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Discovery Basin

Home / Ski Resorts / Discovery Basin Ski Resort

Discovery Basin Ski Resort is a ski area located in the state of Montana in USA. The resort is in the town of Anaconda, MT.

We recently ranked all of Montana's ski resorts, so you can see where Discovery Basin stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!

Season Passes

Discovery Basin is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes work with Discovery Basin Ski Resort. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Discovery Basin's website.

Lodging Options

There are numerous options to stay at Discovery Basin around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.

Discovery Basin Mountain Resort Terrain Overview

Discovery Basin has a total of 67 ski trails, which are serviced by 8 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 2,200 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 890 hectares, 3.4 square miles, or 8.9 square kilometers.

Discovery Basin's slopes see on average 225 inches (5.7 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 18 feet every year!

Trails
Total Runs
67
Ski Lift
Lifts
8
Skier
Skiable Acres
2,200(9 km2)
Snow
Annual Snowfall
225"(572 cm)

Discovery Basin Ski Resort Elevation

Discovery Basin Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 8,158 feet, or 2,486 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 5,770 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 2,388 feet (728 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.

The summit of 8,158 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.

Mountain Summit
Summit Elevation
8,158'(2,486 m)
Vertical Drop
Vertical Drop
2,388'(728 m)
Mountain base
Base Elevation
5,770'(1,759 m)

Discovery Basin Ski Resort Difficulty Level

Score
Difficulty Score™
68.5out of 100
←  EasyHard  →
Discovery Basin's difficulty level of 68.5 is above average. 80% of its trails rated as either intermediate or expert-level, which doesn't leave much for the beginners.
 DID YOU KNOW?

At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.

Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.

Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level

Discovery Basin has 2,200 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.

Discovery Basin's difficulty level is higher than average, which is because 25% of its ski trails are rated as intermediate, and another 55% as expert.
Green Circle
Beginner
20%(440 acres)

Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.

Blue Square
Intermediate
25%(550 acres)

Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.

Black Diamond
Expert
55%(1,210 acres)

Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.

Is Discovery Basin Ski Resort good for beginners?

Discovery Basin is above average in its difficulty level, so... probably not? It will depend on which trails you take since only 45% of its trails rated for either beginner or intermediate skill levels.

Discovery Basin Ski Resort Location

Discovery Basin Ski Resort is located in the state of Montana, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Anaconda, MT.

Address:
Anaconda, MT 59711 USA
View on Google Maps

Website:
skidiscovery.com

GPS Coordinates:
46.26000, -112.26000

Getting to Discovery Basin Mountain Resort

By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Discovery Basin Ski Resort), its coordinates of 46.26000, -112.26000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Anaconda, MT to get close.

By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.

A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Discovery Basin.

NameCodeCityDistance
Bert Mooney AirportBTMButte, MT24 mi
Helena Regional AirportHLNHelena, MT27 mi
Bozeman Yellowstone International AirportBZNBozeman, MT63 mi

There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Discovery Basin Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.

Other Nearby Ski Resorts

Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Discovery Basin Ski Resort.

NameLocationSummitDifficulty Score™Distance
Lost Trail PowderSula, MT8,200 ft48%70 mi
Maverick MountainPolaris, MT8,820 ft52%71 mi
Bridger BowlBozeman, MT8,700 ft75%72 mi
Big Sky ResortBig Sky, MT11,166 ft87%79 mi
Showdown MontanaNeihart, MT8,200 ft45%85 mi
Montana SnowbowlMissoula, MT7,600 ft64%97 mi

Discovery Basin Ski Resort Mountain Stats

NameStatistic
Summit Elevation8,158 ft
Base Elevation5,770 ft
Vertical Drop2,388 ft
Trails67
(20% Beginner,  25% Intermediate,  55% Expert)
Lifts8
Skiable Acres2,200
Avg. Annual Snowfall225 inches
Discovery Basin Ski Resort Mountain Stats
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