Montana
I’ve been looking around and haven’t seen much information or stories from people hitting the slopes in Montana.
I spent four months snowboarding there with a season pass at a local mountain called Bridger Bowl and made a few trips to Big Sky, Moonlight Basin and one slightly longer trip to Great Divide in Helena.
I feel like I’m slightly betraying the city of Bozeman where I have been living in telling you all about Bridger Bowl but it was by far my favourite mountain out of any other I’ve been to. It is small and it loves being that way. Being voted in the top 25 of ski towns in the world by nat geo kind of makes it hard for it to remain a secret much longer anyway. It’s not just that they have terrain for all riders from the extreme to the kiddy slopes, its the fact that it’s a non-profit community owned mountain meaning the prices are cheap, the developments and ideas come from the people who are riding the mountain most. Also a big plus is I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had to wait in a lift line for longer than 2 minutes.
Big Sky is more like the Whistler of Montana, the resort has linked with moonlight basin to form an area with a scarily large amount of mountain to ride. I prefer the park at Moonlight and it appears so do the guys at Toy Soldier Productions (http://toysoldierproductions.com) check them out!
I definitely prefer the easy going non-judgemental lifestyle of living in Bozeman compared to the trendy “are you sponsored?” environment of Whistler. The skiiers definitely outnumber the boarders here but that hasn’t stopped me having a go at them whenever the opportunity arises. I probably can’t finish this post without mentioning a case of beer costing $20 and the $8 ‘Irish Trashcan’ (I’ll leave the research up to you!)
So basically if you have any questions or opinions about boarding in Montana let me know. If you’ve been before I’d love to hear your stories or other tips that help me for next time I return which will surely be soon!
Here are a few photos just to give you a visual taste of Montana
Bozeman Montana at it’s best
Bridger Bowl with a bit of an avalanche on the right.
Bluebird day at Bridger!
Bozeman
Discovering the freedom of falling in powder.
gah! looks so fun. I wish I could fast forward to the end of this year to begin my adventure.
nice board! how much does the season pass cost there?
Bridger is $680 but I think they will have an early bird deal coming out soonish.
Moonlight basin is having a deal at the moment where a season pass is only $300 with a free shirt (I know how much you love free shirts Crackers).
The park at Moonlight is definitely better and although it is much busier it is still pretty quiet in comparison with pretty much anywhere else I have been.
Bridger is better known for its Cold Smoke powder, but Moonlight does get a solid amount of snow as well…
Yeh I love free shirts…..I always need shirts to wear to bed or fishing!
I probably can’t finish this post without mentioning a case of beer costing $20 and the $8 ‘Irish Trashcan’ (I’ll leave the research up to you!)
I just did said research…looks impressive!