Big Sky ~ January 26th - February 2nd, 2019

The 2019 Florida Ski Council Big Sky ski trip was a fun filled trip with over 400 people from 11 Florida ski clubs. Space Coast had 28 participants with 20 flying from Orlando into Bozeman, Montana, with a scenic 1 hour drive to the resort and the rest driving to Big Sky from other parts of the country. Arriving on a weekend full of new snow, our group was soon discovering how large the ski area is and why Big Sky is called the Biggest Skiing in America. There were lots of new runs to discover each day and rarely a wait when getting on lifts. And the resort has 2 new enclosed chair lifts (Ram Charger 8 and Powder Seeker 6) with ergonomically designed heated padded seats; a real treat between runs.

Our Sunday group dinner was at Buck’s T-4 restaurant and lodge. A historic roadhouse near the resort, this highly regarded establishment did not disappoint our group seating us in our own private dining room giving us a great opportunity to meet and socialize with our fellow travelers. With dinner choices of pheasant, Walleye, tenderloin or pork ribs, our group enjoyed a wonderful meal to start off a great week. The wonderful daily morning breakfast buffet in the Huntley dining room with a beautiful view of Lone Peak Mountain also presented plenty of opportunities to socialize and make plans for the day. For some that meant making reservations to have lunch at Everett's 8800 at the top of Andesite Mountain providing spectacular views again of Lone Peak Mountain and also the surrounding area; food and service were really good too at this elegant yet rustic style restaurant.

Among the many activities, 10 from our group signed up for the Tuesday NASTAR ski races. Despite our small race team size, we did a great job of racing and ended up in a close 4th place behind the larger teams. Hopefully next year we can drop a few seconds on the other teams to get back into the medals.

FSC activities included two dinners at the Yellowstone Conference Center inside the Huntley Lodge / Shoshone Condo complex. Thursday’s dinner featured a Heros and Villains theme party and several in our group had some excellent costumes. Our club seemed to favor with the villains.

Overall it was a great trip with good snow, moderate temperatures, mostly sunny ‘big’ skys, and no major injuries for our group. With our club’s previous trip being in 2006, hopefully it will not be another 10+ years before we return to Big Sky again. Thanks for traveling with Space Coast Ski and Travel Club.