An Epic Ski Vacation in Montana
*This post is sponsored but all opinions are my own*
When I told people I was traveling to Montana to ski, most people assumed I was planning a ski trip to Big Sky. While Big Sky is still on my list to visit, Montana has over 15 ski resorts to explore. Why would you limit yourself to just one area? Though we had a short time frame for this trip, our plan was to visit some less popular locations and I think we did a great job of that!
Skiing at Bridger Bowl
Bridger Bowl is a nonprofit ski area located 25 minutes Northeast of Bozeman. It boasts 2000 acres of skiable terrain over 75 marked trails, plus way more unmarked expert terrain off the ridge. As we are all dealing with the negative effects of corporate conglomerates buying out ski resorts and overselling passes in favor of making large profits, I found Bridger Bowl to be a refreshing change of pace.
In order to ski at Bridger Bowl, you will need to buy their $5 RFID card on top of your ticket price. If you are planning a trip to Bozeman, consider making an account ahead of time as an adult ticket at the window will cost you $84 compared to $69 if purchased ahead of time!
How our day went:
As a Seattle-based skier, I am very used to waking up at 5 am on weekends in order to make it to our local ski resorts and find parking. When we set out from the Kimpton Armory Hotel in Downtown Bozeman, I was surprised to find we didn’t need to leave until 8:30 am and we were still close to being the first chair. Outside of a ski-in/out cabin it really doesn’t get better than that.
We also never dealt with a lift line. We skied at Bridger Bowl on a Thursday and the only time we waited for a lift was while we waited for a wind hold to end. The runs we skied never felt crowded, which was wonderful after a season spent dodging people on the groomers at my home mountain in Washington.
My friend was really hoping to go up to the expert ridge terrain Bridger Bowl offers, but Montana had suffered a bit of a dry spell (like the rest of the West Coast) and the conditions we experienced were mainly hard pack and moguls. Not exactly the most confidence-inspiring conditions for this newer skier, so we stuck to the lower lifts. While moguls are definitely not my favorite, I am always stoked to be skiing and it was good practice to get over my fear of them. We ended up spending most of our time skiing off Pierre’s Knob, and to my surprise, I became obsessed with skiing some narrower unmarked tree runs off that lift during our day there!
For lunch, we ate at Jimmy B’s Bar and Grill in the Jim Bridger Lodge. I had eaten a lot of fried foods the night before, so I was super excited to see a bunch of healthier options on the menu! I ultimately settled on a Southwest Quinoa Chicken salad which felt perfect before heading back out on the slopes. Knowing we had two more jam-packed days of our trip, we called it and headed back to Bozeman after skiing 14 runs and 15,000 ft of descent.
Guided Backcountry Skiing in Yellowstone National Park
On the next day of our trip, we opted to explore the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park with Montana Alpine Guides.
We met our guides, Ryan and Andrew, at the Montana Alpine Guide’s office in Bozeman and caravanned to our location in Yellowstone National Park. Most guide services aren’t insured to drive people to their locations, so if you are traveling in winter make sure you rent an AWD or FWD vehicle and drive cautiously as the roads can be icier than out-of-towners expect. As we drove towards the park from Bozeman, I started to worry that we may need to pay a park entrance fee, but we passed by a large sign signaling we had entered the park with no booths for payment. It’s still a National Park though, so don’t expect to bring your dogs into the backcountry, etc. After arriving in the park, we parked on the side of the highway, did our beacon checks, and made our way into the backcountry.
Skinning up
The area our guides took us to suffered a forest fire in 2018, so we skinned up through the burnt trunks of trees which really opened up the views of the surrounding area. Our guide warned us that if we wanted to keep our gear clean we shouldn’t brush up against them, advice I should have paid more attention to since my orange shell is now sporting some fun black stripes.
I knew touring in Montana would be colder than what I have experienced in Washington but our weather that day was constantly shifting from cloudy, windy, sunny, and back again. It definitely made layering an interesting exercise! We skinned up about a 1000 feet before transitioning for our first lap. The snow was untouched and extremely soft. For most skiers this is a dream come true, for this beginner skier who has experienced around .5 pow days…it was a little rough. I have a tendency to skid into all of my turns which isn’t the best way to control speed or ski in powder.Thankfully, our guide Ryan was extremely encouraging and asked if I wanted any tips for pow skiing, to which I responded with an enthusiastic yes. His advice was super helpful and I felt a lot better about my skiing on our second and third lap!
Skiing down
After our powder laps on the backside of the mountain, we transitioned a final time and started our descent back to the cars. This is when things got interesting for me and I was extremely thankful to be in this terrain with two experienced guides. The trees were a lot tighter on our way out and I couldn’t play my usual game of skid turning around everything in the soft snow. Our guide Ryan led the way and made sure we were skiing safely in avalanche terrain, and also showed us the way out of the trees. Our second guide Andrew tailed me and watched me fall in quite a few hilarious ways, including skiing too close to a baby burnt tree that got stuck between my body and backpack and left the aforementioned black stripes on my shell jacket.
I may have taken a few tumbles, but we made it down safely and without injury. I was a little scared at times on the descent, but looking back I am glad I was able to push my skiing comfort zone and learn I need to spend more time at the resort skiing trees and powder so I can be better prepared for my future backcountry outings!
Plan your own ski trip to Montana
Do you want to experience your own epic ski vacation at one of Montana’s 15 ski resorts or in the Montana backcountry? Check out Visit Montana for resources in planning your trip! Also, make sure to check out my blog post about our day ice climbing while on this trip to Montana!
