Bridger Bowl (Montana)

Bridger Bowl is quite a large ski area, with 2,600 vertical feet and 2,000 skiable acres. Its layout  reminds me somewhat of Mt. Hood Skibowl, in that the lower mountain is great for beginners and the upper mountain offers some of the steepest terrain anywhere! It is located just 16 miles from the town of Bozeman, MT.

My first impressions were not all that great. Even though it was a work day (Friday), 6 of the 11 parking lots were full.  I thought it would be crowded, but the mountain is big enough to absorb the crowds and in many places I felt almost alone.  But, the parking lots are all arranged in horizontal strips in such a way that each successive strip is lower and lower on the mountain. The farther out you have to park, the more you will have to climb.  There were no shuttles in sight. 

So, hufffing and puffing up the hill, I finally arrive at the ticket counter. They couldn't process my

Powder Alliance pass directly.  They sent me into the building to the Season Pass counter. There, the lady made me take off my ski jacket. Why? Well, my season pass was attached to the jacket with a cord, so I wouldn't lose it.   I handed her the season pass card, but the lady said she would rather that I detach it from the jacket. This wasn't easy to do, since it was attached not by some sort of quick clip, but by a ring similar to a key ring.  I couldn't detach it withone hand, so I had to take my jacket off.  I thought she w2ould have to scan it or somehing. B ut, no, she just read a number (or my name) o9ff of it.  Hey, she3 could have done that without me having to detach it! 

Then she gave me a separate little card, essentially just her approval of my season pass.  I had to take this back to the ticket window2, where I finally got my Bridger Bowl lift ticket.  I was lucky it was mid-week and the end of the season.  On a busier day, I would have had to wait in 3 separate lines.

So, I finally have my ticket. Now let's go ski. Butt not before you climb another set of stairs. And even then, the climbing is not yet over.  You still have to carry your skis a bit higher onto the snow to reach the lowest level of the ski lifts.  Phew!  I was out of breath!  

Ready to ski, I noticed that Bridger Bowl had received at least 4 inches of new snow just the night before I arrived. 

And then came the big surprise!  Instead of the regular lift loading we are all used to, Bridger Bowl has installed an infernal contraption that I have so far only seen in Val d'Isere, France. It consists of a gate and a moving "carpet" made of some sort of hard plastic.. The gate doesn't open at all unless you are standing right next to it.  I missed a couple of chairlifts because I was standing a few inches too far from the gate.

When the gate finally opens, you push off witth your ski poles, and your skis move from the snow onto the hard plastic moving carpet, whcih is not slippery.  Stepping onto it, it feels like your feet are suddenly encased in cement.  You cannot move your skis. You are stuck. Better not lose your balance while the carpet moves you forward about 6 or 7 feet, to position you in the ideal spot for the oncoming empty chair.   It doesn't save the lift operator anything, because he/she still needs to slow down the chair a bit f.or you.  I just hate the contraption.  It's not part of the natural environment..  It's not snow. Stepping onto it is an unsettling, unpleasant experience.  And it requires you to be very careful about your balance when you step onto it, at least until the chair then sweeps you off your feet. 

Bridger Bowl did not install this on just one chair, to see how people liked it.  They installed it on ALL their lifts, so there is no getting away from these moving carpets. 

Would there have been a better use for all the money spent installing these contraptions?  Yes, of course!  They could have paved their very muddy and pot-holed parking lots, to make their guests feel more welcome.

But, let's get to the good stuff.  This mountain has at least 2 different "faces".  Except for the fact that everyone gets tripped by those moving carpets, this mountain is ideal to learn how to ski. The lowest two lifts and the Alpine chairlift above and the the right of them, offer acres and acres of gentle, rolling terrain that will be a delight to any novice or lower intermediate skier.  Even the ungroomed snow is easy to ski there. The Powder Park lift also has some easy cruisers, but the terrain there is a bit steeper, a bit more upper intermediate.

The more advanced skiers will tend to head to the left side of the ski area (looking up at the mountain).  The Bridger, Pierre's, and Schlasman's lifts offer amazing amounts of super-steep double-black diamond terrain that is never groomed.  Schlasman's is pretty much all ungroomed and all very steep.  The other two lifts do offer alternatives for intermediate skiers. 

In other words, just like Mt. Hood Skibowl, Bridger Bowl offers lots of options for both beginners and experts.  The upper intermediate skier or the advanced skier who doesn't like to ventrue into the ungroomed snow has somewhat fewer choices.

Overall, I had a great time exploring the mountain, and I would come back to Bridger Bowl at any time.  A regular adult lift ticket here costs $51, which is the second lowest price among the 12  Powder Alliance  ski areas.  Only Mt. Hood Skibowl is about $2 less expensive. 

I even found a trail at Bridger Bowl called "Emil's Mile".  That's how it is marked on the trail map.  The only sign I saw on the trail itself simply said "Emil's".  So, naturally, I had to ski it!

 
I was surprised to hear that Bridger Bowl was supposed to close for the season just a week from now (around April 7th or so).  However, due to the exscellent snow that keeps falling, they have decided to extend the season by an extra week, thus closing around April 15th. 

We Oregonians are really lucky (and spoiled) that we can ski on Mt. Hood all through April and May, and sometimes even into June.  And if that is not enough, we can always come back for some summer skiing in July and August. .