Down in southern Montana, Red Lodge is a fairly small country town with some big scenery and winter sports action without all the posers you might find in larger resorts like those in Colorado. With a population of just over 2,000, don’t expect much to be going on here but its spectacular scenery makes it a great destination in the summer for hiking. In the winter, the snow means the roads are sometimes difficult to navigate but the skiing is worth it.
The Red Lodge Mountain Ski Resort is the most tourist-friendly place in town, a little resort with 69 runs where the highest elevation is around 3,000 meters above sea level. There is also a golf course here that is snowed over in winter but which makes a picturesque round in summer.
The town and the resort are nestled among the towering Beartooth Mountains, which lend their name to the dramatic Beartooth Highway connecting Red Lodge to Yellowstone Park on roads that climb to nearly 3,500 meters. This is one of the most spectacular drives in America but only try it between May and September otherwise you could end up preserved for eternity in your car among the ice and snow. The weather here really does get that bad in winter.
Highlights
Red Lodge Mountain Ski Resort: offers quaint country town skiing where the skiing comes before the après-ski and the locals remember your name year after year.
Beartooth Highway: the most scenic stretch of road in the US? Drive and find out, just don’t forget to pack the anti-freeze.