Bridger Bowl, MT, Mar. 3, 2013

Tony Crocker

Administrator
Staff member
Bridger and Big Sky had the March 1-2 warmup but without the rain. The ensuing snow was expected to start Sunday morning. When we arrived it was overcast with flurries and thick fog obscuring the Ridge above. We started with a couple of survey runs from the Bridger lift over to Alpine and back. The warmup had melt/frozen most runs with Bridger's predominant east exposure, and of course the effect was most severe where there was a south tilt.

As we skied Ptarmigan and Avalanche Gulch on the way to the Pierre's Knob lift the terrain was steeper as well as partially south facing, and on the way Liz described it as "a bad day at Killington." The terrain under Pierre's Knob is north facing and we tried a short mogul section there before dropping into the Emil's Mile cruiser and the snow on both was decent packed powder.
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We took a quick lunch (excellent French Dip) before the Deer Park Chalet got too busy. It was Sunday and there were lots of local kids out, similar to the Saturday I skied Montana Snowbowl last season.

We went back up Pierre's Knob about 12:30 and the storm had now arrived. Here's the accumulated graupel while riding Pierre's Knob.
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We traversed south into the Schlasman's area opened a few years ago but after Patrick and I were at Bridger in 2006.
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The traverse from Pierre's Knob ends in a gully with many feaures which we followed cautiously in the storm.
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Eventually we reached a short catwalk to the lift. At the loading area are two hanging beepers to verify that you're wearing a transceiver.
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The skiing on Schlasman's was a revelation. It was puking a couple of inches an hour, but still there was almost no hard subsurface despite what looks like east exposure on the map. The low density enforced by the transceiver requirement surely enhances surface conditions.

Schlasman's is also an answer to Patrick's topography critique from 2006. The lift is 1,700 vertical, nearly all continuous fall line with just enough scattered trees to provide orientation on a day like this.
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There is one small cliff band under the lift with a couple of openings through it. Given the weather, terrain and deepening-by-the-run snow surface, Liz said the afternoon was now like "a good day at Whistler."

As we loaded the chair for our 3rd run the liftie informed us that Bridger's other upper lifts were on wind hold. The top of the lift is below the Ridge and thus adequately sheltered. Schlasman's is one of the best terrain pods anywhere for skiing during storms.

Yes, there is still a hike required to get up on the Ridge. We saw a few people doing that but declined due to the thick fog up there. Marketing Director Doug Wales told me later that the hike from Schlasman's is less than a quarter as long as the one from the Bridger lift that Patrick and I did in 2006.

The storm took a break just as Schlasman's was closing and I was headed back toward Pierre's Knob. View up from there.
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I took 2 more runs up the Bridger lift. I skied both on diagonal north facing shots into North Bowl, soft with both the exposure and new snow. The runout on intermediate Easy Money was low angle powder thanks to the 4 inches of so since lunch and that most people probably left during the temporary closure of the Bridger chair.

16,700 vertical with about 3K of afternoon powder. While the weather kept us from exploring the now easier access to the Ridge, it was still a very good day. Advanced skiers visiting Bridger should make the effort to rent a transceiver for Schlasman's if they don't already own one.
 
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