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!
Discovery Basin is not a part of any nationwide lift pass 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 with with Discovery Basin Ski Resort.
Discovery Basin Lodging:
Discovery Basin Ski Resort Terrain Overview
Discovery Basin has a total of 67 ski trails, which are serviced by 7 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 square miles, or 9 square kilometers.
Discovery Basin's slopes see on average 225 inches (89 cm) of snowfall a year. That is almost 18 feet a year!
Total Runs
67
Lifts
7
Skiable Acres
2,200(9 km2)
Annual Snowfall
225"(89 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.
Summit Elevation
8,158'(2,486 m)
Vertical Drop
2,388'(728 m)
Base Elevation
5,770'(1,759 m)
Discovery Basin Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
66.3out of 100
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.
Skiiable Area 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.
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.
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%.
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 nearby 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 Ski 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.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bert Mooney Airport | BTM | Butte, MT | 24 mi |
| Helena Regional Airport | HLN | Helena, MT | 27 mi |
| Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport | BZN | Bozeman, MT | 63 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.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lost Trail Powder | Sula, MT | 8,200 ft | 46% | 70 mi |
| Maverick Mountain | Polaris, MT | 8,820 ft | 59% | 71 mi |
| Bridger Bowl | Bozeman, MT | 8,700 ft | 72% | 72 mi |
| Big Sky Resort | Big Sky, MT | 11,166 ft | 82% | 79 mi |
| Showdown Montana | Neihart, MT | 8,200 ft | 44% | 85 mi |
| Montana Snowbowl | Missoula, MT | 7,600 ft | 69% | 97 mi |
Discovery Basin Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 8,158 ft |
| Base Elevation | 5,770 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 2,388 ft |
| Trails | 67 (20% Beginner, 25% Intermediate, 55% Expert) |
| Lifts | 7 |
| Skiable Acres | 2,200 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 225 inches |