John Kircher had a vision. He wanted to build a tram to the top of 11,166-foot Lone Mountain, the iconic, cone-shaped peak that towers over Big Sky Resort, in Montana. The only problem? His dad, Everett Kircher, then the owner of Big Sky Resort and the founder of Michigan-based Boyne Resorts, thought it was a preposterous idea.
This was the late 1980s and sending skiers into that kind of steep terrain inbounds was bold and risky. Nobody knew if it was even possible to mitigate the slopes for avalanches. But John, an avid and adventurous skier, saw the potential. He’d traveled around Europe and he knew tram technology existed that could deliver skiers to the top of that peak.
“My dad at the time was president of the company and was not really in favor of the project,” John, who was general manager of Big Sky Resort from 1982 to 1997, said in a 25th anniversary of the tram video. “I had quite a few heated discussions with him about this and truth be told, I ended up ordering that lift without his OK … There was a tirade about that, but he didn’t make us stop. So, the project went forward.”