sky Resort before, but I think this lift area could use something like this: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/858220267346985001/906697905426010132/Big_Sky_Resort_Map_-_Six_Shooter_Infill.png
The red line from the bottom of Six Shooter is the infill lift(A) that will likely be an HSQ or HSS chair that will lead people off to the other side of the mountain. The goal I’m thinking is that people will have more chances to explore that area of the mountainside and have more lapping opportunities from Six Shooter. The second lift will act like another infill lift(B) but it leads to the farther part of the mountain. The yellow line is just an alternative line for the second infill lift to meet at the same top of the infill lift(A). Any thoughts?
I think your lift A would be a good idea but it should go all the way to the top of Lone Tree. Moonlight wanted to build a lift on your lift A alignment but going all the way up to the top of lone tree before it became bankrupt and was bought by big sky. I think big sky would probably replace six shooter with a bubble six pack and then use the relocated lift for your lift A.
The infill B is not really needed since you would be able to lap all of its terrain from lift A and Big Sky does not have too many skiers utilizing that terrain.
The proposed lift from the base of Moonlight to the top of Lone Tree also has a line already cut. It would serve the same terrain as all three of your proposed lifts and then some. It really should be built, as the terrain currently only serviced by Lone Tree (and the Tram) is completely underutilized.
I would like to see Big Sky replace Six Shooter with a new D line and then reuse the old Six Shooter on an alignment going from the base of Six Shooter to the top of Lone Tree
Six shooter will be a D line soon they are still considering what to do with the current Stealth 3. Last I heard it will become a peripheral lift in a non critical alignment. I would think that the lift needed on Flatiron Mountain which runs along the ridge between Highlands and Lone Moose would be a good spot. The alignment on Flatiron is around 6500 ft. long so a detach is needed but I don’t think BS wants to spring for new lift over there as it would only serve two long green trails and some high end real estate.
They definitely need to do something on Moonlight with lifts, snowmaking and lodges all becoming sub par for a world class resort experience, and the level of real estate development going on.
As long as you brought up the Madison base area- I am shocked that improvements to the Madison base area aren’t part of 2025. The main lodge building is just a yurt, there is no shopping to speak of, and there aren’t any hotels or condo buildings either. It is like the base area you would find at a small ski area, not a resort that is trying to brand itself as a world class destination. It will be fun to see what happens to this base, but I don’t see anything happening to Madison anytime soon.
Lone mountain Land owns the Base Facilities of Madison, and they apparently have extensive redevelopment plans for that base area. No idea on timeline but probably won’t start till the One and Only hotel is done not far from there
Actually, if they are going to invest the money in a new d line on this part of the mountain I would just as soon like to see the new alignment from the bottom of sixer to the top of lone tree have the fancy lift. There is way more terrain that could be lapped off this lift than six shooter meaning this new alignment would be used by skiers more than sixer. It doesn’t really make much sense to spend the money relocating an older lift to the more used alignment. And big Sky could always decide to replace six shooter with a d line at some point in the future even if they leave it as is initially.
Agreed the base to lone tree alignment serves way more lapping terrain and I think your Idea would save them some time before having to drop the cash on the new D-line lift for six shooter.
Was recently skiing at Big Sky (when this chair went down in fact), I see that a lift line was cut for another out of base lift (Pine Maarten?). There is also a single lift tower on what I think is that alignment near the traphouse/icehouse junction. Any idea what the tower is from and why it wasn’t removed?
The lift line you are referring to is from back when Moonlight Basin was a separate resort. They wanted to build a second six pack going to the top of Lone Tree, but the project didn’t come to reality before Moonlight went bankrupt. That lift would help so much by allowing the lone tree terrain to be lapped with one lift, and provide extra capacity out of Madison base which is badly needed, especially when Sixer goes down.
It sounds like this lift will finally be built as a D-line 6 pack after Big Sky finishes the tram and Explorer gondola.
As for the tower, I have seen it before. It isn’t a matter of not removing it since there has never been a lift on that alignment. I believe it was installed there as a training area for ski patrol to practice rope evacuations, but someone else can chime in if they know for sure.
Ah I see. Usually two towers and some short cable lengths are the giveaway for rope evac training but as you said, there has never been a lift there. I was quite confused when we popped out of the woods and there’s just a random tower sitting in the run. Thanks!
Certainly another lift is needed on that side. There is so much great terrain to lookers right of Moonlight yet it is very difficult to access. Seems like a great way to spread some traffic out and greatly improve out of base capacity which is certainly needed out of there.
The lines were about as bad as any resort I’ve ever skied this past weekend–not knocking Big Sky as the snow was great and control work takes time, but they are far from being an uncrowded resort.
