Montana Skiing Guide
Bridger Bowl Ski Area Review

Bridger Bowl Ski Area : Review

Bridger Bowl Mountain seen from the base area

Bridger Bowl is an awesome ski area located just a very short hop from Bozeman, Montana. Bridger Bowl has, to put it quite simply, some of the very best downhill skiing in Montana – all at a very affordable price. Regardless of your skiing experience, Bridger Bowl provides a ton of great terrain to ski on in a beautiful setting. In short, if you like to ski and happen to find yourself in the Bozeman area, you will commit a huge mistake by passing up on a chance to ski at Bridger Bowl.

Bridger Bowl is truly a ski area for all levels of skiers. Even during a hard day of skiing, there is very little chance you’ll ever get bored. The huge number of runs at Bridger Bowl – combined with an incredible assortment in the variety of terrain – pretty much prevents any sort of boredom setting in. Indeed, about the only thing that may cause you to go back to the lodge early is tired legs from skiing on the sometimes radical terrain found at Bridger Bowl.

Visiting skiers to Bridger Bowl will notice a couple of things. First, there is no slope side lodging or other fancy amenities. Bridger Bowl is, in other words, a pure ski area – like most other ski areas in Montana.

And secondly, visiting skiers will also notice that Bridger Bowl is very affordable. This is due to the fact that Bridger Bowl has no amenities besides a nice base lodge and because Bridger Bowl is a non-profit ski area. Any money earned is put back into the ski area at years end – either in the form of keeping lift tickets affordable or on-mountain improvements (such as the new base lodge currently in the works).

Bridger Bowl Ski Area : Location

Getting to Bridger Bowl couldn’t be easier. Indeed, it may be the easiest and most accessible ski area in Montana. Bridger Bowl is located just a 16 mile ride from downtown Bozeman, on Highway 86 – which is paved, by the way Unlike most other ski access roads, this road does not excessively twist, turn, have switchbacks or have steep gradients. In short, this highway is just like any other typical highway – not a typical ski access road. In good weather, you can easily be in the parking lot of Bridger Bowl ski area within about 20 minutes. The drive up to Bridger Bowl is also very scenic. A shuttle also provides a ride to the ski area from various spots in Bozeman, too, just in case you don’t feel like driving.

Bridger Bowl : General Description

Bridger Bowl has a respectable vertical of 2000 feet. An additional 600 feet of vertical can be obtained by trekking up from the top of the Bridger Double Chair to what is known as the ridge. Only expert and advanced skiers need make the journey up to the Ridge, as only true double-diamond terrain will be found – with no easy way to get back down!

The Crazy Mountains provide a beautiful view from the top of Bridger Bowl

Bridger Bowl also does not suffer from lack of snow – the ski area gets more than 350 inches of it each year normally. Better yet, owing to the ski areas location, much of the snow received is of the very light and fluffy type – not wet, sierra cement. Bridger Bowl, at least for a Montana ski area, also tends to have fairly decent weather. As it is located well away from the continental divide, sunny days are much more common than what is found further west in Montana.

Bridger Bowl ski area essentially is two very big bowls (the North Bowl and the South Bowl) that sort of merge into one flat area towards the bottom of the mountain. The two bowls themselves are essentially divided by the Bridger chairlift, which runs up a ridge that separates the two bowls. To reach these big and beautiful bowls from the base area, the trip up begins by riding the Powder Park Quad chairlift. This chair takes you up to the top the “flat part” of the mountain. From here, you can access any of the four chairlifts that provide access to these two bowls – which is covered in the following pages.

Bridger Bowl Ski Map (large image)

Next Page : Skiing the North Bowl

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