Booozeman? Big Sky-Moonlight-Bridger?!

[oragejuice]

I'm looking at going to MSU, and of course, I have to decide where I would get a seasons pass. I know that Big Sky is EPIC, but is the seasons pass really worth it with Bridger right there? I know there has to be someone here that lives in Bozeman?

 

[Gloria]

I learned at Bridger and Big sky. For a student I would say hands down Bridger. No contest. They are both great places to ski, but Bridger will be cheaper, your friends will have passes there and you can do as every good Montana Girl does...schedule all your classes before noon and ski all afternoon. ( or the Tuesday & Thursday schedule where you take classes only on these days and ski MWF ) Bridger is minutes from Campus, Big Sky is a ways farther and that canyon gets gnarly for driving all the time. Bridger may also have a weekday pass option for students as well, and Big Sky probably offers discounts for Bridger pass holders if you want to venture there over the weekends. Bridger is a cool low key homey place and Big Sky is very resorty and a beer cost about 9 bucks, so as a student, Bridger may be easier on the budget also.

 

[oragejuice]

Awesome!! I'm definately going to go with the ski-able class schedule. Gotta keep off the freshman-15 somehow...

As far as skiable terrain, does Bridger get boring?

 

[oragejuice]

PS- Bozeman+ AWD = A good idea?

 

[Gloria]

1) No Bridger has great skiable terrain, probably gets less boring than Big Sky, Big Sky has the Challenger and the Tram and pretty much everything else is intermediate. The tram unfortunately gets closed alot due to wind etc. Often times when it opens back up you are skiing a breakable crust afterwards. There are definately some awsome chutes off the tram, but Big Sky is such a longer haul than Bridger. The locals ski Bridger mostly. It has great terrain, lots of famous skiers are from Bridger. Heather McPhie is a Bridger girl and of course Scott Schmidt grew up skiing Bridger as well as many others. The goods are definately there, might require some hiking and you'll definately need avy gear, required for the ridge, but there is definately some challenging terrain there. ( alot of the chutes at BS require avy gear as well ) You will definately get more mountain time at Bridger simply because it is so close.
2) AWD - Not necessarily. For skiing, probably not the roads are plowed sometimes icy, but not really 4WD worthy. If you want to do things like hunt or otherwise need to access Forest Service roads in the early spring or fall you might want to consider it. I've primarily had front wheel drive most of my life here and never had any issues getting around or up to the ski hills in them. I would wait and see what happens, you'll find that there are limitless recreational opportunities here, skiing is the tip of the iceberg, you may take up something that requires a certain type of vehicle or you may end up liking to rock climb or fly fish and want a vehicle that has better gas mileage to run yourself to the rocks or river in. I would play it by ear on this one, get out here, see what you like and then figure it out. Any car will get you skiing around here, you'll be surprised at what you'll find in the lots around here. From retired ambulances to six figure convertible beemers. It's when you start taking up the other sports that you might want to specialize.
Just out of curiousity though, why MSU over UM. I'm a Griz, just had to ask.

 

[oragejuice]

Still not positive on which school... Yet. Sent in my UM app today, transcripts are on their way to MSU. UM has Recreation Management, which is what I want to major in, but not such a good photography/film program (the other interest). MSU is the opposite. Of course, the place I get to ski is a factor, Missoula's ski hill isn't... something.

Thanks for all the information!!! I thouroughly appriciate it!

 

[Gloria]

Oh yeah, Rec Management. That is a really strong program at UM as well as Environmental Studies, Journalism, Forestry and Law. MSU has excellent programs in Engineering, Aggriculture, Nursing and most of the hard sciences they are stronger on. UM is stronger on the Liberal Studies program. Either town is great to live in Recreationally, although I think the recreational spots are still alot less crowded in Missoula. Both are great towns too, Bozeman is a little more dressed up and has a little more "western fllair" and Missoula is more liberal and artsy. People rate Zootown as a mini Portland and you hear people refer to Bozo as a mini LA, although I really don't get the resemblence myself. You can't go wrong either way, both are great schools and both are great towns. The skiing in Missoula is good too, although the locals do a good job of making sure that fact doesn't get out....Let me know if you end up here, I'll give you the local perspective on the hill here. 2600' continuos vertical, woohoo!

 

[Gloria]

Actually, I just reread your post, the PARTV and Photography programs at UM are pretty good actually. We also have the Rocky Mountain School of Photo. I don't know what Bozeman is like for those programs though. I think the film school is good though?

 

[mollmeister]

you can do as every good Montana Girl does...schedule all your classes before noon and ski all afternoon. ( or the Tuesday & Thursday schedule where you take classes only on these days and ski MWF )

Ha ha. Good advice. I was a good New Hampshire girl, and junior and senior year consisted of only Tue/Thur classes during the winter. Ski, ski, ski 5x a week in the winter!


More than made up for a heavy course load other terms. . .

 

[Gloria]

Ha ha. Good advice. I was a good New Hampshire girl, and junior and senior year consisted of only Tue/Thur classes during the winter. Ski, ski, ski 5x a week in the winter!


More than made up for a heavy course load other terms. . .

Atta girl .

 

[EllaSki]

I wish I lived a little closer to Bridger so that I could ski there more often! They've got lots of great terrain but without the big mountain attitude... not many places have have such a nice combination of those things. Big Sky is great too, but it's much more of a resort scene and a little less accessable from town.

