By Mario Carr EBS CONTRIBUTOR
When Jonathan Clyde “JC” Knaub strolls into Big Sky Resort’s Mountain Village, he walks by the old Explorer lift and the Huntley Lodge. He looks at the trees planted around the hotel and remembers his father who helped plant those trees 50 years ago.
“He was a legend, they called him the coach,” Knaub told EBS in a December interview. “Because a lot of people that moved here then had no father, and he was like a father figure… Some people still call me ‘Junior’ that were here in the ‘70s because they knew my dad.”
In 1973, JC’s father took a job running heavy equipment for Big Sky Resort. They moved from Laurel, near Billings, to start a new life working for the ski resort that was in the making. JC recalls his first “unbelievable” view of the great Lone Mountain, surrounded by giant blue skies and massive wild forests on all sides.
“I got here with my dad, he was a construction guy, heavy equipment… He got a job running a dozer and he ended up cutting Mr. K, Ambush, Tippy’s,” Knaub said.
Knaub and his father lived in a 14- by 70-foot mobile home in the Pine Grove trailer park. Knaub said that the trailer was “cold as hell” in the winter—they would run out of propane and their toilets would freeze. Their neighbor’s trailer burned down and the fire almost took the Knaubs’ home as well. The father and son duo lived paycheck to paycheck in the early years, both helping the new resort get off of the ground.
“I taught kids,” JC recalled. “I rope-towed for like three years, because the ski school back then was only like 12 people. Everything you can think of back in the ‘70s was smaller.” Knaub also worked on ski patrol in those early years.
He met his wife, Marjorie, in Billings in the late ‘70s.
“In the spring it really was slow here and boring, cold and rainy… There’s nothing to do. So I would go back to Billings and play golf with my buddies… and I met her in a bar playing pool.” They were like many other couples who worked at the resort in their 20s and got married at The Soldiers Chapel, with a reception at Buck’s T-4. “We were like a classic Big Sky Resort ‘70s couple,” Knaub said.
JC and Marjorie spent their early years in a trailer in Big Sky, and Marjorie worked at the ski school front desk. In the first 10 years, Knaub said the resort was “still putzing along” and didn’t make much money. Early on, this slower development enabled young locals to purchase property and settle in Big Sky, Knaub explained.
In 1980, the couple purchased a four-acre parcel in the meadow from realtor Jerry Pape for $40,000. Pape would later be a godfather to their children. At that time there was nothing on the property other than a little summer cabin. With some friends, Knaub built his house and a shop for his new business, Andesite Construction. For his first seven years in Big Sky, Knaub dreamt of owning his own plot of land, and he described buying their property as wonderful and life-changing.
Knaub was determined to raise his family in Big Sky. The great opportunity for outdoor living was too special to let any challenge prevent him from staying. For 23 years, Marjorie commuted to Bozeman as an accountant before getting an office in Big Sky. The couple had their two kids, Jeff and Kristi, in 1985 and 1988.
Knaub worked for Big Sky Resort until about 1982. He enjoyed taking many guests, celebrities and journalists on hikes from the top of the old triple chair in the bowl, to the peak. Knaub sharpened his skiing ability and was part of an elite few that would ski from the summit before the Lone Peak Tram.
With Andesite Construction, JC, like his father, found a way to provide for his family by operating heavy equipment. The company has been excavating in Big Sky since the mid-1980s. Knaub started off with just one backhoe, but the company grew rapidly with the advent of huge custom homes around Big Sky, especially in the Yellowstone Club. The greatest challenge in the business of excavation is Big Sky’s short summers, but for a family that loves to ski all winter long, that was almost a convenience. JC’s son Jeff recently took over the company.
Building Big Sky
Knaub loves to write and has scribed many stories about the old days of Big Sky, and plans on writing even more. He reminisced in a Bomb Snow magazine article about the biggest ski party of the season, Big Sky Oly Days, that lasted from 1974 to 1984. He made many contributions to Lone Peak Lookout—a now-defunct Big Sky newspaper—and also wrote highlights in the paper about the many ski races he helped organize over the years. “People love reading about themselves, no matter how silly it is,” he said.
