Great Falls Tribune 12/22/2013 Page : L06

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Sleigh rides availablethroughout the state

Just before 7 p.m., a group gathers atthe LoneMountain Ranch outdoors shop.

Outside, several pairs of draft horseswait, harnessed to hand-made open-airsleighs. The group loads into the sleighsand bundles up with wool blankets, andthen takes off down a snow-covered trailthrough a lodge pole pine forest.

“It’s like stepping back in time,” saidPJWirchansky, director of sales andmarketing for LoneMountain Ranch inBig Sky. “We’re not by the road, we’renot by a highway. All you hear out thereis just the sound of nature.”

LoneMountain Ranch offered sleighrides for 34 years. Sleigh rides are aunique winter experience that can befound at various locations around thestate.

There aren’t any lights along the trailcutting through LoneMountain Ranch,but the light from the moon and thestars is enough for the horses to findtheir way.

“It’s amazing how your eyes adjust,”Wirchansky said.

After about 20 minutes of dashingthrough the snow, the sleighs pull up to alog cabin.

Inside, a dining room is lit with kero-sene lanterns, and a wood-burning stoveheats the room.

“There’s no electricity up there,”Wirchansky said.

Warm soup and honey wheat molas-ses rolls await the guests. Cowboy enter-tainer Bruce Anfinson performs songsand poetry and then the main course,prime rib, potatoes and vegetables, isserved.

“It’s a big dinner, all you can eat,”Wirchansky said. “It’s family style.”

Everything is cooked on the wood-burning stove.

After dinner, there’s another round ofmusic, while the chef whips up dessert,usually some kind of cobbler toppedwith hand-whipped cream.

When the meal is over, everyoneloads back into the sleighs, ridesthrough the snowy forest and back tothe outdoors shop.

“It’s a really nice evening,” Wirchan-sky said.

LoneMountain Ranch’s sleigh ridedinners range in price from $78 to $99for adults and $59 to $84 for kids, de-pending on dates. Reservations are re-quired.

The ranch also offers day-time sleighrides, which are a good option for young-er kids since the dinner rides go untilabout 10 p.m. The day rides last about anhour and take visitors to the cabin forhot chocolate and cookies. Those are $40for adults and $29 for children.

Double Arrow Lodge in Seeley Lakealso offers sleigh rides.

“It’s a really unique experience,” said

Bonnie Philliber, general manager.“(The rides) meander around ourgrounds and down along the golfcourse.”

The lodge has a large sleigh that seatsabout 14 people and a smaller sleighthat’s popular for anniversaries andother occasions.

“It just holds two guests and the driv-er,” Philliber said. “On that one, we sendyou off with hot rocks for your feet tokeep you cozy.”

The Bar WGuest Ranch in Whitefishhas offered sleigh rides since it openednine years ago.

The ranch has three types of rides —a hot cocoa ride, which lasts about 45minutes and includes a hot beverage; achili dinner ride, which includes chili,corn bread, salad and dessert servedafter the sleigh ride; and a full dinnerride, with a sit-down dinner followingthe sleigh ride. The rides range in pricefrom $45 to $69 for adults and $35 to $59for kids.

The rides take people in an open-airsleigh around the ranch. Guest also havethe chance to meet the horses that pullthe sleighs and learn about them.

The sleigh rides are especially pop-ular around the holidays, but most ridesare offered as long as there’s snow onthe ground. Reservations are typicallyrequired as the sleigh rides often sellout quickly.

By Erin MadisonTribune Staff Writer

Lone Mountain Ranch in Big Sky offers horse-drawn sleigh rides. BRIAN SCHOTT PHOTO

SLEIGH RIDES» LoneMountain Ranch, Big Sky — lone-mountainranch.com, 800-514-4644

» Double Arrow Lodge, Seeley Lake — dou-blearrowresort.com, 800-468-0777

» Bar W Guest Ranch,Whitefish — thebarw-.com, 866-828-2900

» The Resort at Paws Up, Greenough—pawsup.com, 406-244-5200

» 320 Guest Ranch, Big Sky — 320ranch.com,800-243-0320

» BeartoothWagon & Sleigh Rides, RedLodge — 406-446-2179

» Gaynor Ranch and Resort,Whitefish —gaynorsresorts.com, 866-862-6202

Guests ride in a horse-drawn sleigh in winter at the Bar W Ranch near Whitefish. CHUCK HANEY PHOTO

