Distinctly Montana Magazine

Shape 0f BY DONNIE CLAPP W hat really strikes you is just how different it looks and feels. Beneath a thick blanket of white, mountains seem a little less vertical, trees shorter, and raging creeks hidden away. It is, in a word, softer. Winter in the Last Best Place shapes the people here— makes them tougher, friendlier, and more appreciative of a sunny day. It shaped the landscape—the entire western half of the state was carved by glaciers some untold millennia ago, and melting snow does its best to dig a bit deeper into valleys across the state each spring. It shapes the agricul- ture, storing water high in the mountains that comes in pretty handy when the sun is up past 10 p.m. in July. And, thankfully, it shapes the Montana experience. From angling under the ice to zipping down the slopes, winter is better in Montana, and Montana is better in winter. Every winter, natives and visitors, the ones lucky enough to "I love the pace and rhythm that's involved in skiing through the woods. I love how slowly your thoughts reveal themselves to you, and I love, in the loneliness of January, the blurring of the lines between the animate and the inanimate." RICK BASS THE WILD MARSH: FOUR SEASONS AT HOME IN MONTANA know, step outside somewhere in Montana. They go skiing. Montana's 15 ski areas include some of the oldest, biggest, friendliest, and least crowded in the country. Lone Peak, im- pressive in the summer, towers even more powerfully over Big Sky in the winter, blowing mind after mind as visitors realize "There is actually a ski lift to the top of that thing!" Consider Warren Miller, whose name is synonymous with winter recreation. Miller has spent more time ponder- ing the meaning of snow to the pursuit of human enjoy- ment than anyone, traveling the world to make a decades- long catalog of films on the subject. He now spends his winters living in Big Sky, skiing out his days in what he calls the most consistently good snow in the U.S. He says, "I just love to make turns, and that freedom I enjoy on a pair of skis is without comparison in any other sport. You can look out on a bluebird day; the sky is cobalt and the powder snow is as deep as you want. I could live anywhere in the world, and I choose to live here all winter long." If you made it up State Highway 89 past White Sulphur Springs in the summer, you might run into a friendly 70-year-old man named George Willett. Make the trip after 200 inches of snow have fallen and you might not be able to catch up with him during one of his 60 annual ski days at Showdown, Mon- 14 DISTINCTLY MONTANA • WINTER 2011 MIKE HARRELSON

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