Knaub is still a certified race official and helps officiate races at Big Sky Resort. He recalls stumbling across a NASTAR race on White Wing when he was 19 years old, sparking his love of ski racing. Joe Junker was running a one-man operation on White Wing, but had enlisted the help of his blue heeler, Frankie, at the bottom of the run. Junker and his dog were on opposite ends of the race course, and could communicate through a transceiver that was connected by a very long wire. Knaub said the equipment was reminiscent of Korean war radio equipment, and that Frankie would bark to his owner through the transceiver to help with timing.
Maybe out of pity for the man and his dog, or desire to learn more about ski racing, Knaub started helping Junker on his days off. Knaub learned all about ski racing and eventually managed the race course himself in the early years.
JC and Marjorie got involved with the Mad Wolf program—which provided a race course for kids off of Explorer—and the Ophir School’s “ski Fridays.” In 1993, while their kids were in grade school, JC and Marjorie joined a group of parents in starting the Big Sky Ski Team—the precursor to the Big Sky Ski Education Foundation. Throughout the years, JC would volunteer as a coach, board member and even president of the program. He spent more than 30 years as a USSA technical delegate for the Rocky Mountain Northern Division. Marjorie also helped as an administrator, race timer and accountant for BSSEF. The family helped develop the races being held today on Bighorn, Tippy’s and Hangman’s.
The Knaub kids both loved ski racing and big mountain skiing—Jeff and Kristi competed in many competitions like the Headwaters Spring Runoff here in Big Sky and the Freeride World Tour. As much as JC and Marjorie enjoyed skiing with the family, JC admits that it got hard to keep up with their kids after the Lone Peak Tram opened. He was proud, but always recognized the danger as they skied faster and faster through increasingly challenging terrain.
Knaub was content to learn how to ski from the peak by hiking up it. And before the Challenger lift was installed in 1988, he loved hiking that terrain as well. He had to put in a lot more work than his kids to reach Big Sky’s extreme terrain, and the then-seldom-skied peak and its thrilling avalanche terrain were a force to be reckoned with.
“You don’t ever want to have to be in a rescue situation, because it changes your psyche,” Knaub explained. He was involved in several avalanche rescues during his time with ski patrol.
“I didn’t realize I was in really good shape… Because in those days you only had like 10 or 12 people that skied the same lines everyday.” Knaub said. He said many of the early residents of Big Sky were “broke” but living a life rich in experience, stoked to be making $5 an hour. He credits his current health to years of skiing, hunting and cutting firewood.
“I’m one of the healthiest living guys left,” Knaub said. “… And it’s very sobering thinking about 50 years of your life and not getting killed. Not getting killed in a car wreck. Wrong place, wrong time in an avalanche, or whatever reason… I know a lot of people that have died in avalanches.”
After 50 years, he’s certain that life in Big Sky has unique challenges.
“Big Sky destroys people because they can’t handle the parties and everybody’s on vacation all the time,” he said. He’s grateful that his family was always his priority, and that helped him never get too carried away. He emphasized the sacrifices that it takes to be a husband and a father, especially in Big Sky.
“It’s a lifestyle and it gets people… but not the ones that are clear headed about it,” Knaub said. He himself was the Dirtbag King of ‘94—a royal status that is often earned by people who live to ski and party.
Knaub is very proud of his children, and is glad to have them both nearby. Kristi and her husband now own Maverick Mountain in Polaris, and JC is very grateful to help contribute to another growing ski resort.
The Knaub’s home feels like an oasis Big Sky. Sheltered low near the south fork, driving down Knaub’s Hole Road feels like driving back in time, and in the best way.
“I’ve learned a lot, and I still love this place… I think it’s the greatest skiing and I’ve skied a lot of places,” Knaub said.
Listening to JC and Marjorie talk about the old days of Big Sky is like watching a trailer for a movie you’ll never get to see. Words can only attempt to describe the last half century here in Big Sky for the Knaubs, and the foundation of the community that they have helped lay.
“Throughout your life, you try to make the world a better place. What else can you do?” Knaub said.
This story is a part of an ongoing series. Read the rest of them here.