The lines this last weekend were insane due to limited terrain available due to 6er being down & the summit/south face area needing significant avalanche work done to get it open. Now that said area is open and 6er is fixed, the lines aren’t as bad. But you are indeed correct, Madison base needs more capacity big time.
I would really like to see that lift from the base of sixer to the top of Lone Tree installed sooner than later. Otherwise the entire moonlight side is way to reliant on one lift which isn’t ideal.
Well, now that this is a eight, maybe BS will address its other choke points like Lookout Ridge, Pony Express and Iron Horse, Thunder Wolf, Lone Moose, and with the upcoming real estate near Montage BS, L&C, Southern Comfort, Sacajawea, and eventually Dakota, because of age. I basically named every lift on the mountain, but that’s kinda what they need to do.
Lift Blog 
I believe this lift is a bottom drive.
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It is. All the lifts at Moonlight are bottom drive except for Pony.
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Why did Doppelmayr use Stealth terminals on this?
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Because it’s not a Doppelmayr. It was built during the short period when the two companies were under the same name but operating separately. Doppelmayr and CTEC built their own products at their own facility but both were sold as Doppelmayr-CTEC.
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I heard that patrol had to perform a rope evac off of Six Shooter yesterday, over a mechanical issue. Has anyone else heard anything about this?
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https://twitter.com/bigskyresort/status/1081282963369672704
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Didn’t they rope evac Six Shooter last March too?
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I believe so
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No. There was no rope evac. They were able to get everyone off of it. I was there.
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Thank you for clearing that up, and I apologize for the misinformation. Their must have been a communication error between myself and a friend who was there at the time of it.
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Are they going to put bubble chairs on this?
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Not without some major infrastructure overhaul and maybe complete replacement of the terminals and sheaves.
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I Beleive That That Lift is Slated To Be Replaced With D-Line Technology 6 Pack.
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Come on Paul, you’re not fooling anyone.
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opt 1
build second lift where moonlight wanted to build before bankruptcy
opt 2
replace 6 shooter, bubbles and heated seats, and mid at top of current then extend to the top of lone tree
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I really like the idea of the second lift. It would really leave Lone Tree to only be a lift to lap the steeps off of. It will be REALLY nice to have a second lift out of that base area. Six Shooter just isn’t enough. I wonder what they’d do about the current 6er though.
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The midstation route seems impractical. It would be more practical to just build a new lift and keep the others as is.
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But if you do that you only get the benefits of a new lift on that side, you still have to ride the freezing and long six shooter to get back to big sky. If you do the mid station you pay more for the one lift but you effectively removed the need for a second lift and all the terrain has bubble coverage. Six shooter right now only does 1800 pph and it never runs full speed so a 3000-3200 six pack bubble would cover that side just fine, plus you could re-align Lone tree and keep it there so you could still lap Obsidian and Dont tell mama.
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A two lift option would increase flexibility in the event Six Shooter goes down or whatever.
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That is true, however it would still leave skiers stranded on that side of the mountain.
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If they could find a way to get it to the base of the tram, like going over the ridge or multiple midstations.
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Maybe another lift going to the base of the Horseshoe Bowl.
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Detachable midstations are incredibly expensive; it’s rare to see non-gondola lifts with one of them, let alone multiple. A midstation is essentially the line equipment of an entire terminal (minus bullwheels) per side direction of lift – if both the uphill and downhill side goes through there (as is usually necessary for a significant direction change) the station needs two sets of acceleration/deceleration equipment. By the time you’re having multiple midstations it almost always makes more sense to just build multiple lifts, even if those lifts are all detachable.
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Why would you even want Six Shooter to go to the tram? Sixer is meant to serve the terrain on the north side. If you want to get to the tram you can SKI to the other side of the resort…
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Option 2 doesn’t make any sense. This area has two distinct pods: the one served by Six Shooter (Cinnabar, Wagon Train, Snakebite, Elkhorn, Runaway, Park Avenue, Merriwether, etc.) and a second pod currently served by a combination of sixer and Lone Tree (Lookout Ridge, Ice House area, Broken Heart, Whiskey, Trembler, Horseshoe, etc.).
Ideally these pods would both have a D-Line 6 pack with bubbles and heated seats, which I don’t think is a far fetched possibility. Taylor Middleton has already publicly said “Lookout Ridge 6” will likely be the next project after the tram/gondola. The addition of this missing lift would fill a void in the lift network on the Moonlight side and be one of the highest impact projects yet.
