YOUNG EVERGREEN TREES are reclaiming the formerly groomed ski runs at Marshall Mountain, just outside Missoula, Montana. In the winter, back-country skiers descend its slopes, donning headlamps to earn turns in the dark before or after work. In the summer, mountain bikers let out shouts of jubilee as they whiz down the maze of trails, and the base area bustles with kids’ camp groups. A rust-speckled Pepto Bismol-pink chairlift dangles unmoving behind a clock tower whose hands haven’t budged for over two decades, but this ski hill is far from abandoned.
All that almost changed during the summer of 2021, when a dramatic property sale nearly went through, one
