Showdown Montana Celebrates 90 Years of Skiing 

Showdown Montana is a ski resort about an hour south of Great Falls in the Little Belt Mountains.

The mountain marked 90 years of skiing in 2026!  

When I worked as a reporter in Great Falls in the early 2000s, part of my (extremely low) pay package included free skiing at Showdown.  

So the mountain has a special place in my heart, and a lot of the people you’ll find on the slopes today (both visitors and staff) feel the same way.

Key Info on Showdown

• Location: 70 miles south of Great Falls, MT, in Neihart
• Lifts: 3
• Runs: 40
• Ownership: It’s been operated by the same family for 50+ years.

Skiing at Snowbowl

Showdown sits high in the Little Belt Mountains with a base elevation of 6,800 feet, and a summit near 8,200 feet.

The mountain has 35-40 runs across 640 acres, with a mix of terrain for beginners, intermediates, and advanced skiers.

Lift Tickets

Daily lift tickets for adults are $70, and there are discounts for several groups:

• Military: $60
• Seniors: $60
• College: $60
• Teens: $50
• Kids: $35
• Kids 5 & under: free

Snowfall

Showdown doesn’t make its own snow; instead, it relies on all-natural snowfall, which averages around 240–255 inches per season. That’s about 20 feet of real powder each year, a big reason locals love the mountain.

Amenities

There’s a full lodge with a coffee bar, restaurant, dining rooms, and ski rental options.

The History of Montana’s Oldest Ski Resort

When I called Showdown “Montana’s Oldest Ski Resort,” owner Katie Boedecker corrected me, saying Showdown is technically “Montana’s Oldest Continuously Operating” ski area.

Technicalities aside, it’s incredible to think: people first skied the mountain in 1936!  Long before chairlifts, skiers used to have to hike uphill with their wooden skis to enjoy the ride down.

As skiing grew in popularity after World War II, Showdown slowly added infrastructure, like rope tows. It transformed the ski scene, making the mountain more accessible to families and locals.

In the 1960s, Showdown installed its first chairlift, a major milestone that helped establish the resort as a permanent fixture in Montana’s ski scene. While other resorts around the West were beginning to chase large-scale development, Showdown remained focused on serving local skiers in Central Montana.

In 1973, George Willett became the owner, and made the decision to keep it family-oriented and affordable.

As the ski industry evolved, many ski areas across the country were bought, consolidated, or transformed into destination resorts.

Showdown took a different path.

The resort remained independently owned and family-operated, resisting the pressure to expand aggressively.

Three Generations of Ownership

What truly sets Showdown apart is its multi-generational family ownership.

Over more than half a century, the resort has been passed down through the same family, with each generation taking on the responsibility of maintaining the mountain while adapting to changing skier expectations.

In the early 1970s, when George Willett bought Showdown, improvements were made gradually: additional lifts, expanded terrain, better grooming, and upgraded base facilities.

After 48 years, George (whom I used to call to do interviews all the time when I was a reporter at KRTV) sold Showdown to his daughter, Katie Boedecker, in 2020.   She grew up at Showdown, but lived around the world before returning to make it her permanent home.

She says, it was never her plan.

“A gentleman came up and offered my dad a pretty big check in front of me, for millions.  It was a wakeup call to me, and I thought, ‘Well, if we’re going to do this, we need to do it now and get serious about it,” Katie recalls, adding, “We put an offer together and got it done.”

She bought the operation, and brought several family members on to help run it.  Among them, her daughter, Avery Patrick, who soon became a co-owner.  

Owning a ski mountain was never in Avery’s plan either. She graduated with a degree in political science, but felt the pull to return to Showdown.

“I came to work at what was my grandpa’s ski area for what I thought was one winter. I started at the latte bar, worked in the kitchen, then moved up to guest services, and then became marketing director,” Avery said.

“Then my mom came back and put the deal together to buy the ski area, and my husband and I decided we wanted to be involved, so we put in what we could, and here we are,” she added.  

She and her husband now have two young children, ages 3 and 5, with a third on the way (as I write this in February 2026).

“It was an easy decision to come back. I love it here, love the rural lifestyle. It feels like home,” she said.

Only a handful of ski resorts around the world are owned by women, and Showdown, as far as anyone can tell, is the only ski resort owned by a mother-daughter duo.

