Located in the Northwest of the United States, yet not all the way to the coast, Montana is a paradise for wanderlust. There are scattered "villages", or towns as we call them in the US, which may not provide the open hospitality that you find in European countryside but open arms and friendly smiles all welcome anyone who comes. On the Western side of the state are the Rocky Mountains which come down from Canada through Montana (MT) and into the southern US. The east of the state is prairie and farm land, another facet of the state which we are boldly proud of. The mountains, the plains, and everything in between is what truly makes the state what it is. The Yellowstone River cuts through the southern half of the state, a tributary of the Missouri river, standing as the main river of Montana and Wyoming which is largely used for fishing. In the South Central part of the state lies the largest city of 100,000 people, called Billings. It lays below a sandstone cliff which borders the northern rim of the city and the dry and desert-like Pryor Mountains of the Crow Indian Reservation to the south. Although stung with enough drug-use and other typical maladies of small-town American life, its incredibly beautiful, in a quiet way. This is the city where my parents raised my brother, Wiley, and I.

Our father was not a hunter, but a sportsman The majority of the population in Montana hunt wild game when in season, and a small portion of these people and all the others that make up Montana are sportsmen, known best to the world, i suppose, as extreme sports enthusiasts. My father had our family in the mountains every weekend skiing at nearby resorts. From the age of 4, my father had my brother, Wiley, and I skiing. It was a way of life for our family, and a way of life Wiley and I adapted to.

Skiing at nearby resorts is what my father and mother dedicated their weekend time to and brought Wiley and I with. By the age of 15 or 16 we had discovered the great access to backcountry skiing that existed around Big Sky Ski Resort, an area not far from Billings. This aspect of skiing is vast in Montana. The resorts of Big Sky, Red Lodge, and Bridger Bowl offer a variety of terrain to ski and, what most Montanan's pride their state on, very few people. Yet outside of the resorts, access to backcountry skiing is enormous and provides, as one can imagine, a different perspective on enjoying the Rocky Mountains.

Friends of the family spent most of their time touring the hills, mountains, and valleys of the Montana on the weekends and by the time Wiley and I discovered the backcountry access of Montana, new ski films of the early days of freeskiing from film companies such as Poorboyz Productions, Matchstick Productions, and Teton Gravity Research were coming to our attention. Athletes in the films were exploring the possibilities of free skiing in the backcountry. The intensity, opportunity, and creativity of backcountry freeskiing became our obsession and we spent the following weekends of our winters between ski resorts and exploring the backcountry.

The backcountry around Big Sky is characteristic of the hills and mountains in the southern part of the state. They are jagged peaks and rolling forested hills, mostly around 10,000 ft (about 3000 m). The cold weather is a big turnoff, but once you get used to it the enjoyment of Montana nature is worth it. Mostly when the day finishes, after returning home, and checking looking back on what the day involved. The peak of Lone Mountain at Big Sky resort lies at 11,150 ft (3,345 m). The village at the base of the resort lies at 7,500 ft (2,250 m). The vertical rise of the mountains is incredible and the actual skiable vertical feet at the resort is 4,350 ft (1305 m). The northern mountains are quite similar to the southern mountains, yet the snow ghosts of Whitefish Mountain Resort are unique mostly to the north. Snow ghosts are trees plastered by wind, snow, and other precipitation resulting in large white ghost-like columns. They make a backcountry fields or an inbounds glade an awesome setting.

This kind of outdoor access in Montana has made it more than a fisherman and hunters paradise. Since the evolution of freesking began, the small pocket of freeskiers residing in Montana have been growing. The access to a wild area of the Rocky Mountains and the vast open space present something unique to the life of enjoying the outdoors in the US. This has slowly become recognized in the US as several Montana athletes have moved to the national spotlight and acheived careers for themselves as free skiers. Wiley continued skiing his whole life and has become one of the diligent and fortunate ones of Montana to take what the state offered him, move forward, and establish a career in freeskiing. And, long before Wiley found his feet in skies, another Montana native, Tanner Hall, had made his way onto the professional spotlight at the ripe young age of 15 and now, in his late 20s, remains a forever legend in the sport. He is from Kalispell, Montana, up north by Whitefish Mountain Resort.

Montana is chalked full of exploration in the Rocky Mountains, the rivers and streams of the valleys, the ghost towns scattered statewide, and the open plains of the east where we now harvest wind energy for both local and national energy supplements. Yet in a broad perspective Montana remains well under the radar. If you ask any Montanan, they'll tell you to stay out, because it's just no good. And you might know exactly what they are saying if you come for a visit. We welcome everyone and anyone.

Video profile - Wiley Miller:  HERE

Author: Jeremy Miller