When I headed out to Bozeman, Montana last week for a quick 3-day ski trip, I assumed those 3 days would be spent at Big Sky. It was one of the few ski resorts out west I hadn’t skied and been at the top of my list. As the name implies, Big Sky encompasses a sprawling 5850 acres of Rocky Mountain skiing terrain, ranging from wide-open groomers to dynamic glades to challenging steeps, with more runs to ski than I’d ever jam into 3 days. Little did I know there are two other mountains to ski in the vicinity: Bridger Bowl, the community run mountain where the locals ski, and at the other end of the spectrum, the ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club.
A few years ago a good friend of mine, Lynn Shanahan, moved out to Bozeman. We met on a press trip about 20 years ago when she was a Group President at Tommy Hilfiger and I was the Visual Editor at Self magazine. Tommy Hilfiger was sponsoring the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team at the time and had invited a handful of editors to Deer Valley, Utah to watch an Olympic lead-up competition. In the good old days of the print magazine business, our accommodations were at the world-famous Stein Erikson Lodge and the rest of the weekend followed suit in alpine luxury.
Lynn has quite the different life now, having opened up a bar and café in Gallatin Gateway, just southwest of Bozeman, called The Jump. Once a strip club, The Jump still has dancing but not on poles. She herself is a competitive ballroom dancer. With regular live music, locals and tourists alike, along with students from Montana State University in Bozeman, can be found on the dance floor nightly for some country western two-step and line dancing. They offer dance lessons too. Read More
