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Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> Due to a technical limitation of our publishing platform, this article appears under a single byline. It was co-written by Maria Wyllie and Jesse Barney.<\/em><\/p>\n Lone Peak Cannabis Company<\/a>, known by most Montana locals simply as \u201cLPC,\u201d is, as Founder and Owner Charlie Gaillard\u00a0puts\u00a0it, \u201cBig Sky born and raised.\u201d\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a phrase that carries weight, sparking curiosity among outsiders. If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0lucky enough to grow up in\u00a0Big Sky, MT\u2014a small, tight-knit mountain town of approximately 3,500 year-round residents\u2014you understand why. LPC\u2019s home there is as central to its identity as Gaillard\u2019s relationship with the community and his outlook on the world.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI moved to Big Sky to start LPC, so my love affair with Big Sky is also my love affair with LPC,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0says. \u201cI\u2019ve really embraced the ski community and culture, and to have them fully embrace me back has been incredibly fulfilling.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n That sense of reciprocity\u2014what Gaillard describes as the community \u201cgiving him and LPC a big hug\u201d\u2014is what he loves most about the resort town. \u201cThere\u2019s\u00a0a connection between the ski culture and the way in which we run our business.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0100\u00a0percent\u00a0organic;\u00a0we grow in a living soil that\u2019s 14 years old,\u00a0and those involved in the ski community look at that\u2014they respect it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Gaillard\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0just built a cannabis company in Big Sky,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0built a cultivation philosophy shaped by personal need, place and a belief that growing should work with nature\u2014not against it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Nestled against the backdrop of the iconic Lone Mountain, home to Big Sky Resort\u2014one of the world\u2019s most in-demand destinations\u2014Gaillard opened the very first LPC store in 2010. With its natural beauty and abundance of outdoor activity, Big Sky is a natural fit for LPC\u2019s ethos.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is our heart and soul up here,\u201d says Gaillard, 56,\u00a0who\u2019s\u00a0found a way to balance the demands of being a business owner in the cannabis industry with his joy for engaging in all the Big Sky fun.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s kind of like a fixture,\u201d\u00a0says Heather Budd,\u00a0who\u2019s\u00a0called Big Sky home since 1997.\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s\u00a0always got a huge smile on his face\u2014he\u2019s\u00a0always having fun. We see him\u00a0out and about\u00a0on the hill and at events.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0always really respected his product and his approach. He supports a lot of local endeavors.\u00a0I think it\u2019s really hard to live, work, play and be successful in a community\u00a0such as\u00a0Big Sky.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0really awesome\u00a0what\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0doing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Moving\u00a0from Philadelphia\u00a0to Big Sky was a deliberate choice at a moment when both Gaillard\u2019s life and the cannabis industry were beginning to shift.\u00a0In 2010, a friend\u00a0who\u2019d\u00a0recently moved there encouraged him to\u00a0come look\u00a0at Montana\u2019s blossoming cannabis scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the time, Big Sky was still largely off the radar compared to Jackson Hole and Aspen, for example.\u00a0The Montana town, he says,\u00a0was filled with ski bums, bikers, anglers, avid\u00a0outdoorsmen\u00a0and hippies\u2014a bunch of misfits finding a new home. And while\u00a0the state\u2019s\u00a0medical cannabis scene launched in 2004, it\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0really gain traction until 2009-10. Timing\u2014and decades of experience cultivating his own stash\u2014were on Gaillard\u2019s side.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSomething that helped me is that I went into the\u00a0sheriff\u2019s office up here in Big Sky and gave them my social security number, and I was like, \u2018Hey I want you to look into me because if I move here, I\u2019m moving here to grow marijuana.\u2019 And they were like, \u2018It\u2019s cool man, it\u2019s legal.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Five dispensaries existed in Big Sky when Gaillard arrived, but before long, LPC was the only one standing. \u201cThe others had shut down for\u00a0various reasons, and we grabbed a foothold and started making some waves in the local community\u2014growing 100\u00a0percent\u00a0organic, living soil marijuana for the people. People really liked what we were doing, and away we went.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But Gaillard\u2019s personal connection to cannabis\u2014and the philosophy that would shape LPC\u2014started long before Big Sky.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a teenager,\u00a0he struggled with debilitating migraines that produced blindness in his left eye at onset. The solutions provided by mainstream medicine were far from ideal, being prescribed drugs that would leave him incapacitated for days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the symptoms of the migraines would be my left eye would go blind about an hour before the pain would set in,\u201d he\u00a0says.\u00a0With the encouragement from a friend, he experimented with cannabis as an alternative. \u201cSmoking a joint made the pain tolerable where I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0have to just stop living for four days. It\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0make the headache go away, but it lessened the effects to where I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0need the medication,\u201d he says. \u201cI started growing weed because of that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Eventually, he began growing his own and became known\u00a0among his\u00a0friends for\u00a0the\u00a0incredible quality\u00a0of the weed\u00a0from the very beginning. Much of that is thanks to his living soil growing practices, which he describes as modeled\u00a0after\u00a0the organic processes of the earth.