Maverick Mt. rated to rival Turner as the most obscure stop on the trip. The appearance was not dissimilar, visible facing SE as we drove in with one top to bottom chair. The drive was through cattle country rather than the more wilderness feel of NW Montana.
The ski area is at distance under the middle of the cow sign.
Maverick is busier than Turner. The much larger parking lot was about half full and there were quite a few local families, though not enough to create any lift line. There are enough people on weekends for Maverick to arrange live music on Saturday afternoons.
At the base of the lift was this familiar sign with distances to many locations.
But here the distances are to other Montana ski areas.
The weather was cooler than the previous two days, mainly due to thin overcast all morning and a light breeze. Maverick is not as steep as Turner and the exact orientation is probably ESE. So the skier’s left runs have some north exposure. The upper half of Thin Air was packed powder and with grooming the steeper Sleepy Hollow was similar.
Rock n Roll, next to Sleepy Hollow, but groomed more than one day ago, had firmer snow.
Ridge Run to skier’s right, faced into direct sun for its upper half, but never completely softened due to the cloudy morning.
Lower down we could ski north facing T. Lee or Remely to the base.
We took a snack break in the lodge. If Silver Mt’s owners felt compelled to change the name from Jackass Mt., surely the need was even more urgent at Maverick!
Maybe that name would be appropriate in the Catskills, but not at 7,000 feet in Montana.
The only ungroomed run we skied was Ripper.
This was north facing next to Thin Air and had winter snow for its upper two thirds.
We do have one caveat about Maverick. Here are stats on the trail map that don’t add up:
The base elevation is 7,000. This is stated on the website and verified by my Vertech watch, which I calibrated on a 7,400 foot mountain pass that morning. But then I noticed my vertical count after 4 runs was 6,000, and after 7 runs was 10,500. The watch said the top elevation was 8,390 feet. :-k
Later we looked up Maverick on Google Earth.
8,440 is the top per Google Earth. I’ve seen many areas exaggerate their snowfall but this is the first time I’ve seen anyone add 500 feet to their vertical drop. And no, that lift is at the top of the mountain; there’s nothing to hike above it.
Today concluded the pandemic road trip targeting quieter but still interesting ski areas.
Since departing SLC on Jan. 31, I skied 22 days at 20 different areas, 7 of them new and 5 days on the Indy Pass. Liz’ February skiing was interrupted by 11 days in Florida, but since Jan. 31 she skied 15 days at 14 different areas, 10 of them new and 8 days on the Loveland Pass.
The local Montana areas are so under the radar that they aren’t even in Powder Alliance or Indy Pass. But this is what we paid for TWO window lift tickets (one adult + one senior):
Turner Mt. $73
Montana Snowbowl $105
Discovery $94
Maverick $69
The ski area is at distance under the middle of the cow sign.
Maverick is busier than Turner. The much larger parking lot was about half full and there were quite a few local families, though not enough to create any lift line. There are enough people on weekends for Maverick to arrange live music on Saturday afternoons.
At the base of the lift was this familiar sign with distances to many locations.
But here the distances are to other Montana ski areas.
The weather was cooler than the previous two days, mainly due to thin overcast all morning and a light breeze. Maverick is not as steep as Turner and the exact orientation is probably ESE. So the skier’s left runs have some north exposure. The upper half of Thin Air was packed powder and with grooming the steeper Sleepy Hollow was similar.
Rock n Roll, next to Sleepy Hollow, but groomed more than one day ago, had firmer snow.
Ridge Run to skier’s right, faced into direct sun for its upper half, but never completely softened due to the cloudy morning.
Lower down we could ski north facing T. Lee or Remely to the base.
We took a snack break in the lodge. If Silver Mt’s owners felt compelled to change the name from Jackass Mt., surely the need was even more urgent at Maverick!
Maybe that name would be appropriate in the Catskills, but not at 7,000 feet in Montana.
The only ungroomed run we skied was Ripper.
This was north facing next to Thin Air and had winter snow for its upper two thirds.
We do have one caveat about Maverick. Here are stats on the trail map that don’t add up:
The base elevation is 7,000. This is stated on the website and verified by my Vertech watch, which I calibrated on a 7,400 foot mountain pass that morning. But then I noticed my vertical count after 4 runs was 6,000, and after 7 runs was 10,500. The watch said the top elevation was 8,390 feet. :-k
Later we looked up Maverick on Google Earth.
8,440 is the top per Google Earth. I’ve seen many areas exaggerate their snowfall but this is the first time I’ve seen anyone add 500 feet to their vertical drop. And no, that lift is at the top of the mountain; there’s nothing to hike above it.
Today concluded the pandemic road trip targeting quieter but still interesting ski areas.
Since departing SLC on Jan. 31, I skied 22 days at 20 different areas, 7 of them new and 5 days on the Indy Pass. Liz’ February skiing was interrupted by 11 days in Florida, but since Jan. 31 she skied 15 days at 14 different areas, 10 of them new and 8 days on the Loveland Pass.
The local Montana areas are so under the radar that they aren’t even in Powder Alliance or Indy Pass. But this is what we paid for TWO window lift tickets (one adult + one senior):
Turner Mt. $73
Montana Snowbowl $105
Discovery $94
Maverick $69
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