Black diamond Big Sky, MT
Lower Bearcat Gully drops 412 vertical feet over 1,374 feet of skiing, with a steepest pitch of 25° about 700 feet below the top. That's steeper than 22% of the 4,740 black diamond runs we've measured in North America, and the 173rd steepest of 290 named runs at Big Sky. It faces southeast.
Facing southeast at an average 18°, Lower Bearcat Gully gets about 136% of the winter sun that flat ground at Big Sky does, December through March. That's sunnier than 95% of the runs we've measured, and the 37th sunniest named run at Big Sky. Its top sits at 8,550 feet.
Angled toward the low winter sun, it bakes: powder turns heavy soon after a storm, and in spring it softens early in the day and refreezes hard overnight. Shading from ridges and trees isn't counted yet.
under 25°25–35°35–45°45°+ Hover to follow the line on the map.
Measured by ZRankings from 1-meter USGS lidar. Steepest pitch is the steepest stretch of about 50 vertical feet along the skiable line. Run lines come from OpenStreetMap and can sit a little off the skied path.