Mountain Review: Bridger Bowl
MOUNTAIN SCORE
CATEGORY BREAKDOWN
See our criteria
8
Snow:
6
Resiliency:
6
Size:
6
Terrain Diversity:
10
Challenge:
3
Lifts:
7
Crowd Flow:
7
Facilities:
6
Navigation:
7
Mountain Aesthetic:
GOOD TO KNOW
1-Day Ticket: $82-$97
Pass Affiliation: None
On-site Lodging: No
Après-ski: Limited
Nearest Cities: Bozeman (30 mins)
Recommended Ability Level:
+ Pros
World-class expert terrain
Family-friendly atmosphere
Local feel
Lift ticket value
– Cons
Slow lifts
Modest size compared to fly-to destinations
Avalanche beacon required for some terrain zones
MOUNTAIN STATS
Lifts: 8
Trails: 75
Beginner: 22%
Intermediate: 40%
Advanced/Expert: 38%
Mountain Review
Dreaming of a local ski hill with world-class terrain? Bridger Bowl might be the hidden gem you’ve been looking for. With less than 2,000 skiable acres and no-frills infrastructure, this Montana resort may not seem like a world-killer on the surface. However, Bridger Bowl’s terrain makes for one of the most memorable experiences one can have at a ski resort—provided one is proficient enough to handle it.
Bridger Bowl offers some of the most memorable terrain one can find at any ski resort.
Size and Terrain Layout
With 1,640 skiable acres, Bridger Bowl is generously sized for a local ski hill, although it is quite a bit smaller than most destination ski resorts. The resort starts out with one base area and widens out as it gets higher in elevation. Bridger Bowl also gets progressively steeper as guests proceed up the mountain, with the lower mountain almost exclusively serving beginner terrain, mid-mountain areas specializing in intermediate and advanced trails, and upper mountain areas home to an abundance of steep chutes and cliffs. In fact, several of Bridger Bowl’s upper mountain areas are so perilous that the resort requires an avalanche beacon to access them.
Beginner Terrain
Bridger Bowl is essentially the town hill for Bozeman, Montana, and luckily for those learning, it offers a reasonably strong experience for beginners. The lower-mountain Virginia City and Sunnyside chairs almost exclusively serve easier green runs, while the mid-mountain Alpine lift offers a handful of green trails as well, with the upper part of this terrain zone hosting some unique open glade areas for this ability level. Although all guests coming from mid- and upper-mountain areas need to funnel through the beginner zones to get back to the base, there’s a wide enough variety of trails that no one run ends up attracting all the traffic. For skiers and riders who are just learning, the Snowflake triple chair and a handful of magic carpets provide access to a small bunny hill near the base of the ski area.
TRAIL MAP
Intermediate Terrain
Bridger Bowl has some solid intermediate terrain as well. The Alpine, Powder Park, and Pierre’s Knob lifts serve groomed blue-rated cruisers, while the Alpine lift offers access to some nice mellower glade terrain as well. The mid-station of the Bridger lift also serves some blues, but this area is mainly used for race training.
Freestyle Terrain
Bridger Bowl isn’t exactly a destination for park rats, but it does have two terrain parks in its lower mountain that will keep freestyle enthusiasts reasonably satisfied. Features range in size from small to large and include boxes, rails, jumps, and jibs.
Advanced Terrain
The Bridger lift is the place to be for single-black-level trails. Past the mid-station, this lift does not offer any intermediate or lower ways down. This chair serves a series of advanced-level bowls and chutes that mogul up quickly, making for some particularly demanding runs. The Pierre’s Knob and Powder Park lifts serve some shorter advanced-level trails as well, and these can be nice for trying out mogul terrain for the first time.
While Bridger Bowl offers enough terrain to satisfy guests of all levels, the resort caters most to confident experts.
Expert Terrain
But while Bridger Bowl does have a good variety of terrain for all ability levels, the resort’s expert terrain is where it really starts becoming worth it to travel out of the way for. The “lower tier” of Bridger’s expert runs are marked with a double-black-diamond symbol. These chutes mainly exist off the Bridger lift via the High Traverse, and they involve particularly steep, high-consequence fall lines with very little room for error. Some of these chutes are lined by rocks, making for dramatic backdrops.
