Heading to Big Sky for the first time in a week. I am looking for some first hand info. How would you compare, in difficulty, Liberty Bowl off the tram to other mountains. We have been to most of the East Coast mountains ie: Stowe, Sugarbush, Stratton, Cannon ect.. and have been to Steamboat, Vail, Cooper, Breck and A-Basin. Every mountain has their own rating system and we don't want to be caught in a situation that might be over our expectations and abilities. We can handle the blacks but most double blacks are usually more difficult than we prefer. Any advice would be appreciated!
Big Sky 3/4-3/11
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swinster
New member
Liberty bowl is IMHO a fairly easy easy double black or moderate regular black depending on conditons. It is usually a little windpack or maybe icy near the top becuase of everybody skiing the the same spots. It opens up to a pretty wide slope with a consistent pitch and almost no features. The snow is generally good to fantastic but can get scoured off by high winds. Coverage should not be an issue this late in the season, but there are some well marked rock bands near the top that never get covered because of the winds. Poor visibility and high winds with an icy surface could make this a tough trail if you are not a strong skier. In poor visibility up there when it is windy, I sometimes can't tell the difference between skiing 5 mph and 25 mph becuase there are no visual references sometimes. Sunny days with good snow should not be a problem for most upper intermediates. Make sure Shedhorn is open before you take the tram, if Shedhorn is closed it is a looooong traverse back if take Liberty bowl down.
frontrange
New member
Sounds like our abilities are in the same range. I did Liberty Bowl once last year in some pretty deep fresh snow. Unfortunately the late march sun had been on it for several hours so it was on the heavy side. I was reduced to doing long traverses with nervous turns at each end. My kids- on snowboards had absolutely no problems and were mere specs in the distance. Its definitely on the steep side. You can always ride the tram up for the view and then ride it back down. I'd ski it again depending on the snow conditions- simply because it is huge. I think Tony had a post on the percent grade a couple of weeks ago.
Note that Challenger is posted experts only and I also had trouble on it in deep powder-but then it doesn't hurt to fall when the snow is over your knees.
Note that Challenger is posted experts only and I also had trouble on it in deep powder-but then it doesn't hurt to fall when the snow is over your knees.
We just discussed Big Sky's expert terrain here:
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards ... php?t=1678 .
Big Sky is having an excellent year, and coverage on Challenger is much better than normal. In March you need to pay attention to sun exposure on most of the ungroomed terrain and time your runs accordingly if the areas in question have been through a melt/freeze.
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards ... php?t=1678 .
Big Sky is having an excellent year, and coverage on Challenger is much better than normal. In March you need to pay attention to sun exposure on most of the ungroomed terrain and time your runs accordingly if the areas in question have been through a melt/freeze.