A couple of big changes for skiers at Great Divide Ski Area this year have little to do with ski hill operator Kevin Taylor.

Probably the first item skiers will notice is the route to Great Divide is wider and less bumpy, thanks in part to a $7 million project to realign and straighten the century-old road. It's a project that will last into next year, although the actual construction will end once the snow flies.

"They'll stop construction in the next week or two, then come back next spring to do the pavement and guardrail," Taylor said on Monday. "But during the winter, even when they shut down, it's still a legal construction zone and the speed will be reduced. So people can enjoy the nice new road, but we're asking that they don't speed through it."

Work might continue until Dec. 19, a timeframe when Taylor expects to be open Friday through Sunday. Since road construction halts during the weekend, it's only a few hours on Friday that skiers might be impacted by the need to follow a "pilot car" through the work zone. That car runs only at 40 minutes past the hour from the turnoff from the turnoff to Marysville, and at seven minutes past the hour from Great Divide toward town.

The other big change this year has to do with lodgepole pines killed by the mountain pine beetle epidemic sweeping through the Rocky Mountains, and in particular, heavily forested areas around Helena.

About 1 million board feet of timber were removed from Great Divide's slopes, in large part to ensure skier are safe from falling dead trees. On a recent tour of the ski area, J.P. Stanek, Great Divide's operations manager, pointed at formerly densely treed mountainsides that now have much wider spaces between trees. This creates glades for skiers searching for uncut powder.

An important part of creating the glades involved the requirement that the loggers had to cut stumps to less than four inches. On this rocky terrain, that mean the loggers went through a lot of saw blades, Stanek noted.

"They liked to complain about that, but I think they were pretty proud about what a good job they did in keeping the stumps low," Stanek said, surveying the Wild West section of the ski hill. "This used to be called the Dark Forest, but it's not dark anymore. We've completely cleaned it out to make for great glade skiing.

"I'm pretty excited to ski it this year. I think it will hold snow pretty good, and it's facing almost straight north."

Taylor also had warmth in mind for this year, installing a large fireplace on the outdoor deck, and a new wood-burning furnace inside in order to keep skiers toasty when they come inside after a few runs.

A quick glance at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center also warmed his heart.

"They're looking at normal temperatures -- that's good news -- and above average precipitation for Montana," Taylor said. "Then for December, January and February, they're looking at normal temps and normal precipitation. We'll take that.

"We're looking forward to a pretty good winter."

Great Divide opens for the season on Saturday with $9 lift tickets, servicing a wide carpet of man-made snow to allow people to get their bearings underneath them. They'll be open Friday through Sunday until Christmas.

"We hope people will take a few runs, drink a few beers; and for the kids, we have some terrain park features," Taylor said.

Lift tickets during the regular season will be $34 for adults; $28 for grades 6 through college; and $16 for grades 1-5.

Reporter Eve Byron: 447-4076 or eve.byron@helenair.com