Ridge Terrain
But where you really want to be at Bridger Bowl if you are a confident expert is on its Ridge Terrain. Denoted with a purple shade on the trail map, these terrain zones have no official trails, are fair game for all sorts of unmarked obstacles such as cliffs and chutes, and involve such highly-exposed terrain that an avalanche beacon is required to access it. It’s worth noting that the name “Ridge Terrain” is a bit misleading; in addition to the primarily-hike-only ridge itself, this zone also encompasses the Schlasman’s area, a fully lift-served freeride zone at the far skiers’ right of the resort. Since Schlasman’s is fully part of this restricted area, guests will need a working avalanche transceiver to ride it, making it the only lift in the United States to have such a requirement. But there is good reason for this—Schlasman’s provides access to what might be one of, if not the, most unhinged lift-served skiable footprints in the world. There is genuinely crazy terrain off Schlasman’s, with no warning markings within the area, mandatory straightlining or cliffs depending on where you end up, and very little guidance on how to avoid—or find—these obstacles if you don’t know what you’re doing. There are several regular expert-level routes down Schlasman’s that don’t involve this level of extreme-caliber terrain, but if you aren’t familiar with the area, it’s best to find an in-the-know guide or partner to avoid any unwanted hazards.
RECOMMENDED SKIS FOR BRIDGER BOWL
NOTE: We may receive a small affiliate commission if you click on the below links. All products listed below are unisex.
Recommended all-mountain ski
Recommended carving ski
Recommended glade ski
Recommended expert/touring ski
If you’re looking for a level of extreme terrain that’s even more bonkers than Schlasman’s, a hike up the ridge itself may be the way to go. The Bridger Bowl Ridge hikes aren’t the longest in the world, but they are quite steep—especially as you get further away from Schlasman’s—so you’ll want to make sure you’re in good cardio shape to do them. But once you get to the top of these hikes, especially if you choose the one from the top of the Bridger lift to the C and D Routes, you will be facing terrain where you are highly likely to get cliffed out if you don’t know where you’re going, and you’ll need to be able to handle extremely steep, narrow, and tight chutes at a bare minimum to get down. Several seemingly okay-looking routes involve mandatory cliffs once you make your way down, some of which are paired with mandatory straightlines before or after depending on the snowpack. Ski patrol will not “close” any runs if the hike is open, so it’s up to you to use your best judgment on which lines are sendable. If you are not supremely confident in being able to make tough turns in any situation, the ridge hike may not be for you. For both Schlasman’s and the ridge, Bridger Bowl does have a photograph-based pamphlet to the terrain with unofficial route names, but this is by no means a substitute for experience in this area, and if you do not have such experience, you are—as we mentioned—best off finding an experienced partner or hiring a guide. One interesting quirk about Bridger Bowl—as you are hiking up the ridge from the top of the Bridger lift, you’ll notice a surface lift neighboring the hike path. However, this lift is reserved for ski patrol only, so you’ll just have to watch patrollers pass you by as you earn your turns the old fashioned way.
Lifts
Bridger Bowl may be a world-killer when it comes to extreme terrain, but the same isn’t necessarily true when it comes to resort infrastructure. Now, everything at Bridger is well-maintained and in good working order, but all of the resort’s lifts are slow, with Schlasman’s being a double, Sunnyside a quad, and the rest being triple chairs.
The Schlasman’s lift, which provides access to Bridger Bowl’s ridge terrain, is the only ski lift in North America which requires guests to have an avalanche transceiver to even ride it.
On-Mountain Facilities
Bridger Bowl also has a number of convenient places to stop in for a break, although as with the lifts, they’re more functional than fancy. The Deer Park Chalet and Alpine Cabin offer grab-and-go cafeteria food close to the bases of the mid-mountain lifts, although the Alpine Cabin can be a bit tough to find depending on where you come from. Food at the lodges is pretty average, but it’s more reasonably-priced than what you’d typically find at a destination ski resort, especially at the base lodge.
Snow and Resiliency
Bridger Bowl also lags slightly behind some of its destination competitors in terms of its snow totals, although its accumulation numbers are generally still quite respectable overall. With annual snow totals that typically range between 200-300 inches per season, the resort generally enjoys a reliable snow base, although some mid and lower-mountain areas experience thin cover during low seasons. Bridger Bowl has a lower summit elevation than most U.S. Rockies destinations, topping out at just 8,800 feet, and combined with its primarily-east-facing terrain, the resort is prone to sun bake if it’s clear out with no snow in the past few days. If natural snow doesn’t come, snowmaking operations are extremely limited, with the man-made snow capabilities that do exist concentrated in lower-mountain areas. Luckily, strong grooming operations keep Bridger Bowl’s beginner, intermediate, and even a handful of advanced runs in a baseline level of good shape throughout the winter season.
While snow is generally high-quality, Bridger Bowl doesn’t receive quite the same accumulation as some competitive resorts in the Northern Rockies.
