Late Summer Blizzard Hits Montana Highway With a Week to Go

Did you know that Montana is home to one of the only summer Ski areas in North America? It's true, and it may not be opening for business this year. Beartooth Basin is a summer-only ski area high atop the Beartooth Pass. A place that is buried with so much snow, that it is not accessible until spring, making it one of the best places for summertime skiing.

According to the Beartooth Basin website

Beartooth Basin (formerly: The Red Lodge International Ski and Snowboard Camp) is one of North America’s oldest alpine ski training areas. The ski area is staffed with professional ski patrol and lift attendants just as any other ski area, but with a summer-like setting above 10,000 feet that can sometimes turn to winter at a moment's notice. Please note, that there are no lodge or warming hut facilities. You could call it backcountry skiing with a lift.

Summer ends next week, and the fresh snow is already flying on Beartooth Pass. As it normally does, a giant snowstorm has taken over the high-elevation highway between Wyoming and Montana.

According to Cowboy State Daily

There may still be a week left in Summer going by the calendar, but that didn’t mean anything for those caught in a blizzard on Wyoming’s Beartooth Highway on Thursday. The storm was right on schedule, typical for this time of year.

Soon the snow will be overwhelming and inevitably close the highway down. Heavy equipment will be back in the spring to clear the way for some summertime skiing.