We got to Bozeman on January 4 and the weather alert was still for frigid temperatures with high winds and 10 to 20'' of snow. It was already in the low teens at night but no new snow. The Bridger Bowl snow report said 5” of new with some wind at the top at 25 degrees and 32 degrees at the base with a slight mist. The drive is only 15 miles from Bozeman, and there was a slight mist, aka rain, along the way. The University was not operating and the masses were arriving. We have free tickets from our Timberline Fusion Powder Alliance Passes so the plan was to get to the upper lifts and hope for snow. The base is at 6100' and the top of the upper lift is at 8400'. When the Shlasman's lift operates it goes from 7100' to the Ridge Terrain at 8700'.
To our surprise it was a great day of skiing. All 5 upper lifts were in snow country and the Ski Patrol opened the Ridge Access points. We rode the lift to access trails while the masses were going up to the Ridge. It was packed powder on groomers with a couple of inches of fresh on the edges. The upper area was light powder but as you descended it became Cascade powder. When we skied back to the base the rain had stopped. The parking lot was huge and very crowded but there were few people on the trails; Bridger Bowl has really grown. It was crazy that the winter storm did not arrive to the Bozeman area. Our next stop is Big Sky.
