I'm from a northeast skiing family. My parents met through a ski club my Dad was president of, and started me on skis at the age of 3 at Whiteface, a NY Adirondack mountain that hosted the 1980 Olympic Alpine events. This great mountain, with its 3,200 vertical drop, is where I learned to ski every type of condition, in all forms of extreme weather.
After college I got into exploring new ski areas, and started tallying all the ones I had been to. According to my Excel list I've been to 132 ski areas so far.
I have been to most major resorts throughout North America, and have started ticking off some of the more exotic ones on my bucket list in South America, New Zealand and Europe. I still enjoy the small family run operations too. For me, its just about being outside gliding down a mountain. I don't need fancy resort infrastructure and perfect groomers to have fun. That is the beauty of starting the sport in the era I did.
With all that said, my wife and I were looking for a place out West that we could take our kids to, and spend some retirement time at. I had been to all the big name mountains prior to my first visit to Big Sky which we instantly fell in love with. The mountain had every type of terrain: from the double black diamonds I enjoy now, to the type of terrain I will enjoy in my senior years. The lifts were old salvaged lifts from other ski areas. That was okay. We saw the potential and saw that Boyne was pumping money into the resort, so we bought our place in 1991, and haven't looked back since. With most lifts replaced by high speed detachables, new lodges, and the tram to the top, this area rocks.
Throughout the years we've been slowly fixing our Montana home up. In 2013 we replaced the 29 year old hot tub. In 2017 we renovated the kitchen with all new appliances completing our punch list. We have really enjoyed seeing our renters positive comments about their stay, and we will continue this labor of love to make it great for us and them.