Ski Montana’s Teton Pass: A Unique, Hidden Gem

Central Montana is full of hidden gems, and Teton Pass is one of my favorites.

Aside from the backcountry location and sweeping views along the Rocky Mountain Front, the ski area is a foundational memory for a lot of people who grew up in the small farming communities in this part of Montana, near Choteau.

Still, what brought us here is the story of the one local guy who single-handedly saved Teton Pass from shutting down.

Key Info

• 80 miles from Great Falls
• 130 miles from Helena
• Open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (in-season)

Getting There: Directions to Teton Pass

The closest big city to Teton Pass is Great Falls, which has its own international airport and daily flights on Delta, United, Alaska, and Allegiant Airlines.

The closest town to the ski area is Choteau, which is about 50 miles (a one-hour drive in good weather).

From Choteau, it’s another 30 miles to Teton Pass, including 10+ miles along a USFS gravel road.  You’ll lose cell service in the canyon.

Remember I mentioned the owner single-handedly saved this place?  Well, he also plows the road himself.  More on that in a bit.

Where to Stay Near Teton Pass

There are a few hotels and rentals in the Choteau area. Or you can spend the night in Great Falls.  Plug your travel dates into this interactive map to check rates:

Teton Pass: The Mountain & Terrain

The mountain sees 300 inches of snow each year *on average.* 

Like many ski areas, Teton Pass is completely dependent on Mother Nature.  There’s no snow-making equipment, so if the snow doesn’t fall, the lifts don’t operate.

Info on The Runs

• 400 skiable acres
• 3 lifts
• 1,000 vertical feet of lift
• 1,300 additional vertical feet above the lifts for backcountry skiing
• Top elevation: 7,200 feet

The Bunny Hill “Magic Carpet”

• Sundkid Windercarpet
• 400 feet long

Lift Tickets & Passes

Lift tickets at Big Sky in Bozeman run around $250 per day.  Montana’s other smaller ski areas are much more reasonable for a family.  Teton Pass is one of the most affordable:

Daily Lift Tickets

• $59 Adult full day
• $54 Military, College Student, Senior (65)
• $49 Youth (7-17)
• $49 Half day (begins at 12:30pm)
• $49 Season pass holders from other ski areas
• $29 Beginner Lift Only 
• Age 6 and under ski free

Annual Season Passes

• Adults – $599
• Military/College (w/ ID) – $499
• Seniors (65+) – $499
• Youth (7 to 17 years) – $399 
• Kids (6 years and under) – $30 
• Corporate Pass (Transferable) – $1299

Amenities: Lodge, Food, and Rentals

Teton Pass’ lodge is small with two levels of chairs and tables. The kitchen at the “Frolicking Goat” has a pretty decent selection.

You’ll find people from town driving in just for lunch with a view out the windows!

And there’s a nice little bar upstairs, too. It’s quite a process to get the kegs in from town!

Ski & Snowboard Rentals

Conveniently, Teton Pass offer rentals, too:

• Full Day – $37 
• Half Day – $32 
• Helmet or Poles Only – $10

What Makes Teton Pass Special: Its Past & Present

A longtime Choteau resident, Chuck Hlavac worked at Teton Pass as a teenager, and a couple of decades later, he’s the owner.

In between, Hlavac earned a degree in mechanical engineering, worked across the West with the U.S. Forest Service, and spent two years with the U.S. Navy in California. He (smartly) developed a niche expertise in ski-lift engineering, and still works inspecting and consulting in the off-season.

His goal is to keep Teton Pass operating as a sustainable, community-supported operation.

The History of Teton Pass

Decades ago, Teton Pass was known as Rocky Mountain Hi. 

Over time, it’s gone through several ownership groups.  In the 1990s, a group of locals bought it out of bankruptcy.

In 2010, an investor from New Zealand purchased the resort and made a number of improvements.  During that time, Hlavac worked as the resort manager (2010 to 2017), overseeing many of the upgrades and operations.

Ultimately, the former owner was unable fulfill his vision for Teton Pass, and he put it up for sale in 2017 for $3,000,000.  It closed for a few seasons, which was a major disappointment for the surrounding communities.

The asking price dropped significantly, to a point where Hlavac put together a proposal to take ownership … *just* before the pandemic.

Present Day

While Chuck Hlavac employs a small crew, he does much of the work himself.  From lift repairs to hauling supplies to plowing the USFS road … he literally does it all.

Teton Pass is totally “off the grid,” so they rely completely on a generator for power.  That involves hauling in diesel a few times a year.

The ski area operates under a “special use permit” from the USFS, which limits expansion to a certain extent. Still, Hlavac has plans to expand in the future.

When he gets some “downtime” on the mountain, you’ll find Chuck taking his son, Henrik, up the kids’ magic carpet to go down the bunny slope.

