Big Sky's 10-Year Transformation Is Complete

The Explorer Gondola and Kircliff work together. 

The gondola starts at Big Sky’s Mountain Village and doubles the uphill capacity to 2,850 skiers per hour, climbing to the base of the Lone Peak tram. From there, skiers or sightseers can hitch a ride to the top of Lone Mountain on the tram, where Kircliff provides 360-degree views of the surrounding peaks. 

The glass, futuristic structure looms over the edge of the mountain, and looks a bit like an alpine lair where James Bond would face off with a mustache-twirling antagonist—or the station that stands atop Chamonix’s Aiguille du Midi. The building includes a transparent floor through which visitors can look down at Lone Mountain’s imposing fall line.

Lift Blog visited the Kircliff opening. Check out his snap from inside the building's glass observation deck below.

Kircliff is designed to endure extreme weather, including temperature fluctuations above 100 degrees. Big Sky calls it a “triumph of modern alpine engineering.” Inside, the resort installed a sculpture created by Anthony James, whose work has appeared at Art Basel, the Saatchi Gallery, and in the movie Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

“What makes this truly special is the accessibility it unlocks,” Nedved said. “For the first time in Big Sky’s history, anyone can reach the summit of Lone Peak in winter. No skis required.”  

Scenic tickets to Kircliff, sans skis, start at $30.

The decade-spanning overhaul at Big Sky puts the resort in a similar league as Deer Valley, Utah, which is amid another historic expansion.

Deer Valley is still pushing its terrain footprint, but plans to debut seven new chairlifts this winter, for a total of ten new lifts since the 2024-25 season. Combined with Deer Valley’s existing boundaries, the resort now encompasses 4,300 skiable acres.