I happened to be south of Mandan a couple nights ago and caught the silhouette of one of the ski lifts at Huff Hills against the sunset sky. I don’t know if they run these during the summer, but I would guess that they don’t.

I used to work for mountain operations at Big Sky back in the 80s. For part of that time I ran a ski lift or gondola, depending on the day. Later on I was simply paid to snowboard…not a bad gig if you can get it! Big Sky runs some of their lifts in the summer for hikers and mountain bikers, and while I know some guys like biking Huff Hills, I don’t think they get to take the easy way up the hill.

One of my mountain bike friends heard the metallic sound of something striking his bike frame as he went down the hill out at Huff. In the instant that he looked down, he saw that it was a rattlesnake that had been surprised by his fast descent and struck at his bike. Thankfully the snake hit the bike and not his leg! I wonder if you can chip a fang on titanium…