DashingT H R O U G H T H E S N O W

6 MY MONTANA SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2013GREAT FAL L S TR I BUNE WWW.GR EAT FA L L S T R I B UN E . COM

MONTANA ALBUM

50 years ago— From the Tribune week of Dec. 22,

1963

Although most persons will spendChristmas in the traditional way—with aparty or opening presents — Air Forcealert crews sealed off from the world inMinuteman Control Centers locatedthroughout central Montana will spend theholiday deep underground vigilantlywatching a radarscope, pouring over flightplans or just waiting for the phone thatthey hope will never ring. Christmas din-ner will be served to them from a diningcart, and even while eating, one eye will beon their control panels.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. authorized itsfirst sales of surplus wheat to the SovietUnion Thursday. Perhaps signaling abreak in a seven-week impasse, the Com-merce Department approved export li-censes for two cash sales to the Russiansworth $20.32 million each. The transac-tions could be the forerunner of more Sovi-et purchases which, together with pur-chases by other Communist nations, couldadd up to an estimated $250 million insurplus grain transactions.

WEST YELLOWSTONE—A civilian andthree members of the military werenamedMonday to the U.S. biathlon teamwhich will compete in January and Febru-ary in the Winter Olympics at Innsbruck,Austria. Top man in the grueling test ofcross-country skiing and rifle marksman-ship was Charles Ackers of Andover, Me.,with 512.47 points. Paul Renne of nearbyBozeman, son of Montana State Collegepresident R.R. Renne, was third qualifierwith 476.67.

Mrs. Ruth Lowe and her family wereleft homeless by a fire which consumed allclothing, household furnishings and otherbelongings. Firemen said the blaze startedwhenMrs. Lowe’s five-year-old son carrieda lighted candle into a bedroom to show itto his seven-month-old baby brother. Thecandle ignited curtains on a clothes clos-et, causing a fast, hot blaze. The baby,taken to Columbus Hospital with burns onface and hands, was reported doing wellMonday evening. The other three childrenwere not injured. Gifts of money, food,clothing, furniture and toys for the chil-dren poured in Sunday night andMondayfollowing an appeal from Rev. Elmer L.Robison of First Methodist Church, whereMrs. Lowe is a Sunday school teacher.

100 years ago— From the Tribune week of Dec. 22,

1913

Following their custom of the past 24years, the proprietors of the CascadeLaundry gave their employees occasion toremember that it was the day beforeChristmas yesterday.For a quarter of anhour, shortly after noon, work in the bigestablishment was suspended while em-ployees and employer gathered for asocial session. The management present-ed each of the male employees with ahandsome stick pin, and the women andgirls received broaches and necklaces.

Out on the north side of Great Fallsthere has been established an industry thatgives promise of becoming one of the lead-ing business enterprises in the city. TheOlmstead Gas Tractor company, beganoriginally in Big Timber, has moved intoits new office building and factory. Thebasis of its organization is the invention ofC.L. Olmstead by which the weight andpower of the tractor is applied to all fourwheels, eliminating the usual dead weight.

Suit was brought against the Daily Tri-bune, a corporation, and John A. Curry,city editor, yesterday by Frank Lemmer inwhich the plaintiff alleges that because ofan article which appeared in the Tribune ofDec. 24, he has been damaged in his busi-ness and reputation. He claims that$25,000 would be a fair award for the al-leged damages sustained by a certain arti-cle in which it was stated that he had diedas the result of an overdose of morphine.

HELENA—There are 23 men confined inthe penitentiary at Deer Lodge who willhave reason to remember Christmas 1913because that number were granted, byGov. Stewart, commutations or reductionof sentences. The actions were taken onthe recommendation of the warden of theprison and the superintendent of the workin which the men have been engaged.“These men have been engaged in roadwork and in the construction of buildingsfor the state of Montana. They haveworked faithfully,” stated Warden Conley.

For more Montana Album, visitgreatfallstribune.com.

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