Montana’s Yellowstone Country Remains The Last Best Place

Featured Image: Donnie Sexton | Location: Big Sky Resort | Words: Jordan Grant-Krenz

For nearly half a century, Montana has coined itself The Last Best Place. It only takes a quick Google search to discover that the phrase originated as a descriptor of the iconic Bob Marshall Wilderness, as The Bob was under threat of industrialization. While the one million-acre patch of untamed land was preserved, the same cannot be said for less protected places.

As standardization and commercialization become commonplace across the American West, genuine experiences are harder to find. But there is still a place where each town, ski area, bar and restaurant is packed with originality; where bland homogenization has yet to bloom, and likely never will. For more reasons than one, Montana’s Yellowstone Country, in south-central Montana, is proof of The Last Best Place namesake, and you’d be mistaken not to put it on your bucket list this winter.

While the area has risen to cultural prominence in recent times, it’s been on FREEKSKIER’s radar for many years, and not because of Kevin Costner. You might have seen photos of skiers descending Big Sky Resort’s towering Lone Peak on a bluebird powder day. Perhaps the terrific snowfall statistics of the Beartooth Mountains and the quaint town of Red Lodge have made their way across your screen. Or maybe you’ve heard tales of a young Scot Schmidt transforming the freeski scene at Bridger Bowl in the 1980s.

The stories that pour out of Yellowstone Country can seem distant and mysterious, and that’s the great intrigue. It’s a place of vast expanse and few people, yet it’s as accommodating as you’ll find. With a combination like this, you can’t help but want to explore. Yellowstone Country’s prominent three ski areas, Red Lodge Mountain, Big Sky Resort and Bridger Bowl, each satisfy this hunger for freeski freedom in their own ways. 

The Last Best Place - that about sums it up | Photo: Sam Rouda (left), Elise Strech (right)

We’ve learned over time that the beloved town and ski area in Red Lodge, nestled up against the Beartooth Mountains, is never to be passed up. Wiley Miller knows this better than anyone. “Southwest Montana has so much to offer,” he explained. “The peaks are challenging and it takes time to learn your way around. People get fixated on figuring out those big missions, and the little things can get overlooked. But trust me when I say you shouldn’t overlook Red Lodge.”

Growing up in Billings, Montana, Red Lodge was just an hour and a half away, and it was where the now-prolific professional skier first got on skis. Over the years, he’s starred in countless films and claimed lines around the globe. But his opinion of his home mountain has only strengthened as time goes on. 

Though the ski area is made up of just eight total lifts, it can be a powder paradise during big storm cycles. And it’s not just the skiing during colossal Beartooth blizzards that stands apart, but rather the time after. With lift lines being an astronomical anomaly at Red Lodge, the mountain's prolific gladed terrain is notorious for harboring pow stashes long after the skies have gone blue. “Almost every year, Montana’s spring snowstorms seem to target Red Lodge,” Miller exclaimed. “When it lines up right, it’s the best tree skiing I’ve ever found.”

And after a day of empty runs and face shots, there’s no better place to retire than the Yodeler Motel, or one of Red Lodge’s many other inviting accommodations. When it comes to affordability, dodging crowds and scoring pow, Red Lodge is likely the best ski experience you’ve never heard of.

Red Lodge is the best (and friendliest) skiing you've never heard of | Photo: Andy Best

Of course, if a mountain has achieved some notoriety, it’s probably for good reason. And northwest of Red Lodge lie two ski areas that achieved passionate cult followings: Bridger Bowl and Big Sky Resort. The larger of the two, Big Sky, is quite literally in a realm of its own. Rising through the Madison Range, the resort’s Lone Mountain is an island in the sky. Once a failed volcano that never erupted, the mountain has now been repurposed as a ski resort some 122 million years later. An apt metaphor for the state of Montana, Big Sky is large, exciting and has become known as a world-renowned destination in recent years. But no matter how sought after it becomes, one thing will always be true: steep skiing reigns supreme. 

