Historic Timeline

Upon retiring from nearly 15 years of NBC’s nightly “Huntley‐Brinkley Report,” Chet Huntley returned to his Montana roots and began conceptualizing Big Sky Resort. On March 20, 1974, just three days before the dedication of Big Sky Resort, Chet Huntley passed away from lung cancer.

After Chet Huntley's passing, Everett Kircher purchased Big Sky Resort in 1976, adding to the Boyne Resorts family-owned properties. As a visionary entrepreneur, Everett had a profound influence on skiing across all of North America. Everett Kircher's legacy is immortalized in Big Sky's community and throughout the resort.

Boyne Resorts, a pioneer in the snowmaking industry, began installing what was at the time a state-of-the-art snowmaking system on key runs on Andesite and Lone Mountain.

The installation of the Challenger lift in 1988 put Big Sky Resort on the map for its expert terrain and challenging steeps.

The Southern Comfort lift created access to over 225 acres of terrain on Andesite Mountain. At the same time, the Ramcharger High Speed Quad replaced Rams Horn. Together with the Thunder Wolf lift, Andesite has 50 named runs and connects Lone Mountain to the Spanish Peaks and Lone Moose areas.

The addition of the Iron Horse quad chairlift and terrain added four new runs and expanded the original terrain boundary of the mountain. Today Iron Horse serves around 100 acres of terrain and connects the North and East faces of Lone Mountain.

Further increasing the capacity out of Mountain Village, the Swift Current high-speed quad replaced Gondola II.

The Lone Moose Triple chair was installed in 1999 and created over 100 acres of additional terrain on Flatiron Mountain, connected by Southern Comfort and Thunder Wolf.

Moonlight Basin ski resort opened for the 2003-04 winter season. This ski area stretched 1,900 acres, including the northern side of Lone Mountain. Moonlight Basin featured several lifts, terrain parks, and included a variety of terrain.

In 2007, the Dakota Triple added new streamlined access to the Dakota Terrain on the south side of Lone Peak. Previously accessible by the Lone Peak Tram, the new lift created a self-contained area with some of the mountain’s best glades and powder fields. Over 200 acres of terrain are served by the Dakota lift.

The summer of 2014 marked a milestone for mountain biking at Big Sky Resort. Several trails were added and existing downhill trails revamped off both Explorer and Swift Current lifts. More efforts over the past several years have expanded mountain biking to over 40 miles of trails.