1.27.2012 Bridger Bowl
Bridger was eerily similar to the East Coast today. The snow on the lower mountain was very heavy and wind-affected. Anywhere that the wind was able to scour was scraped down to hardpack and was almost unskiable. I hiked up B-Route once to Sluice Box. It was a gorgeous bluebird day and the views from the top of [...]
1.22.2012 Bridger Bowl
I drove up to Bridger Bowl this morning for my first day there this season. It snowed for a while overnight and Bridger was reporting 7″ this morning. Conditions were very soft, deep in places, and rocky in places. South Bowl was a minefield with good snow covering bare rocks. I only managed to ski one run before the power went out to all of Bridger Canyon. I was halfway up Pierre’s Knob and made it to the top on the diesel backup.
Late Season Skiing at Bridger Bowl
I started my 2010-2011 Ski Season at Bridger Bowl way back on October 27th. Eight months of skiing later, I finished my season in the same place. View Late Season Skiing at Bridger Bowl – May 11, 2011 in a larger map Supposedly, the mountains picked up 1-2 feet of fresh snow earlier this week [...]
First Turns of the Season
Yesterday I cut class and headed up to the mountains. Bridger was crowded, with cars parked all the way down into the second lot. Not bad for the 27th of October. The four of us started hiking up, really wishing we had touring gear. First purchase of the year? I think so. We hiked up [...]
Winter Stoke
Snow has been flying here in Bozeman and the Bridgers have been coated more than once this September. I thought it was time for some winter stoke to get psyched for the coming ski season. This picture is of Sam skiing the meadows above the fingers last October 29th. Here’s hoping that this early season [...]
Ridge Skiing – D Route and Z Fan
Tucker and I skied off the ridge at Bridger again this past Wednesday. We took the Slashman’s Chair up, hiked to the top of the ridge, and then traversed north to the south boundary of D Route. There, we dropped down Boundary Chute and crossed over into Z-Chute. The Z-Fan runout was excellent soft snow [...]
Surprise Chowder Day
Yesterday I woke up and checked the snow report, saw the 11″ of fresh and the little blinking blue light on the Bridger homepage that means powder, didn’t believe it, and went back to bed. When I woke up two hours later it was still showing the same thing. Forrest, Tim, Tucker, Megan, and I [...]
Some Photos from Last Week’s Ridge Hike
Last week I managed to secure a beacon for a couple of days of skiing off of Bridger’s vaunted Ridge. Tuesday, Clare, Taylor, and I hiked up from the top of the Slushman’s lift to ski some day old powder down to The Fingers. The view from the top of the Ridge was stunning. The [...]
Blizzard in the Bozone – 1/22-24
El Nino has not been very kind to the Bridgers this season. However, after a two week drought and some really crappy skiing, we finally got some snow this last weekend. Alot of it, actually. Friday, January 22 We got our 1-2″ overnight, and it was snowing lightly all day. Nothing really worth mentioning, but [...]
Slushmans
Tucker and I rented beacons, probes, and shovels today and headed up to Bridger for our first Slushman’s run of the season. Slushman’s is the new chair (formerly the Peruvian Lift at Alta) that Bridger installed last season to the south of Pierre’s Knob. It accesses some great, un-demarcated, patrolled terrain. Beacons are required to [...]
Outdoor Pursuits Photography Contest
The Outdoor Pursuits floor of Roskie Hall runs a photography contest every year, sponsored by Outside Bozeman and several shops around town. My six entries are below. Yeah! Photo: David Howland Skier: Sam Willits Alex Photo: David Howland Skier: Alex Davis Looming Photo: David Howland Strangled Photo: David Howland Circle Photo: David Howland Hiking Photo: [...]
Layer Masks
Fed up with Photomerge and Hugin’s inability to accurately merge my action mosaics together, I finally tried working it out manually with layer masks. It actually worked out way better. I have so much more (read: total) control over how the images are blended together and how they are aligned. I still have a long [...]
Powder Day! – October 29, 2009
What a difference two weeks makes. We did things much smarter this time. A storm rolled in Tuesday and lasted all night, leaving us with about 6″ of snow here on campus in Bozeman and an unknown amount in the mountains. Everything looked white though. We left campus around 7:30 and were hiking at 8:00. [...]
Day 1 at Bridger Bowl
My alarm rang at 7:36 this morning. I dragged myself out of bed, angry and confused at why I was awake so early. And then I remembered…I was going skiing! Adam and I loaded the car, the smell of the fresh wax on the skis lingering in the air. I settled in to the driver’s [...]
Bridger Ridge Hike
Facing a rather desolate and gloomy week (Lab on Wednesday, classes until 9pm on Thursday with a bonus Economics midterm thrown in for fun) I decided to blow off studying and packing and go for a hike. My goal was 8914′ Baldy Mountain, the first mountain visible along the Bridger Range from Bozeman. The trail [...]
First Week In Montana
This first week has been pretty good. I could have done without the Lyme Disease/Miniscus Tear (still not sure yet) that resulted in my massively swollen knee and no hiking or biking, but whatever. I’m not gonna complain about a day spent whitewater rafting or lounging around at the Madison River, either. The weather has [...]