From the stomach-turning runs atop the newly-installed 75-person tram, to the rolling groomers and down to the lively base area, you’ll find 4,350 vertical feet consisting of every terrain you could want. The terrain park under the Swift Current 6 chairlift has become one of the best in North America, and the tree skiing off the Shedhorn and Dakota lifts is unmatched. But yes, the steeps at Big Sky are the resort's calling card. The Headwaters and A-Z Chutes are comprised of formidable features and heart-pumping pitches.

You’ll also find that Big Sky’s atmosphere is as diverse as its terrain. Weekend deck parties at the base and fine dining in the Town Center; it’s the best of both worlds. Thanks to the Big Sky 2025 project, the resort has undergone significant upgrades and expansion of its mountain operations over the last decade. This includes the revamped tram, the world-record-holding Madion 8 Chairlift and a new two-stage gondola set to open winter 2025/26. And with 5,850 skiable acres, you’ll want every minute you can get.

Lone Peak will leave you with a happy grin and burning legs | Photo: Alexandra Wardell (left), Donnie Sexton (right)

Sometimes it’s not the speed of the lift that matters, but where it takes you. For some, chasing the next turn is all that matters. That’s where Bridger Bowl stands out, shining like a beacon in the wintery darkness. At first glance, you wouldn’t believe that 35 minutes from Bozeman lies arguably the best inbounds terrain on the planet. But as you drive through the Bridger Canyon and slowly inch into the parking lot, you’re met with a crisscrossing front face of jagged chutes and rock formations; an inclined canvas stretching towards the sky, dotted with trees and draped in snow.

The ski area stretches from south to north across the Bridger Range, with a giant front that makes less sense as your eyes adjust to it. While the bottom two-thirds of the mountain boast typical groomers and frontside terrain, the top third is where the magic is. Welcome to The Ridge.

Time seems to take a back seat as you begin to ascend one of the three major hikes that take you to the top of Bridger Bowl. With a mandatory avalanche transceiver safely secured to your body, you might feel like you’ve entered a different world up there. There are no trail markers except the hidden few, with perhaps no more than a half dozen closure markers scattered throughout. It’s anyone's game, and the local crowd of rambunctious skiers prefers it that way.

The Ridge at Bridger Bowl is any freerider's paradise | Photo: Andy Best

“There's no ski hill in North America that I know of with more technical, exposed, and challenging in-bounds terrain than Bridger,” Taylor Dobbins told FREESKIER. The Freeride World Tour veteran has skied around the world with the best of the best, but she chooses Bozeman and Bridger Bowl to be her home. “The riding here is something that any skier has to experience. It’ll change how you view resort skiing. And the quality of snow on The Ridge is unmatched. It stays cold, with minimal traffic and gets continually wind-loaded in the right ways.”

Dobbins is referring to Cold Smoke pow, a slogan which you’ll see etched into the metallic pair of skis that stand watch over Bridger’s entrance. The weather phenomenon pulls historically low-moisture snow onto the ski area, making for pow that billows over your head and pushes your face into a rippling smile through the sub-zero temperatures.

There are no hotels at the base area, but you’ll find delicious food at the Jim Bridger Lodge restaurant. And if you’re looking for a friend to show you around the daunting steeps of The Ridge (we highly recommend exploring the mountain with a Bridger Bowl Ridge Tour), you’ll find plenty of friendly faces and full pints inside the iconic walls of the Grizzly Ridge Bar. 

Watching the alpenglow fade off the Bridgers as you cruise back to the welcoming lights of Bozeman, you’ll be pressed to think of anywhere you’d rather be. And that, while not unique to Montana’s Yellowstone Country, is certainly a feeling that permeates in abundance from this region.

Throughout its rugged vastness, you’ll find communities that embrace this wild place and welcome it for what it is: The Last Best Place.