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Tom K.

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I've skied off the tram dozens (hundreds?) of times.

If you are truly "an intermediate skier at best" the answer to your question is a pretty solid NO, unless the viz is perfect, and you're with somebody that knows their way around up there.

If the viz is great and you're with the right person, do it once. Go slowly and treat it as an adventure. Watch for rocks! Make a few laps on Shedhorn once you get over/back there. It gets used mostly as a return access lift, so the runs are often kind of under-skied.
 

BS Slarver

Making fresh tracks
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Biggest skiing in America
Like everyone is saying visibility off the tram is key, on a blue bird day it’s doable for a confident intermediate. When it’s nasty it can be unsettling for a confident expert if you don’t know the terrain.
Perhaps try cutting your teeth on the challenger lift in the country club/ highway area. If all goes well turn it up a notch and go right into high clearing and then over to zucchini patch.
If you need to bail from high clearing head back into the highway area.
If you and your buddy’s are good to go there liberty bowl shouldn’t be a problem.

FYI
It’s my intel they actually dismantled a bulldozer and flew it up to the summit in pieces and reassembled it to smooth out some of the jagged areas at the very top of Liberty traverse.
Much less ptex carnage than years past but that’s part of the cost of doing battle at BS.

Sooo much terrain without being hung up with “doing “ the tram. Heck, head over to Stillwater traverse and check out the lines off headwaters, there’s a sphincter check for ya.

Have a safe trip, enjoy
 
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TS
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Luv2ski

In the parking lot (formerly "At the base lodge")
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Thanks for all of the advise guys......from the sounds of it I really need to improve my skill set before I head up there........we're skiing for 6 days so maybe towards the end of the trip maybe I'll let the thought start creeping back in my head....lol....Thanks again for the responses.....
 

SShore

Resident Curmudgeon
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Thanks for all of the advise guys......from the sounds of it I really need to improve my skill set before I head up there........we're skiing for 6 days so maybe towards the end of the trip maybe I'll let the thought start creeping back in my head....lol....Thanks again for the responses.....

If you are considering taking a lesson while you are here, ask for Ursala. She is awesome.
 

graham418

Skiing the powder
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If its a nice sunny day, have a burger on the deck at the shedhorn grill
 

Talisman

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Gallatin County
If you are considering taking a lesson while you are here, ask for Ursala. She is awesome.
Ursula is one of the legendary ski instructors at BS. Lots of good advice regarding making a tram lap. One thing to keep in mind is the Liberty Bowl can get sun scorched and isn't much fun in manky snow, having the skills to traverse to and then ski Marx, Lenin, Gullies to Crons can be important even with good visibility. At a minimum take a ride up for a site seeing ride on a clear day as the view is impressive.
 

milkman

Getting on the lift
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There is no "easy way down". There are challenges from wind, ice , flat light, altitude and the length of the run. There are no Groomed Black runs at Big Sky and nothing resembling such on Lone Peak. There is one Single Diamond (Liberty Bowl) from the Peak and it would be a double black at many ski areas. I suggest you try Rice Bowl off of Swift Current chair or The Bowl to the right off the Powder Seeker chair. If you can traverse about 2/3rds the way around the Bowl past the first rock bands and ski down comfortably you're good to go to Liberty Bowl but be prepared physically for a much longer decent. If you decide not to ski down take the sight seeing trip up the Tram between 3:00-3:30 See theTetons and the Missouri River headwaters.
 

skidrew

Getting off the lift
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May 1, 2017
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643
I've skied off the tram dozens (hundreds?) of times.

If you are truly "an intermediate skier at best" the answer to your question is a pretty solid NO, unless the viz is perfect, and you're with somebody that knows their way around up there.

+1.

Self-assessment is always difficult. One person's "intermediate" is another's "advanced".

I've skied Liberty Bowl once. I could probably do it again, but would want to make sure the conditions and viz are decent.

Here's the test for you - go up PowderSeeker and ski the Bowl (you don't need to go all the way out - just past "Steep and Deep" where you see the majority of people skiing. If you can do that with comfort then you may be able to do Liberty Bowl. If you can't, then you can't. Anything else off the tram is going to be even more difficult.

Let your friends go. Ride up with them and ride back down the tram, and ski the huge amounts of other terrain that don't require a tram ride.
 

SShore

Resident Curmudgeon
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Nov 12, 2015
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New this year. Heated seats and bubble cover. They are replacing Ramcharger with an 8 seat version next season.
 

James

Out There
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Dec 2, 2015
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New this year. Heated seats and bubble cover. They are replacing Ramcharger with an 8 seat version next season.
An 8 seat chair? It's hard enough to get six people to make it through the loading gates together.
 

Mike King

AKA Habacomike
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Nov 13, 2015
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Louisville CO/Aspen Snowmass
If you are considering taking a lesson while you are here, ask for Ursala. She is awesome.

Ursula is one of the legendary ski instructors at BS. Lots of good advice regarding making a tram lap. One thing to keep in mind is the Liberty Bowl can get sun scorched and isn't much fun in manky snow, having the skills to traverse to and then ski Marx, Lenin, Gullies to Crons can be important even with good visibility. At a minimum take a ride up for a site seeing ride on a clear day as the view is impressive.

Even if you aren't interested in skiing Liberty Bowl any longer, do yourself a favor and book a lesson with Ursula. She is phenomenal and you will learn a ton!

Mike
 

James

Out There
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Dec 2, 2015
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Goodness, that totally changes that area. Six person lift!
There's nothing like a heated seat bubble, (well a gondola),when it's brutally cold out. The one we have the heat lasts like 30 sec to a minute but it's enough to give you a little shot. It's getting out of the wind though that's huge. Plus it keeps the snow or ice off the seats.

And Challenger! No more slow double? Kind of liked that lift, but it needed to go. Good luck with the conveyor belt for loading/unloading. Ours constantly breaks.
 

focker

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Oct 4, 2017
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How do heated seats work? Does it just heat the seats while the chair is rounding the bullwheel for a short time?
 

James

Out There
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Dec 2, 2015
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How do heated seats work? Does it just heat the seats while the chair is rounding the bullwheel for a short time?
Just heats it at the bottom. There's electrical paddle contacts up on the carriage which contact a power rail. There's a box underneath the chair that I think is just a junction box for the seat wires, input cable. Not a battery or capacitor.

  • 16-21 seconds heating time in the station
  • 7.5 kW rated output based on a detachable 6-seater chairlift
  • 420 W per seat
  • Heating mat protected against short-circuiting and damp
  • Protection against overheating via clocked electrical power supply at low speed
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/fullscreen/56526909/seat-heating-en


When it's really really cold, you basically don't feel heat but the seat isn't cold. When you do feel it, it's nice. Everyone is spoiled now.
 

SShore

Resident Curmudgeon
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Nov 12, 2015
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556
How do heated seats work? Does it just heat the seats while the chair is rounding the bullwheel for a short time?
Don't know how, just know it does. I love riding PowderSeeker on a cold day.
 

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