GO BIG OR GO HOME

Generations of skiers have known Big Sky, Montana, as a low-key ski destination. But with new luxury resorts and tricked-out lifts, word is about to get out. Gloria Liu clicks into her skis to test her limits.

- Gloria Liu

YOU HAVE TO go to Big Sky" is a refrain I've often heard from fellow skiers. At a time when skiing evokes images of long lift lines and crowded slopes, Big Sky trades on a reputation for solitude and space. Located between the city of Bozeman and Yellowstone National Park, the 5,850-acre Montana resort has an average of one acre for every skier; supposedly, you can ski all day without seeing the same run twice. It's the third-largest ski resort in North America after Whistler Blackcomb, in British Columbia, and Park City Resort, in Utah.

But diehards know what really puts the big in Big Sky. In skiing parlance, the word describes terrain that is above the tree line, steep, sustained, and exposed - meaning a fall could be long and of high consequence. For a U.S. ski resort, Big Sky has a unique preponderance of this type of advanced terrain. Much of it - including the most famous run, Big Couloir-lies on Lone Peak, a stark and wind-battered summit reached by a single-car tram.

I've always joked that if I'm not a beautiful skier, I am a brave one. I learned as an adult, mostly by throwing myself at scary slopes and skiing down in survival mode, so I don't rattle too easily when I'm at a resort. (My fiancé, Dan, and I also ski in the backcountry in California's Sierra Nevada.) But the week before I leave for Montana, I see a video of a skier on "The Big," as locals call it. Plunging down the 1,400-foot vertical face between bands of unforgiving rock, the skier looks tiny and inconsequential. Yet he moves with strength and intention, responding to the demands of the terrain. Adding to the sense of seriousness is an article accompanying the video, which informs me that, to ski the Big, one must not only sign out for a time slot with ski patrol but also go with a partner and wear an avalanche beacon. I'll have those. But will I have the skills?