If Swifty is down or running slowly on diesel, the Explorer can be a link to the Challenger chair for getting up and away from the base area.Yep - Explorer's sole purpose best I can tell is for very beginning skiers to access some beginner terrain, that might be more difficult to access via Swiftcurrent. And perhaps for real estate access.
Swifty is a linchpin for Big Sky and when it has issues the guest experience deteriorates quickly. Fingers crossed the motor control issues on Swifty are fully resolved.