For a little while a combination of the current Sixer and the new Lookout Ridge 6 will serve this side exceptionally well, with the new D-Line providing direct access to Lone tree terrain in only one lift ride, and drastically increasing capacity out of Madison, but it is no secret that Six Shooter has been suffering reliability issues and is extremely cold, meaning that a direct replacement of Six Shooter with a D-Line 6 also isn’t far out. Therefore all the terrain will have bubble coverage without the need for an impractical mid station route which would just add to the ride time for an already extremely long alignment.
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I think a high speed six or eight like swifty or ramcharger along the current six shooter route would be really helpful, along with a 6 identical to swift current going from Madison to the top of Lone Tree. If Big Sky really wanted to get into it, they could also add a UNI-G or D-Line HSQ (do they do D-line HSQs?) from the bottom of trembler, going to the top of Lone Tree, mid-station at lookout ridge, and another similar lift going to the base of the Deepwater Bowl, so that Horseshoe Cutoff is a way to avoid the lines and congestion. A fixed grip double or triple from the base of the Deepwater Bowl to the bottom of the NSS would be unnecessary but nice, because it would provide lapping access to the Upper Deepwater Bowl trails like RIPs, Tears, etc.
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This would give the former Moonlight Basin the PPH it needs to stay a viable area of the resort, or at least just the first two.
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I don’t see Six Shooter needing to be replaced with an 8 pack, and don’t think Big Sky would install a second 8. It sounds like the D-Line 6 pack out of Madison to the top of Lookout Ridge will happen, and Six Shooter is a mainline lift that will Big Sky will eventually want to replace and bring up to “Big Sky standards”.
Also, there isn’t enough traffic in the Lone Tree terrain pod for those additional lifts from the bottom of Trembler, at least initially. Having two new lifts out of Madison should solve the congestion issues down there.
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This aged well
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In hind sight everything in that comment is wrong😂😂. The other lift out of Madison to the top of Lookout Ridge is still badly needed though.
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They desperately need to increase capacity on this lift, whether that’s adding more chairs or replacing it. There was a 45 minute line for this lift this morning and they weren’t even running this lift at full speed. There was 14 second chair spacing making the capacity 1540 pph which, as the only lift out of Moonlight Basin and for the amount of terrain it serves, is just way too low.
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So much for Big Sky advertising no lines for lifts. They were replacing Swift Current because the line exceeded 5 minutes!
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The 5 minute line has been a myth this weekend. Today I waited a long time for Six Shooter and yesterday I waited 10 for Ramcharger and I’ve waited 15-20 several times for Swift Current (although since as you said that’s being replaced it doesn’t really count). Covid wasn’t reducing capacity either; they were fully loading every chair.
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I was at big sky yesterday and they were definitely not loading every chair to capacity. Ramcharger was loading 3-5 per chair and swifty had loads of 2s and 3s. Didn’t get over to six shooter but that lift often doesn’t run full speed so I wouldn’t be surprised if it had a huge line, especially with how they are loading chairs these days.
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Really? Every time I’ve been over there they’ve been loading 4 on every single Swift Current chair, and they were fully loading ramcharger when the lines were bad on Saturday.
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I know from various sources within the resort that BS will replace this lift with a D-line six moving 3200pph at some point in the future as this lift is the definition of a mainline lift and is critical to the product on the north side and future expansions on Moonlight. I expect they will reuse the existing lift in a shorter peripheral location such as on Flatiron mountain or in the Ice house area of moonlight as these Stealth 3 detachables are solid machines, but there is some debate as this lift could also be sent east to a boyne resort that has similar Garaventa Ctec equipment…. I just hope the replacement is moving to up in priority as the last two seasons the lines have been getting ridiculous even when they stack 5-6 a chair and keep the wheel turning.
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I have never been to Big Sky Resort before, but I think this lift area could use something like this: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/858220267346985001/906697905426010132/Big_Sky_Resort_Map_-_Six_Shooter_Infill.png
The red line from the bottom of Six Shooter is the infill lift(A) that will likely be an HSQ or HSS chair that will lead people off to the other side of the mountain. The goal I’m thinking is that people will have more chances to explore that area of the mountainside and have more lapping opportunities from Six Shooter. The second lift will act like another infill lift(B) but it leads to the farther part of the mountain. The yellow line is just an alternative line for the second infill lift to meet at the same top of the infill lift(A). Any thoughts?
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I think your lift A would be a good idea but it should go all the way to the top of Lone Tree. Moonlight wanted to build a lift on your lift A alignment but going all the way up to the top of lone tree before it became bankrupt and was bought by big sky. I think big sky would probably replace six shooter with a bubble six pack and then use the relocated lift for your lift A.
The infill B is not really needed since you would be able to lap all of its terrain from lift A and Big Sky does not have too many skiers utilizing that terrain.
