 Poster: A snowHead
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Well, I asked the question, there was some help, but I still reckon a review is in order!
Work took me back to Bozeman for a week, and my marvellous boss told me to take a Friday flight so I could get a couple of days on the slopes. Then, rather nicely, colleagues said they'd arranged a ski day on the Thursday of the week I was there. So, I got a Saturday, Sunday and Thursday of skiing out of a week long business trip. I'd say that's a bit of a win!
I'll try and break it down in to easy to digest parts;
Travel
Both times I've been to Bozeman, I've used BA to Seattle, then Alaskan to BZN itself. Very good, if a slightly long layover in Seattle on the way out. Not too harsh, as Seattle's better than many US airports.
On arrival, BZN (Airport code!) is unlike any other airport I know of. They have open fires and dinosaur sculptures! It's a very, very efficient airport, and blissfully quiet.
Hire car collection was a breeze. Wanted a F150. Got a Nissan SUVSomethingorother. Which was just fine and dandy!
Accomodation
There's plenty of good places on the edge of Bozeman, as Bridger Bowl (BB from here on) isn't a "resort" as such. Work book mine, so it was the Residence Inn. Super comfy place, in little mini suites, microwave, big fridge freezer, hob, coffee machine, lots of seating area etc. Pool and hot tub are OK at best, and the breakfast is dire. But, staff are super, and a nice comfy place. The neighbouring C'mon Inn, despite the terrible name, looks very good as well.
Getting to Bridger Bowl
It's twenty minutes up the Canyon Road. That's it. Twenty easy minutes on a nice road.
The bottom of the hilll
Lots of car parking, but on a powder day (As per my first day!) it gets BUSY. There's a light on a hotel downtown that flashes blue when there's fresh pow on the hill. It's THAT kind of town.
Two main buildings shown here. There's another smaller shop and bar off to the right. I hired skis from the main shop, in the smaller of these two buildings. Service was excellent, with great humour and a real "personal" touch to the place. Amalia (Hope I got the spelling right!) was a super star, getting me kitted out with exactly the right ski each time I felt like a change.
The lifts
OK, here's where it's really different to what I'm used to, as I usually ski in Serre Che with plenty of fast lifts, and a mix of chair, poma and cable cars. Piste map for illustration;
http://bridgerbowl.com/assets/img/pages/mountain-and-town/bridger-ski-area-map.jpg
From the base;
Snowflake serves the nursery slope. A proper chairlift, about fifty yards long! 
Virginia City is an old two man red chair, seen here;
It's slow, but gets you to the middle of the hill pretty well.
Sunnyside, the main lift, is a pretty quick four man to the playground of greens and blues that are served by the Powder Park and Alpine lifts off to the right as you look up the hill.
Queues at the base? Well yes, on a powder day at first lift it's like a big Euro resort at half term! After all, that twenty minute drive means people can, and do, just look out of the window and go play!
Above the base
Powder Park and Alpine on skiers left are both good, fairly quick threes.
Bridger is a slow, but steep three, with a midway offload that's a bit brutal! The top of the lift gives you boot hiking access to the Ridge, for which Bridger is rightly famous. Not for me, sadly! See below re Schlasman's.
Pierre's Knob (Stop that!  ) is a great little three that takes you up to some great mixed terrain.
Schlasman's - I'll admit I didn't get over here. It's in the restricted terrain, and without a transceiver, and mostly skiing alone, this wasn't the place for me! Apparently queues there on a pow day are loony tunes long. Like 45 minutes long.
If on your own, every lift has a "Singles only" line, so get on that! Straight to the front, basically.
The pistes
Excellent condition when it wasn't chucking it down. I mean, just loooooook!
Pistes on a snow day were great! And, after the first lift rush, they were really packed. Again, just looooook!
I kicked off my Saturday in some lovely fresh stuff. They call it Cold Smoke over there, and it's beautifully dry and fluffy powder. Started the day with jetlag and thought I'd get my legs in on the greens around Alpine. Then I spotted the treelines and all cruising was over!
Traversed to and fro across the whole hill after a quick snack lunch. Some brilliant mixed terrain, and anything in the ropes being fair game meant lots of play time to mix in with a bit of piste-steez.
Sunday was a day of blistering blue skies, and cold. Very cold. Far fewer people, never had to even ponder a wait for a lift. By this time, most of the between the piste and off piste was pretty well mogulled out, especially the South and North Bowl areas. A day of cruisy goodness!
Then on Thursday, skiiing with a mixed group of work colleagues, we played in the same slack country around Alpine/Powder Park and the long blues from PK. Split off with a more experienced skier at one point to hike up Bradley Meadows.
Big, untracked field of pow that led in to a big untracked tree ski back. Simply stunning, and well worth the awful boot hike up! And, just remember, that view is 20 minutes out of town!
Food etc
Alpine Cabin felt pretty Euro, with a nice fire etc. Lovely views, too.
Mainly hotdogs and candy bars, but good for a drink/pee stop.
Also ate lunch at Jimmy B's one day. Sit down service, and decent, not too pricey food. $3 for an interesting local winter lager, $12 for a good burger with some great chips!
Didn't try the Deer Park Chalet.
Apres
Erm. Not much really. A few folks sit and have a beer at Jimmy B's or the other bar/shop, but most people head back to town. Pretty normal to see folks in their ski kit in bars in town.
Pick of the bunch for me was http://www.406brewing.com/ Brilliant small batch beer, and a sublime pizza. It's a "tasting room" (Something to do with licensing in Montana) which means you can only have three beers. Then again, as most folks are driving, that seems sensible....!
Summary.
Would I go back? Hell yes. Great skiing, with a really friendly, laid back kind of vibe to the place. No attitude, no fashionistas*, just families out enjoying the snow and some seriously hard core skiers hitting the Ridge. Cheap as well. Three days were $49 a day, which seemed very good value. It's also a community owned, not for profit, ski hill, which I really liked. Only added to the sense of community about the place. It felt like half the town was there when it was snowing, which was lovely! Bozeman itself is a real treasure of a town, with a real Main Street (No Starbucks! WOOO!) and it just feels like American should feel, if that makes any sense.
But....would I go back if I wasn't there for work? No, sorry. For a couple of days skiing around work, it was utterly brilliant, but for me, based in the UK, it's just way too far away, when I can get to all of the goodness of Serre Che in next to no time. However, I'd very much recommend a trip to Bridger if you're looking at doing a Montana/Western US ski road trip though, as it was simply great fun!
Happy to answer any questions if you have 'em!
*The proof!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Carlos the Slackal, Thanks for writeup and pics, wish we had the time when in Montana last week to head there for a day, in retrospect we should have made a day for BB.
Like places like that, over the corporate ski/real estate areas tbh. They will sadly dwindle due to running costs over time so its nice to ski them when you can. Montana seems a great place generally, folks real friendly but then they are elsewhere too.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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corporate ski/real estate areas
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What was lovely for me about BB was that people drove up for a day out, rather than it being a holiday destination. Removed any residual elements of "Look at me! I'm at Resort X, staying in Chalet Y!". It was just local folks, going for a play in the snow. Which was lovely!
Forgot to mention earlier the notable absence of any ski v board animosity or ill feeling. Loads of mixed groups playing around. Perhaps worth noting that almost all of the kids (Under 20, I'm getting old!) were on skis, not boards.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Nice TR Flashy, thanks!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Who?
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