Big Sky Resort: 2025 Trip Recap and General Notes about our Trips
Ever since I started the Women Who Ski Facebook group back in 2015, I’ve been excited at the thought of hosting a group of ladies at my home mountain, Big Sky Resort, in Montana, two hours from where I live. I had the opportunity last season, in March of 2025, when 21 women joined our first Official Women Who Ski trip to Big Sky Resort.
The “money” shot: most of our group on a clear day skiing together to get that infamous photo with Lone Peak in the background. The first two days on our trips, most ladies usually ski together on a blue run to get a feel for how others ski. Then, naturally and organically the women break out into smaller groups according to ski level. It always works out so perfectly!
All skier levels are welcome on our trips. Most ladies fall in the blue and blue/black category, with always a few expert double blacks girls, and a few green level beginners. Our Big Sky trip had three beginners who split the cost of a private lesson, a benefit to joining a group vacation.
Amanda Soileau flew in from Palm City, Fla., and says, “My recent trip with the Women Who Ski group to Big Sky was magical and better than I ever could have imagined! I felt included, welcomed, encouraged, and supported by the 20 strangers I met. We came as strangers and left as friends.”
Amanda feeling it! “I’m a strong green skier but was worried that everyone would be too advanced for me. While others were much more advanced, everyone was more than willing to ski with me on those greens. I can’t wait for our next trip!”
Amanda experienced the “magic” that is the essence of a Women Who Ski vacation: women from all over the U.S. joining a trip knowing no one, but making incredible memories together, thus finding ski buddies for life. My goal with my trip offerings as founder of Women Who Ski is first, to facilitate those special connections for women, and second, to do it while experiencing a beautiful ski location. I say, “Come with an open heart and you’ll leave with a list of ski buddies to call upon when you plan your next ski trip.”
Big Sky’s Meadow Village location vs. Mountain Village (ski-in ski-out)
For our 2025 trip, I chose the Residence Inn Wilson Hotel in the Meadow Village of Big Sky as the home base for our official ski trip, a 6-mile shuttle ride south of the ski resort. It checks all the boxes for what women who ski want in a lodging property. “The location of our stay, The Wilson, was perfect (with kitchen in room and complimentary breakfast), along with restaurants and shopping within walking distance,” says Amy Giammattei, guest on our 2025 trip. “The shuttles were timely and easy. There was a variety of skier abilities and others to complement where you were. The group was lovely. Genevieve provided a great service.”
Staying slope-side in a ski-in ski-out hotel has its advantages but in the case of Big Sky Resort, to me the cons outweigh the pros. I can say this as a local who has stayed at both properties. The newer Wilson Hotel, built in 2019, where you can walk (not far at all) to a variety of restaurants, shops, grocery and liquor store far outweighs staying at the mountain where there are limited options for all of these. The Wilson has a stovetop, fridge, dishwasher, and eating area in every room, a large fitness room, and a beautiful upscale lounge area.
The main ski-in ski-out hotel in Mountain Village, The Huntley Lodge, was built in the 1970s and while the rooms have been updated, earplugs are provided (well they were the last time I was there pre-renovation) because the walls are paper thin. Plus, there are no kitchen appliances in the rooms, and no grocery store at the mountain—only a convenience store. Restaurant choices are few. You’ll end up eating your skier’s lunch and dinner at the same few places several days in a row. If you’re staying one or two nights, lodging at the mountain may be a fun bucket list experience, but for longer trips where eating every meal out gets expensive, it’s nice to have the option of cooking in your room along with a variety of eateries with different price points nearby. So, you don’t get the experience of walking steps to the chairlift, but I can assure the free shuttle service The Wilson provides is one of their best run and most efficient amenities the hotel offers. An app allows you to call for the shuttle when you want it (even after ski hours) and when we were there it was always on time.
Mountain Tours
Big Sky is one of the few resorts left that offers complimentary tours of its mountain put on by a “green coat” host. The tours run twice a day and cover both sides of the humongous resort. I built a relationship with the lead tour guide and he told me he really enjoyed showing our group around on our trip in March and looks forward to doing it again next season.
JC Estensen, our guide in the green coat, was short staffed so he managed to keep 21 of us together for our tour of Big Sky. Tours are a great way to get familiar with the different sections and many lifts. The ladies told me they appreciated it very much.
A few ladies wanted to experience Big Sky’s after dark “Enchanted Forest” excursion, including yours truly. This 45-minute walk along a trail of thousands of lights at the top of the mountain was very special. Three friendly hearty souls joined me on the chairlift in a snowstorm in our street clothes to venture to the top of Andesite mountain for this adventurous outing.
Jan, Joyce, Karen and myself getting ready to ride Ramcharger after hours to see the lights.
A sample of the lights. This is actually the “finale” toward the end of the trail. With the time change the week we arrived, it wasn’t quite dark yet.
All our Official Women Who Ski trips include a welcome reception where I or another Ambassador hands out name tags, complimentary drink coupons, and a welcome gift. I’m always in awe at how strangers naturally start chatting over their shared love of skiing, and by day one most ladies have found their ski buddy or buddies for the week.
The Welcome reception at our Official trip to Breckenridge in late March held in the hotel lobby lounge.
There’s always a generous selfie “photographer” among our guests. On this trip, Stephanie in blue in the foreground was superb at selfies on and off the chairlift. That’s me next to her, Meryl, Margaret, and Alida. Our photos are shared in the group chat for everyone to download and save.
Stephanie snapping a shot with another group of ladies skiing together.
Our dinners are arranged through the chat group. On this night, I asked everyone to join me at Tips Up, a bar and grill owned by The Wilson right next door. Great photo opp without ski gear and goggles.
All these ladies just met on this trip. They’re getting ready to hop on the tram to the top of Lone Peak for a scenic ride. Conditions were not optimal for skiing off the top on this day.