As per the reports, we hit a minus 22 last night and all I know is it is COLD. I did some shoveling of snow yesterday and fortunately it was relatively easy to shovel because it did not have much moisture (probably because it was so cold). Unfortunately, when it comes to shoveling, we have a corner lot...so not only is the more shovel action, but it is amplified by the slabbed concrete parking area in front of the garage. This is usually the biggest time consumer of shoveling. The parking area is about 40 ft wide by about 20 ft deep.
It is a little too cold to go out and play right now but when it warms up above zero there will be some options to explore and leverage.
Our local resort is Discovery. It is a great local mountain because it has great terrain and the best part is it is very seldomly busy. I have never had to wait in line for a chair! It is about 45 minutes away from Butte and the prices are very very reasonable relative to what we saw in Colorado. Suffice it to say that for the price of skiing two days in Colorado, you can get a full season pass at Discovery!
There is more resort action relatively close by (over an hour drive wise) . A little further way towards Bozeman, we have Big Sky & the Bridger Bowl. Both those options are over an hour away but add to the palette of choices. Big Sky is much larger and on par price wise with many of the Colorado resorts. Bridger is more local and has good side country access for those who want to explore the 'out of bound' options.
The golden nugget of local backcountry is the Tobacco Roots. They have put in a yurt the last couple of seasons in the Bell Lake area and we have yet to explore this area. It is about a 6 mile approach to the yurt and it looks like it has killer access to a good variety of slopes. The Bell Lake Yurt is only about an hour away (not including the skin/approach to the yurt). I look forward to taking the splitboard up there and checking it all out.
Depending on conditions, there are also some backcountry options around the Highlands (roughly 10-15 minutes south of Butte).
There are also some options for cross country and skate skiing. The closest is Homestake Lodge that is about 20 minutes away. Mt Haggin is about 45 minutes away and provides additional terrain. There are some other lesser known areas that depend largely on snow and how frequently or infrequently areas are groomed.
There are a couple of places for kite-boarders but I don't have any beta considering it is a sport I have not yet picked up (somewhat reluctant considering the potential for big falls!).
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