While I'm not the most well-traveled skier around, I am expanding my ski passport (so to speak). There are some resorts out there that leave you feeling meh, and some that just build the stoke and keep you coming back.
One of my favorite resorts out there is Moonlight Basin, a smaller resort in Big Sky country (Big Sky, MT to be more specific). Hiding on the dark side of lone peak, even sharing a lift with Big Sky Resort, this small slice of heaven tends to live below the radar; this equates to longer-lasting powder, short to non-existent lift lines, and the true ability to escape society.
It's not the largest resort, and if you're looking for pure acreage Big Sky takes the cake on that. Big Sky is also home to the flashier terrain accessible from the Lone Peak Tram (tops off at 11, 140 ft-ish, so there's great vert.) like the Big Couloir, but the best terrain off the tram is actually Moonlight Terrain. The North Summit Snowfield is a double black powder playground that attracts adrenaline-junkie powder-hounds. I've not had the pleasure of skiing it yet, and it does require you to have a Biggest Skiing in America lift ticket (think $$$), beacon, shovel, probe, partner, and to sign out with ski patrol, but from what I've heard it's more than worth it.
Moonlight is home to the Headwaters, a series of escalating chutes that have actually hosted some of the FWT (Freeride World Tour) qualifiers. But my absolute favorite thing about my home resort is the trees. If you like glades then go to Moonlight. Hit up Shaftway from the Lone Tree lift, take Lookout Ridge over To Single or Double Jack, or bomb through Big Tree Cutoff. There are plenty of glades and a paucity of skiers, allowing you to feel like you're side/backcountry skiing instead of being in a lift-served area.
If you're more of a groomer fan, there's something for you too. From awesome screamers like Ice House and Lookout Ridge, to more mellow beginner terrain like Cinnabar and Wagon Train, there's really something there for everyone.
Moonlight's tickets are less than $70, which is cheaper than Big Sky and, while more expensive than Bridger Bowl (another Bozeman ski area), you can think of the extra cost as a privacy fee. And a fee to NOT ski with huge douches (super biased against Bridger, sorry).
That's the stuff you can find on any tourism site or the MB site, I'm sure. What's special about this place to me is the fact that this is really where I learned to ski. I started skiing when we lived in the Bay Area, hitting up Alpine Meadows with my dad a couple of times a year, taking lessons, what have you. But once we moved to MT I was able to get a season pass and really take advantage of my proximity to the slopes. I remember my first day at Moonlight, crying as my dad tried to coax me down one of the easiest runs in the resort. It had been awhile since I'd been on skis and everything felt foreign. I wasn't sure I really wanted to be doing that, but through perseverance and coaching from my dad I got my ski legs back and then started progressing. 80% of my awesome ski moments happened there, not because they were super epic, not because I was sending it big, but because I was learning. Learning to love the sport, learning to love that mountain, learning to push myself. Moonlight was my classroom and my teacher and for that I will always love that place.
So if you're planning a ski trip to Big Sky country, skip the more well-known areas and hit up Moonlight. You can yell at me if you don't like it, but you also have no idea what good skiing is so have fun living life like that.
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