Moonlight Basin, MT 3/22- 3/23

[frontrange]

After Bridger Bowl on Sunday and Big Sky on Monday we tried Moonlight Basin Tuesday. Liked it so much we closed out our western trip with a second day on Wednesday. All I can say is fantastic- althought the ski report didn't claim it there seemed to be 4-8" of new fluff each day, especially up high.

I took a couple of nice falls in seemingly bottomless powder on Lone Tree and in Stillwater Bowl- lost my ski and found out how hard it is to go 10' up a steep deep trail. My favorite trail hands down was SingleJack- this is a gladed trail with a very easy grade for the most part- just a couple of steeper pitches. Also enjoyed Marshal- another gladed trail- a bit steeper overall. Coverage everywhere was great- didn't take a single rock strike no matter where I went (unlike Big Sky where I had a couple of zingers on Liberty Bowl).

One very fine run was a short black named Highline- it was lightly moguled with very deep fluff which made it possible for me to ski it. I have to compliment Moonlight Basin for their grooming- they kept a couple of intermediate runs groomed but always left some ungroomed- I had some very nice runs on Elkhorn- this trail has the most consistent pitch from the top- the 8-12" of fluff made it very enjoyable.

My kids- on snowboards did a lot more indepth exploring than I did- basically they did everything on the mountain except for the double black chutes up high that you had to walk to. On Wednesday many people were hiking up high and skiing the chutes- very impressive to watch. They said this was the best snow coverage of the year.

I enthusiastically recommend a trip to Moonlight Basin if you're in the area- its not as dramatic as Big Sky but it has some bigtime skiing and riding- minus crowds and the price is definitely right. The staff is all very friendly- the lodge facilities are a bit sparse but the food was excellent. I'll post a few pix below if I can figure out how.

 

[hamdog]

sweet deal. ya. you hit the conditions right on the money. lots of powder
all over the hill. and the good thing about it is that it's so light that it just
gets thrown around. even the tracked up stuff is nice. to bad you didn't
do any hiking. next time some good practice shots are Cold Spring and
Firehole. Hellroaring is pretty kick a.. too, but there's two bottlenecks
that get rather firm if there isn't some recent fresh. little rocks all over
the place too......right before you came. oh well, glad you enjoyed MLB.

i have noticed however that the place is getting more and more popular.
i was surprised to see how tracked up the Headwaters was today while
driving by. Three Forks is usually the last spot to get hit hard. long and
steady pitch into the Elbow chute that spits you out into the bowl.
next time maybe. :wink:

Horseshoe Bowl is a quick easy hike as well, but very short run.

 

[frontrange]

Hey Hamdog- I was asking the employees if anyone knew you but I forgot the screen name- said Moondog instead of Hamdog. You're right about the powder- it just kicks around from one spot to another and is fun to ski even when tracked out- once I figured that the "bumps" were just mounds of powder- I was able to blast them and use them either to kick off or just slow down on.

The chutes are beautiful- but they're a bit beyond me- my 18 yr old son was salivating over them but he didn't partake- spent too much time in the woods- in fact he got in so deep he couldn't get out and ended up spending a couple hours trying to escape - he was on Broken Heart for that one. I couldn't believe how hard it was simply to got 10' up to retrieve a ski in deep powder- and then I had to find it.

The other thing about hiking- when you've got one trip out west for life- you don't want to spend a single minute off the slopes hiking.

Oh, my vote- don't tell anyone else about Moonlight- let them all stay at Big Sky for the big resort experience- save the snow!

Some more photos from the trip are at this link- I think it will work:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandin ... 8926298307

 

[frontrange]

Last URL required a password- this one should work-

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhoto ... Dtrue&Ux=0

 

[Admin]

Nice photo album, frontrange! I just sat and watched the whole slide show. Thanks for sharing it.

The other thing about hiking- when you've got one trip out west for life- you don't want to spend a single minute off the slopes hiking.

That's why they call it a lift ticket, right? :wink: When you referred to "one trip out west for life," are you referring to yourself, or your kids? Was this your first trip out west?

Also, it looks like you're one post away from a coveted blue square!

 

[frontrange]

Hi Marco-
Not quite my first trip out west- I was out at Whistler / Blackcomb either the first or second year Blackcomb opened. I lived in Seattle one winter and spent a fair amount of time in the passes- loving it. My other western skiing consisted of one night at a SLC area- Brighton maybe??, during a flight test. Other than that we're mostly Western NY, West Virginia, Western PA, and about one trip a year to Whiteface, Gore, Smugglers, or somewhere in Vermont. They definitely have their charm but I've never had snow like at Moonlight Basin- addictive, it is. All the areas have their good points and I've enjoyed them all. Oh, I did hit about 18" of powder at Canaan Valley WV several years ago- really fun area that gets good snow by and large.

It was the kids first trip out west- their Whiteface education for the steeps had them well prepared- they did just about everything including a couple of double blacks- I'm sure my son could do the Chutes without problem but they're not for me.
Tom