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The proposed lift from the base of Moonlight to the top of Lone Tree also has a line already cut. It would serve the same terrain as all three of your proposed lifts and then some. It really should be built, as the terrain currently only serviced by Lone Tree (and the Tram) is completely underutilized.
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I would like to see Big Sky replace Six Shooter with a new D line and then reuse the old Six Shooter on an alignment going from the base of Six Shooter to the top of Lone Tree
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Six shooter will be a D line soon they are still considering what to do with the current Stealth 3. Last I heard it will become a peripheral lift in a non critical alignment. I would think that the lift needed on Flatiron Mountain which runs along the ridge between Highlands and Lone Moose would be a good spot. The alignment on Flatiron is around 6500 ft. long so a detach is needed but I don’t think BS wants to spring for new lift over there as it would only serve two long green trails and some high end real estate.
They definitely need to do something on Moonlight with lifts, snowmaking and lodges all becoming sub par for a world class resort experience, and the level of real estate development going on.
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As long as you brought up the Madison base area- I am shocked that improvements to the Madison base area aren’t part of 2025. The main lodge building is just a yurt, there is no shopping to speak of, and there aren’t any hotels or condo buildings either. It is like the base area you would find at a small ski area, not a resort that is trying to brand itself as a world class destination. It will be fun to see what happens to this base, but I don’t see anything happening to Madison anytime soon.
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Lone mountain Land owns the Base Facilities of Madison, and they apparently have extensive redevelopment plans for that base area. No idea on timeline but probably won’t start till the One and Only hotel is done not far from there
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Actually, if they are going to invest the money in a new d line on this part of the mountain I would just as soon like to see the new alignment from the bottom of sixer to the top of lone tree have the fancy lift. There is way more terrain that could be lapped off this lift than six shooter meaning this new alignment would be used by skiers more than sixer. It doesn’t really make much sense to spend the money relocating an older lift to the more used alignment. And big Sky could always decide to replace six shooter with a d line at some point in the future even if they leave it as is initially.
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Agreed the base to lone tree alignment serves way more lapping terrain and I think your Idea would save them some time before having to drop the cash on the new D-line lift for six shooter.
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Does anyone know why Six Shooter is down?
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Six Shooter is always down for some reason or another. Not sure why this time, but it’s no big surprise
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Was recently skiing at Big Sky (when this chair went down in fact), I see that a lift line was cut for another out of base lift (Pine Maarten?). There is also a single lift tower on what I think is that alignment near the traphouse/icehouse junction. Any idea what the tower is from and why it wasn’t removed?
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The lift line you are referring to is from back when Moonlight Basin was a separate resort. They wanted to build a second six pack going to the top of Lone Tree, but the project didn’t come to reality before Moonlight went bankrupt. That lift would help so much by allowing the lone tree terrain to be lapped with one lift, and provide extra capacity out of Madison base which is badly needed, especially when Sixer goes down.
It sounds like this lift will finally be built as a D-line 6 pack after Big Sky finishes the tram and Explorer gondola.
As for the tower, I have seen it before. It isn’t a matter of not removing it since there has never been a lift on that alignment. I believe it was installed there as a training area for ski patrol to practice rope evacuations, but someone else can chime in if they know for sure.
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Ah I see. Usually two towers and some short cable lengths are the giveaway for rope evac training but as you said, there has never been a lift there. I was quite confused when we popped out of the woods and there’s just a random tower sitting in the run. Thanks!
Certainly another lift is needed on that side. There is so much great terrain to lookers right of Moonlight yet it is very difficult to access. Seems like a great way to spread some traffic out and greatly improve out of base capacity which is certainly needed out of there.
The lines were about as bad as any resort I’ve ever skied this past weekend–not knocking Big Sky as the snow was great and control work takes time, but they are far from being an uncrowded resort.
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The lines this last weekend were insane due to limited terrain available due to 6er being down & the summit/south face area needing significant avalanche work done to get it open. Now that said area is open and 6er is fixed, the lines aren’t as bad. But you are indeed correct, Madison base needs more capacity big time.
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Sixer went down again today…
I would really like to see that lift from the base of sixer to the top of Lone Tree installed sooner than later. Otherwise the entire moonlight side is way to reliant on one lift which isn’t ideal.
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Well, now that this is a eight, maybe BS will address its other choke points like Lookout Ridge, Pony Express and Iron Horse, Thunder Wolf, Lone Moose, and with the upcoming real estate near Montage BS, L&C, Southern Comfort, Sacajawea, and eventually Dakota, because of age. I basically named every lift on the mountain, but that’s kinda what they need to do.
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