“I get moms who stop me in the lodge and say, ‘We love seeing you guys in charge, and that our daughters see that you guys are the ones running the show.’ So that’s pretty cool,” Avery said. 

“We’re really proud of it and what we’re doing here.  We think it really matters,” Katie said, calling it a “dream come true” to work so closely with her daughter (and other kids, too) at Showdown. 

“From a business standpoint, Avery’s really smart.  She’s really funny, approaches things with her heart, and just brings a lot to the table. Everything is better because Avery’s here,” Katie said.

And (Grandpa) George approves.  Now in his mid-80s, he’s still very much involved.

“Oh, it makes you smile because the kids have done such a great job,” he told us.

Katie and Avery kept George on as a consultant.   Even in semi-retirement, he says he’s still at Showdown several days a week.

“His consulting was pretty frequent, and still is,” Katie said (laughing), ” It’s pretty funny: the phone rings and I’m like, ‘Ah, we’re in for some consulting.’ But it’s always welcome. We love my dad, and we’re really grateful for what he built here.”

Katie and Avery are often greeting skiers as they arrive, or taking Avery’s kids on the bunny slope.  

It makes you wonder if a fourth generation will one day take over Showdown and keep it a family operation.

Add to the humans in charge, there’s a herd of friendly dogs on-site to greet skiers and snowboarders.

Teaching the Youngest Skiers

From the start, in the 70s, George put a focus on teaching children to ski… basically for free.  

More than 50 years later, it remains a focus.

“A place like this is one of the few places you can still afford to come and learn,” he said.

George started a free ski program for children in the 70s, which Katie says has taught more than a quarter million kids in Central Montana the joy of winter sports.

“He spearheaded that effort across the nation on the board of the National Ski Area Association, and his model got adopted nationally,” Katie said, adding, “No child is turned away because they can’t afford to pay, and the schools can come as often as they like.”

The number of ski areas has shrunk considerably since the 70s, when George bought Showdown.  Of course, many of the family-run operations have sold and expanded into mega-resorts.

“So many small ski areas have grown to be big conglomerates and corporations owning them.  All it’s done in a lot of cases is raise the price,” George said.

At Showdown, kids 5 and under always ski for free.

A Unique Focus on Mental Health

This is one part of the operation I wasn’t expecting: the focus on mental health at Showdown.

“Seasonal depression is a real thing, and unfortunately, Montana has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, so we just think winter and getting people out having fun in the winter is so important,” Katie said. 

She put into place new programs geared toward the well-being of the staff.

“When I came back, we kind of flipped the traditional business model on its head. Where it had always been pretty guest-focused, we shifted that focus to putting our employees first,” she said.

It’s counterintuitive, if you go by the standard “customer first” business model.

“We actually talk to and teach our employees how to love themselves and talk to them about it almost every day.  Then we love our community, and then we take care of our guests with what’s left over,” she explained.

“Our employees need to be happy in life. Their mental health is our highest priority,” she said.

Katie says the company pays for unlimited mental healthcare for staff, and they’re taking advantage of it.

“If more businesses focused on the mental health of their employees, and not just a transactional ‘what they can do for us’ kind of mindset, I think we’d be doing a lot more right in the world across the board,” she said.

Showdown Montana: Feels Like Home

I fell back in love with Showdown, two decades after it first felt like a “home away from home” for me as a young reporter who was new to Montana.

If you’re in Great Falls, it’s worth a visit, just for the drive through this beautiful part of the state. There are great hikes nearby, too.

You’ll arrive with a smile, whether you’re greeted by Katie or Avery, or one of the many resident dogs on site (who don’t know they’re living every dog’s dream).

The “dean” of the group, Avery’s yellow lab, Annie, passed in 2026. She was a favorite in the snow, and a constant presence in the dining room, where she was always willing to sample french fries.

It’s incredible to see: 90 years after skiers first came down the slopes here, Showdown Montana remains a rare example of what a ski area can be when it prioritizes family stewardship and access over scale.

Changes are coming.  Maybe a new lift.  Maybe a lodge or hotel on site.  A lot of it depends on their lease with the US Forest Service.

Katie and Avery have already purchased and renovated a hotel in nearby White Sulphur Springs, which is linked to Showdown. The Edith is decorated in the same bright, eclectic style as their office at Showdown’s lodge. It’s also *very* dog-friendly.

Whatever Showdown looks like a decade from now, it’s sure to retain its identity and perfect balance as a living piece of Montana history.