An Interview With the Owner of Teton Pass

I spent some time with Teton Pass owner Chuck Hlavac at the base of the mountain on a windy Saturday afternoon, as his son patiently waited to head to the “bunny hill.” 

He’s an incredible optimist, despite being up against a mountain of obstacles!

Jared: I don’t think people realize the amount of work that goes into operating a place like this. You must have a small but mighty crew year-round. 

Chuck: It’s really through friends and family and volunteers, and just making it work. 

It’s really kind of a nice little boutique ski area that’s tucked into the middle of nowhere, and existing in a really cool natural landscape.  So I see us as like this kind of cool oasis. 

Is it more work than you thought?  Do you have any regrets about this path you’ve taken? 

Not at all. No regrets. I knew what I was getting into. 

It’s a lot of risk, but the rewards, when they make sense, are great. 

The days that are hard make me question it, because we have a lot of those hard days.

It makes it all worth it, you know, because we get to showcase a beautiful spot in Montana, and this is our home. And so for us, it’s normal, but to everyone else, they’re like, wide-eyed and looking at it like, ‘holy cow!’

Part of the reason I think it’s so special here is that you don’t have huge crowds. At the same time, from an operating standpoint, you’d like to expand and have more people find out about it?

Absolutely, the dream is always bigger and better. 

I think we’re on a fraction of what we could be doing. You know, I’m a creative and scrappy guy, and I do dream to someday put more lifts in and expand our terrain.

One unique thing that we can lean into that really sets us apart from some of the other little ski areas is this backcountry and kind of uphill scene that we have going on. 

A lot of the Great Falls skiers who are leaning in that direction with the backcountry tend to find us, and they love it.

You came here as a kid, when you were in your teens, and now you’re raising kids on the same mountain.

It’s the coolest, and honestly, the greatest reward of doing this whole thing is being able to have roots here in Choteau and raise my family and have this be their childhood. 

It’s tremendously challenging, but we get to overcome that on a daily basis, and the kids get to see that. 

Chuck and his wife Michelle are raising their kids, Henrick and Inga, in Central Montana:

It’s kind of a legacy project, right? You’re here for the long haul.

Totally. It’s doing this for the next generation, and it doesn’t have to be my kids, but whoever comes after me, this ski area needs to exist. 

I always think of it as like the campfire, where everybody in the community comes and hangs out at the campfire, and if the campfire is not here, it’s just like the social scene is gone, like you don’t see all your friends in the wintertime. 

So yeah, the passion is what drives it for sure.

What’s the best day up here? What’s the perfect day look like for you?

Honestly, it’s all the smiling faces, seeing all the locals, the people that actually ski here every weekend, coming up and really appreciating it. And just like when things are humming, and the lodge is buzzing, everything’s working, families are here. That’s the best day.  

Monster might be the happiest dog (with good reason) in Central Montana:

Why Locals Love it & Welcome Visitors

We found quite a few parents sending their kids up the “Magic Carpet” to learn on the bunny hill.  Many of them learned to ski on the same slope years ago.

“It’s totally full circle. I skied other mountains, and love those, but it’s always good to ski in your own backyard and right where you grew up,” said Luke Coccoli, who has three kids now learning at Teton Pass.

Many of the families live in the surrounding ag communities.

“Right now it’s kind of the perfect calm before the storm, before calving season and planting season come around,” Coccoli said, “so kudos to Chuck and the team for keeping it up and running and awesome for everyone to use.”

“It’s special for me to bring my kids here, for sure,” echoed Brooke Lynn Vosen, who also grew up in the area.

“The best thing about Teton Pass is that it’s family-owned locally, and everybody up here is friendly,” she said, putting a dinosaur-themed helmet on her son’s head.  

“I’m excited to come up here every day,” said 15-year-old Porter Martin, who started working at Teton Pass with his sister, Bryn.  

“We have everything from green to black diamonds, and a mix of different types of snow and great runs,” he added, with a keen sense of Montana pride.

“I learned here with my mom, and now I’m working here, so it’s pretty cool,” Porter said, monitoring kids as they maneuvered onto the Magic Carpet.

Beyond the Slopes: More About Central Montana

Winter is lengthy in Montana. If you’re basing yourself in Great Falls or Helena, another favorite locally-owned ski area to check out is Showdown.

In warmer seasons, Central Montana is home to great hiking trails around Great Falls, and also in the Bears Paw Mountains up toward the historic town of Havre. Plus, as I mentioned, the Choteau area is one of the entrances to the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

In between, you’ll find the Grand Union Hotel to check out, along the banks of the Missouri River in Fort Benton, nicknamed “The Birthplace of Montana.”

Basing yourself in Great Falls, you’ll find plenty of things to do and restaurants to check out, in addition to the world-class fly fishing along the Missouri River.

Plus, there’s the crown jewel of Montana: Glacier National Park, which I try to get to every year.