Bridger Bowl Ski Resort Montana

Bridger Bowl is a bit of a conundrum. It’s not sure whether it’s a locals' ski hill trying to be a big ski resort, or if it’s a big ski resort trying to be a local’s ski hill. One thing is for certain, Bridger Bowl Ski Resort is a great ski hill that has all of the qualities of a big ski resort without the pretence and price-tag. Being on the eastern side of the continental divide, snow quality is deliciously dry when it falls, hence Bridger Montana's moniker ‘Ski the Cold Smoke’.

Pros & Cons of Bridger Montana

Pros

• There is plenty of steep and challenging inbounds terrain.
• Bridger Bowl Ski Resort has very good beginner terrain.
• Affordability is a hallmark of Bridger Montana.

Cons

• The lifts give you plenty of time to ponder life.

Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective

• There is no on-mountain lodging, but the city of Bozeman offers some very affordable accommodations.
• A lot of the great expert terrain is not fully lift serviced and will require some huff and puff.
• A good portion of the steep in-bounds terrain requires avalanche safety gear. Some may wonder if the patrollers don’t have much faith in their avalanche control work, but it’s largely indicative of the gradient and high consequence terrain.

Bridger Bowl Ski and Snowboard Terrain

Bridger Bowl Ski Resort has 2,000 acres of in-bounds terrain, 11 lifts (which includes 1 quad chair and 6 triple chairs), and 2,600 feet of lift serviced vertical (6,100 - 8,700ft).

Bridger Bowl Ski Resort is renowned for its extreme inbounds terrain and its cold, super dry snow – all true. A lot of the extreme terrain is lift accessible, but most requires some level of hiking up to the crest of ‘The Ridge’ before puckering up and taking the dive!

What isn’t as well known is that Bridger Montana is also an excellent beginner ski hill. Naturally, it follows that there must be a fair bit of intermediate and advanced terrain to fill the gap between the greens and double blacks – true again.

Bridger Bowl Snow

Bridger Bowl receives 350 inches (8.9m) of snowfall on average per season. It’s renowned for being blessed with Montana coldsmoke although the snow quality isn’t necessarily well maintained after snowfall.

Where is the Bridger Bowl Ski Resort?

Bridger Bowl is located in south central Montana, a short hop, skip and jump from the superb Yellowstone National Park and also from Big Sky Ski Resort. The fun city of Bozeman is 16 miles away and flights come in from several major US hubs.

Bozeman Lodging

Bridger Bowl has no accommodations on the hill. This is a good thing because the locals tend to be very slow getting up in the mornings (unless it has dumped 3 feet!), so you have no one staying at the resort to compete with. A few home rentals and B&Bs are near the ski hill, but essentially all of the lodging is in nearby Bozeman. A mass of hotels and motels are focussed on the 305 and 306 exits off the interstate I90 in Bozeman. All of the major chains are represented.

Bozeman Hotel Listings

Ski Resort Facilities

The Bridger Bowl ski resort facilities are first rate and as good as anywhere in the world – which begs belief given that this is a not-for-profit community run ski hill. Three modern day lodges emphasise the quality of Bridger’s facilities.

In fact, such is the quality of the facilities that one could easily be mistaken into thinking you were at a ski resort where the price of a lift ticket actually inflicts major pain, as opposed to the Bridger reality where it is almost embarrassing how little cash one has to part with.