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why living soil? For Gaillard,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0simple.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m into preserving the earth and all that crunchy stuff,\u201d he says. He\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0use bottled nutrients or chemicals, even if they say\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0organic. His farming methods are designed to protect the mechanisms he\u00a0believes exist between the plants, the\u00a0soil\u00a0and the microorganisms in the soil. \u201cI think it\u2019s the way it should be done,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s just the way I grow.\u201d<\/p>\n With strong convictions and an admirable 24\/7 work ethic, what started as personal instinct now defines how LPC operates at scale.\u00a0From the beginning, Gaillard was focused on making LPC as a living soil, organic-based grow operation.\u00a0And more than a decade later,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0still using the original soil he created in 2012. With modern soil tests and organic amendments,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0able to keep the soil fully alive and vibrant, giving his plants the\u00a0very best\u00a0nutrition possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gaillard also developed a unique approach to watering\u2014something that reflects his continued drive to stand out and stay aligned with natural systems. Rather than\u00a0top watering\u00a0like most soil operations, LPC uses sub-irrigation. This comes from the historical way cannabis plants have always gotten water, by sending a tap root deep into the ground to find water when the topsoil is dry, especially late in the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur beds, so to speak, always have six to seven inches of an aquifer available,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s cool, because if you do some research in the Himalayas\u2014where a lot of people say the plant originated\u2014you\u2019ll find similar subterranean water availability to plants.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A self-described \u201cearth guy,\u201d Gaillard says\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0doing what he can to respect and take care of the land that gives and gives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0think we should be digging, sucking the oil out of here. I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0think we should be touching the earth,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is all about water conservation as well\u2014the amount of water our plants\u00a0require\u00a0versus another grow is\u00a0greatly reduced.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0trying to target all these little hot spots in society that say, \u2018Hey, we need to protect the\u00a0earth.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Gaillard is concerned about the human impact on the planet.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m a big believer that if we keep doing what we\u2019re doing and we show no signs of stopping, we\u2019re going to eventually create a catastrophic event that might possibly take us out as a human species,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cSo,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0trying to do my little part. I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0control the masses, but at least I can control me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Gaillard\u2019s personal mindset extends to his business practices.\u00a0With a realization that they can only scale cultivation so much, LPC has expanded strategically through its retail footprint with nine stores and three cultivation facilities across the state, and\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0on the hunt for more space. \u201cWe\u2019re really good at running retail stores\u2014at least we think we are\u2014and it seems that the consumer agrees with us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, Big Sky is home to\u00a0five\u00a0other dispensaries.\u00a0And while LPC does see sales boost from tourist surges, Gaillard says the majority of business is locally generated.\u00a0He attributes much of that to being a visible, active community member.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m involved in the community\u2014not like a politician, but for those that are in the ski culture who like to ski and party, they see Charlie all the time,\u201d he says, chuckling. Besides skiing, he\u00a0says he attends\u00a0live music shows,\u00a0rides\u00a0mountain bikes and is\u00a0the manager of\u00a0both\u00a0the\u00a0softball and curling teams.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey do the same stuff I like to do,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cYou put my liking of organic products on top of that combined with thoughtful ingredients and production\u2026well, it\u2019s made an impact.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n And in Big Sky, that kind of alignment\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0go unnoticed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Originally published in Issue 53\u00a0of Cannabis Now Magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Big Sky\u00a0Forever: Lone Peak Cannabis<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: Due to a technical limitation of our publishing platform, this article appears under a single byline. It was co-written by Maria Wyllie and Jesse Barney. Lone Peak Cannabis Company, known by most Montana locals simply as \u201cLPC,\u201d is, as Founder and Owner Charlie Gaillard\u00a0puts\u00a0it, \u201cBig Sky born andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":483,"featured_media":86225,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15977,50,85,19799,19814,415,1918],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/483"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86226,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86224\/revisions\/86226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LPCmontana-750x1024-1.jpg\")
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\nRead More: Big Sky\u00a0Forever: Lone Peak Cannabis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"