If you’re heading out to visit one of the most beautiful places in Montana, Big Sky, altitude sickness can easily ruin your trip. As a company with a lot of experience in the Rocky Mountains, we'll share with you all you need to know about Big Sky altitude and our best tips how to avoid Big Sky altitude sickness.
Big Sky altitude sits a 7,218 feet (2,200 m) in elevation. For someone coming from sea level, this is a huge increase in altitude.
Within an hour range of both Bozeman and Yellowstone National Park, Big Sky is Montana's premier destination for adventure.³ It offers endless outdoor activities including ziplines, mountain biking, whitewater rafting, horseback riding, hikes, tram expeditions to the summit, golfing, scenic wildlife viewing, and of course skiing.³
Big Sky is considered a part of the Rocky Mountains, which like Colorado, is considered high altitude mountains.
In addition, more than half of Big Sky summers visitors surveyed included Yellowstone National Park as part of their trip⁴, which has an average elevation of 8,000 feet (2438 m).⁵
With the elevations of Big Sky and its surrounding areas, altitude sickness can become a risk to damper your experience when visiting.
Big Sky Resort altitude, specifically the ski resort, has a base between 6,800 feet and 7,500 feet. The summit of Big Sky Resort ascends much higher if skiing or hiking, which sits at 11,166 feet.¹
Big Sky Resort altitudes:¹
Opened since 1973, Big Sky Resort has a growing reputation as one of America’s premier ski destinations and known as “The Biggest Skiing in America”.
With 5,800 acres of skiable terrain and 36 ski lifts, Big Sky Resort is the second largest ski resort in the United States.
At these high altitudes, its best to be well prepared for altitude sickness so that your trip isn't ruined.
If you're wondering, do people get altitude sickness at Big Sky? Yes. At Big Sky there is certainly a high risk to get altitude sickness for visitors, especially if coming from sea level.
According to Mountain Medicine, high altitude starts between 4,900 and 11,500 feet in elevation.² Big Sky altitude ranges from 6,800 to 11,166 feet.
Also known as acute mountain sickness (AMS), visitors have a chance of feeling mild altitude sickness when visiting Big Sky. Symptoms can include headache, nausea, fatigue and shortness of breath.
To maximize your experience, we'll share with you below our top tips to avoid Big Sky altitude sickness.
Big Sky Montana altitude sickness, or acute mountain sickness, is the result of a lack of oxygen at high altitudes. The higher the altitude, the less oxygen there is in the air you breathe, also the more you lose fluids through increased respiration.
It's common for people to feel slightly sick, tired, or nauseous during the first day or so after arriving at Big Sky. Be on the lookout for symptoms of altitude sickness so you can catch it early enough.
Big Sky altitude sickness symptoms include:
Being aware of these symptoms is important to preventing Big Sky altitude sickness, which we share below.
Known as the “The Biggest Skiing in America” with breathtaking views, activities and wildlife ─ it's no wonder Big Sky is a destination of over 500,000 visitors per year.⁶
The one thing to prepare for is that altitude sickness is a common problem for visitors to the Big Sky area. The mountain air is thinner, and the oxygen levels are lower.
As a company highly experienced with Rocky Mountain altitudes, we reveal our top tips for avoiding Big Sky Montana altitude sickness.
Here's 5 tips to avoid Big Sky altitude sickness:
This concludes our top researched tips to avoid Big Sky altitude sickness.
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SOURCES
1. Big Sky Resort Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sky_Resort
2. Effects of high altitude on humans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_high_altitude_on_humans
3. Big Sky Resort Montana
https://www.visitmt.com/listings/general/resort/big-sky-resort
4. Big Sky Summer Market Visitor Study
https://www.visitbigsky.com/sites/default/files/2021-04/Big-Sky-Summer-Market-Visitor-Study-Final-Report-of-Findings-1-15-20.pdf
5. Geological History Of The Yellowstone National Park
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/yell/hague/sec1.htm
6. Big Sky Resort sets another visitation record
https://www.explorebigsky.com/big-sky-resort-sets-another-visitation-record
7. Effect of high altitude (7,620 m) exposure on glutathione
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11320641/
