BIG MOUNTAIN 2001

Myself, my father George and brother Matthew had visited Fernie and Big Mountain, Montana for the
first time in 2000 and although Matthew could not make the trip in 2001, George and myself booked
our two week break with Inghams. Again we would visit Big Mountain during the final week of skiing
and the only change from the previous year was that we would stay in the Alpenglow Inn rather than
the rustic old Hibernation House.

The journey down from Fernie takes around three hours by the time you pass through the border
control between Canada and the USA and having done the same journey the previous winter we knew
what to expect. The customs officials are always very friendly while getting the job done and UK
citizens entering from Canada have to complete the normal forms as well as a $6 fee payable in US
banknotes only.

On arriving in Big Mountain we found that Mike Richards, who we had met the previous year, would
again be our rep. We agreed that as we had skied the previous 6 days in Fernie in superb conditions
that we would take the afternoon off to rest the limbs and stock up the room with snacks and beer.
Luckily Inghams had organised a bottle of white wine which was chilling nicely as we arrived in the
room. A nice touch and a good start to our second visit to Big Mountain.

Having skied here the previous year we knew
what to expect on the mountain as well as in the
mountain village. Nothing much had changed from
the previous year although plans were well under
way to demolish the old day lodge and build the
new Morning Eagle building in its place.

On an almost daily basis we would receive the
early morning snow report through our door and
we were very lucky throughout the week with a
regular inch or too falling each night.

Again we spent quite a bit of time in the Stube
sharing a few beers with Mike as well as the

weekly Frabert award. We would lose touch with Mike over the years until late 2003 when I stumbled
across his website. Since then I have skied with him for a week in Utah and more recently Mike
accompanied myself, father and brother on a three week tour of South America. Mike went that little
bit further as a rep and is now thought of as a friend of the family.

We awoke early on the Thursday morning to the sound of piste patrol blasting after another big dump
of snow overnight. After getting ourselves ready for the Glacier Chaser opening at 9.30 we sat in our
room overlooking the lift and waited for the first chair to be loaded. The constant boom from the snow
guns suggested that we would have a long wait and with the queue growing by the minute we decided
to head to the Swift Creek lift that services the lower mountains intermediate runs. The 6" of fresh
powder was simply superb and as the lift is slow and cold we had almost the entire area to ourselves.
After a few runs the Glacier Chaser was finally open and after the queue of keen skiers and boarders
disappeared we ventured up to the summit of the mountain.

With the snow still falling hard and visibility limited to say the least we concentrated on the runs on the
north side of the mountain. The foot or so of fresh on top of the previous few days new snow was
simply superb with Goat Haunt and Whitetail being the trails of choice.

A run back to the base area and we went to the Hellroaring Saloon for a spot of lunch. George
thoroughly recommended the Hellroaring stew which came in a bread bowl. The previous week Big
Mountain had hosted the USSA Alpine National Championships and the Hellroaring were offering
cheap beer while the highlights were on national TV. Suffice to say we had a few beers while watching
the racing. All the stars of US skiing had competed with the downhill events being won by Kirsten
Clark and Daron Rahlves.

Friday was another full day on the slopes and after getting ourselves ready for the 4am pickup on
Saturday morning we headed down to the Stube for a few beers. The bar was preparing for a busy
night with a local band playing as well as the return of the telemark team from the World
Championships in Val Thorens, France. It turned out that Big Mountain is that local skier and
telemarker Reid Sabin had won in the Telemark Classic race. Big Mountain is also the unofficial home
of the US Telemark Team.

Disappointed that we had to head to bed before their arrival the realism was that our skiing holiday
was over for another year and all too quickly I would be back to university.

This article was written by Quintin Chalmers, a 30-year-old skier from Aberdeen in the north of
Scotland. Quintin has skied at over 50 North American resorts and is in the process of setting up
www.offthebeatenpath.co.uk designed to help like minded people find the best turns in some of the
more unusual resorts in western USA. He has over 20 years skiing experience and enjoys nothing
more than seeing new places that many people write off as being not worth the hassle.