Bridger Bowl, MT March 2 and 3, 2026

[tseeb]

It was my 2nd day in a row at new to me MT ski area. (Sunday, March 1 was Showdown.) Some differences are that Showdown seemed to stay cool while White Sulphur Springs, where we stopped for a soak, and Bozeman both got into the high 50s. Also, the cold that I developed from sharing gondolas or snowcat or helis in BC or from 2 days of high winds at Kicking Horse and Panorama has been making it hard to sleep every other night and last night was the worst with little sleep and a lot of coughing.

I bought $49 Senior ticket and start skiing about 930. Most runs I tired, even parts of the groomed ones, had an overnight freeze after warm weather on Sunday and overcast on Monday AM did not help the softening. I started riding and skiing the lowest chairs, Virginia City then Sunnyside which I used to move to Powder Park where I skied Powder Puff to 'Alpine' chair. I found OK fast groomed snow on both chairs skiing Porcupine into Bobcat, then Porcupine to exit above Sunnyside where some snow was missing so I took a higher line.

I then rode Bridger chair where near the top I saw a youngish boy fall off the edge of the road, which was the only not steep and very firm run. He did not go far, but his ski went about 30' down the hill and he didn't know what to do. I did not want to see him lose control trying to one-ski to his other ski and seeing patrol at top go away before I got his attention I went down and got it for it. He didn't think I could make it all the way back up to the road side-stepping so I traversed and met him on it and he thanked me . Then patrol, who was throwing rocks off the road, showed up and assumed I was related to the kid.

I took an early turnoff into North Bowl Run where I was careful with the steep, firm bumps. I moved to Pierre's Knob chair and found good snow in the South Bowl but there were a lot of stuff on the snow. They were mostly tree parts, but some were rocks so I tried to avoid them all. I also skied blue groomer Thunder Road, then tried but failed to find entrance to Schlasman's after skiing difficult firm bumps in Southbound where I saw some exits from Schlasman's. I went to base lodge for a break and a snack. Does $5 for small order of fries now sound like a deal?

I went up Virginia City and Pierre's Knob and took a little easier route to the Schlasman's ropeline and closely followed it to where there was an entrance. But it went straight down a steep drop then up the higher other side so I followed road to the left which I quickly realized was an exit so I went against the sign and followed the uphill hike into Schlasman's, At the top of lift I went left and skied traverse track that entered bowl with great smooth winter packed powder.

I was concerned that staying on top of ridge could have led to mandatory air or rock crossing to enter bowl from higher up. Top of chair circled in next photo.

Looking down from same place. First time I went left towards open area in middle. The next two times I went right and found more good steep snow and the boundary line.

Skiers in bumps under Schlasman's. They still looked and seemed firm at 120.

View from the top of chair towards bowl that I skied every time. I took shiny traverse just to left of center that I was sure went through without trauma.

Following the boundary line to lowest return led to a steep drop then crossing a gully and a short uphill with a couple rocks to avoid,

Then there was about 5' of no snow to cross. It was surprisingly close to the chair here (behind me obviously).

I was going to exit Schlasman's but I ran into Maurice a Sante Fe emergency room Dr. from the Netherlands who I shared a chair with earlier so I showed him what I'd found. I probably should have stopped and kept a closer eye on him on the traverse because I saw him fall and thought he ended up below it and would have had to ski a steeper, bumpier route but he joined me in bowl and followed me to boundary line and exit. He blamed problem on rental skis.'

In photo with Maurice it looks like there is a clean entry from top. I'd started to follow a snowboarder to that area on my 2nd time down Schlasman's but when he hesitated and seemed to be returning and I could see a lot of rocky steep drops I stuck with lower traverse. I exited Schlasman's and poled a lot on sunny and slow Pierre's Return to Pierre's chair where I saw some people skiing short, steep chutes off it. Photo taken later from Bridger chair.

I went up Bridger to take some photos of thin snow. The best way to ski it may be to use midway unload and ski smooth runs that must have had races on weekend.

I quit before 3 with a better day after lodge break than I expected to have after the morning.

 

[EMSC]

Big YIKES on those pics of snow coverage though...

 

[Tony Crocker]

Tseeb took a much needed break today as I had Monday when Liz flew to Bozeman. We skied Bridger Tuesday in more cooperative sunny weather than Tseeb got Monday. The clearing weather also meant clear skies for the 4:30AM lunar eclipse.

Bridger was in full-on spring mode, so our 10:30AM start time was just right. Riding our first chair you can see the contrast of mellow lower mountain with serious steeps above.

We moved to the Alpine chair, which from the map looked like it would take the most morning sun. Despite temps around 40F there was a breeze riding the lifts. The upper half of the Alpine/Powder Park runs was partially softened while the lower half was close to corn mode on this quiet Tuesday.

Around noon we ascended the Bridger chair. View south:

No one was venturing that way in current low tide conditions.

The Bronco moguls under the lift had softened but Liz took a pass and I correctly assumed my energies would be needed later on Schlasman's. We skied the short and less steep bumps at the far end of North Bowl.

View back to shaded side of North Bowl:

We saw a couple of skiers in a smooth section there, but the approach from above was through steep pointy moguls.

We moved on to Pierre's Knob, the only north facing terrain pod at Bridger. Liz after skiing South Bowl:

Flat areas were a bit firm but sections with even intermediate pitch were mostly winter snow.

After two runs it was past 1:20PM and I thought it was time to check out Schlasman's. I navigated poorly through heavy spring snow and had to hike up the exit trail about 5 minutes, then ski down to the lift. Schlasman's was the only part of Bridger with cell service, so I texted Liz from the lift not to follow me. I followed Tseeb's route from Monday, traversing south into the shaded part of Mundy's Bowl. The traverses had their fair share of obstacles to get past, and I'm sure it was even more challenging Monday in firmer snow. View back to the top of the lift with varied traverse lines:

View down shaded chalky snow:

Lower down I picked my way through moguls, trees and finally an exit into a steep gully. I could see a boundary sign at the bottom of the gully, so I followed an exit track out skier's left. This led to a defined traverse with the 5 foot long bare spot that Tseeb had described from Monday. It was now 2:20 and I was too tired for another run like that, so I had another short walk up to get on Pierre's Return.

I rode Pierre's Knob one more time and had an interesting conversation with a local lady, who had lived 18 years in Laguna Beach, where my grandmother lived when I was growing up. Her family is in Boulder where she lives part time. But she and her husband have a place just down the road from Bridger and ski there because they can't stand the I-70 drive in Colorado. She also has a horse at the Bridger house and rides in the hills in summer.

I inquired with ski patrol at the end of the day about when the melt/freeze has started, and he said last Thursday. I told him that it seemed like Sunday was the first warmup day at Showdown and he said that's been a frequent pattern this season. The common boundary between warm and cold air has often been about 60 miles north of Bridger, and Showdown is beyond that.

In terms of appearance the contrast is even greater because Showdown has overall intermediate pitch, while Bridger's upper terrain has a lot of exposed rocks now. Bridger has slightly sunnier overall exposure too.