Mountain Aesthetic
When you get to Bridger Bowl, it looks pretty unassuming due to its small base area and mellow lower-mountain terrain. But thanks in large part to its lack of buildup and distinctive ridge, one will appreciate the Bridger Bowl feel more the higher one gets. The resort isn’t big enough to feel truly isolating—you’ll be looking down onto the more family-friendly slopes from even the most remote ridge areas—but its combination of a local feel and jagged terrain is really hard to come by at the better-known destination resorts.
Navigation
But despite its modest size, Bridger Bowl does have a few issues when it comes to getting around. On top of the almost-complete lack of signage in the Ridge Terrain areas that‘s not exactly an accident, getting to and from the Schlasman’s area isn’t exactly easy either. Once you go through the access gate near the top of the Pierre’s lift, it’s easy to miss the turn to get to Schlasman’s—and accidentally end up back at Pierre’s instead—if you’re not staying to the skiers’ right past this gate. Leaving Schlasman’s isn’t exactly the most fun experience either, with some flat terrain required to get back to other resort areas. However, when navigating the family-friendly resort areas, things are a lot more straightforward. One nice touch is the Deer Park magic carpet from the base of the Pierre’s Knob lift to the base of the Bridger lift, which allows guests to get to both the Bridger lift and the Deer Park Chalet without a lengthy sidestep or a run all the way down to the bottom of the resort.
RECOMMENDED SNOWBOARDS FOR BRIDGER BOWL
NOTE: We may receive a small affiliate commission if you click on the below links. All products listed below are unisex.
Recommended intermediate board
Recommended advanced board
Recommended expert board
Recommended touring board
Crowd Flow
One might argue that a big contributor to Bridger Bowl’s locally focused clientele is the resort’s total absence from all multi-resort pass products, including Epic, Ikon, and even Indy. However, the resort still can get quite busy on weekends and holidays, especially at the beginner and intermediate-focused lifts, with Bozeman locals making their way to the mountain for some conveniently-located turns. As a result, those hoping to visit Bridger Bowl to get away from the crowds during a peak time may be disappointed.
Getting There
As its town hill, Bridger Bowl is located quite conveniently for those traveling by way of Bozeman to get there. The resort is about a half-hour drive from the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport, with most practical lodging options significantly closer than there.
Beneath the ridge terrain, Bridger Bowl offers plenty of family-friendly slopes and even some freestyle terrain.
Lodging
As a state-owned ski area rather than a true resort, Bridger Bowl lacks on-site lodging. However, there are plenty of options in the nearby town of Bozeman. Accommodations range from the dirt cheap but social shared-room Treasure State Hostel to the high-end Kimpton 5-star hotel, with a range of hotel, Airbnb, and vacation home rental options in between. It’s worth noting that Bridger Bowl has somewhat limited parking, and if it’s a busy weekend, you’ll want to get up there early to secure a spot. If it’s a powder day, you might want to leave town around 8. If you decide you don’t want to drive or can’t get a spot, there are free shuttle buses that leave from MSU and the Gallatin County fairgrounds.
Après-Ski
Bridger Bowl itself is about the skiing and riding rather than a party scene, and the resort is pretty low key after the slopes close. However, a bar and grill in the Jim Bridger base lodge has enjoyable happy hour vibes and offers a good chance to connect with some of the locals and inhabit some of their mind space. Less than half an hour away, Bozeman offers many more options for après, including a huge variety of bars and restaurants. Bozeman is a college town, so you can expect at least some sort of scene every night.
Bridger Bowl is a relatively small, local ski resort which manages to offer world-class terrain for expert skiers and riders.
Verdict
So Bridger Bowl is a family-friendly local ski hill for those in the Bozeman area that also happens to have some of the best in-bounds extreme skiing in the world. If beginner through advanced slopes are your thing, Bridger won’t really offer enough to beat out true fly-to ski destinations such as Big Sky and Whitefish—but if you’re looking for the hardest in-bounds ski terrain North America can offer, the resort puts up one heck of a fight for that title.
Pricing
One of the best parts about Bridger Bowl is that despite its world-class extremes, its locally-run, non-profit roots extend over to its pricing. One-day adult rates top out at just $97 if you buy at the window and top out at just $82 if you buy online. Even with a $10 reloadable card charge, this is quite reasonable by today’s standards for any 1,600-acre ski resort, let alone one that offers some of the most insane skiable terrain on the continent. If you’ve missed the Epic and Ikon Pass deadlines, this pricing structure can make Bridger a nice bargain alternative to the destinations.