I agree with Gloria... if I had to choose which one to get a season pass at (especially as a college student) I would go for Bridger. Plus, if you have a season pass to any mountain in Montana you can ski for half day rates at all the others... so you could get a discount on the occasional Big Sky trip.

 

[Pequenita]

Ha ha. Good advice. I was a good New Hampshire girl, and junior and senior year consisted of only Tue/Thur classes during the winter. Ski, ski, ski 5x a week in the winter!


More than made up for a heavy course load other terms. . .

Lol. I did that too!! Must've gone to the same college as you.

The skiing in Missoula is good too, although the locals do a good job of making sure that fact doesn't get out....

Although, I was there two summers ago, and the guys where I rented my car kept telling me to come back in the winter to ski. I still get handwritten notes from them, which is fantastic since the only person who sends me handwritten notes is my real estate agent, now that the market has turned....

 

[Gloria]

Although, I was there two summers ago, and the guys where I rented my car kept telling me to come back in the winter to ski. I still get handwritten notes from them, which is fantastic since the only person who sends me handwritten notes is my real estate agent, now that the market has turned....

Too funny, do they sign their real names? Maybe I know them and could tell you if it were worth coming back and skiing with them or not.....

 

[sibhusky]

I'm looking at going to MSU, and of course, I have to decide where I would get a seasons pass. I know that Big Sky is EPIC, but is the seasons pass really worth it with Bridger right there? I know there has to be someone here that lives in Bozeman?

My daughter is at MSU right now. But she is SICK of Bridger. The first year was fine, but aside from the places you climb to, she's hit everything too many times for it to have any interest now in her Junior year. She didn't even get a pass. One big problem is that the whole town hits the place when there is powder and it's a good size town, so the pow is all skied out before noon.

I think she's spoiled by her "home" mountain, Big Mountain.

The road to Moonlight and Big Sky is sort of treacherous in the winter. Bridger is much closer, but small. And the lifts are slow. And the whole town is there. I've heard all the complaints.

On the flip side, Missoula Snow Bowl's lifts are even slower, WAY slower. I think they may have more challenging terrain, though. It's often taken me close to 25 minutes to get from the lodge to the top of the mountain via the two lifts needed.

When my daughter was racing we hit Big Sky (glitzy but HUGE), Bridger (which was my favorite), Snow Bowl (personally NOT my favorite, but maybe I needed a guide), and Red Lodge (always had terrible grooming when we were there, not sure how it is during the best part of winter. I found some nice runs, though, when I wasn't waiting for her run down the course). I've also been to Blacktail (between Missoula and Kalispell) which is a whole lot of driving for what's there (they have an access road that takes like 45 minutes).

I've never been to Moonlight, but my daughter really likes it and when road conditions improve, she drives there. I've also never been to Discovery, but heard great things about it.

Here's some reviews done by someone other than the Montana tourist board: https://www.bigskyfishing.com/Montana-Info/montana-ski-areas.shtm
I don't agree with much of what this link says, but they're entitled to their opinions.

 

[Gloria]

On the flip side, Missoula Snow Bowl's lifts are even slower, WAY slower. I think they may have more challenging terrain, though. It's often taken me close to 25 minutes to get from the lodge to the top of the mountain via the two lifts needed. .

Wow, you got there quick ;). The Griz is 17 minutes and Lavelle is right around 10, the trade off is the long consistently steep runs with less traversing than most areas, oh and a lift line one in 10 times you go. Arghh, you just can't have it all....but I'd be happy to guide you next time you're in the area.

 

[sibhusky]

I'm spoiled. I figure a 10 minute round trip here at Big Mountain, excluding the Hellroaring Basin area, which takes a series of lifts to repeat. But summit to base of chair 1 and up again is ten minutes. Or less, if I want to throw caution to the winds. For that I get 2100 vertical feet. If I want top to bottom trees, I can get that if I want it, but I guess I'd have to add another 10 minutes because I'd be slower GOING DOWN.

When are you guys closing, by the way?

 

[Pequenita]

Too funny, do they sign their real names? Maybe I know them and could tell you if it were worth coming back and skiing with them or not.....

They do use their real names, but for the life of me, I can't remember what they are, or even what company they were with. I *think* it was Dollar, but I could be totally wrong. It was someone that doesn't have a counter at the airport, and I had to ride with them to their offices, and which is how we got to talking about Missoula in the off-season. But I know it wasn't Enterprise. They were cool, but I felt more like a granddaughter to them. I kind of half think that they just rarely see Asians. Actually, when my brother flew in, I tasked him with going to the grocery store for supplies, and he came back and reported that everyone was saying hi to him. We weren't sure if it was them (a small town thing) or us (ethnicity thing).

 

[Gloria]

When are you guys closing, by the way?

The weekend of the 12th I am hearing. We were suppose to close this weekend, but I guess we were on our best behavior, ticket sales must be pretty good and of course the snowpack. I see you guys got record snowpack this year. WooHoo!

 

[Gloria]

They do use their real names, but for the life of me, I can't remember what they are, or even what company they were with. I *think* it was Dollar, but I could be totally wrong. It was someone that doesn't have a counter at the airport, and I had to ride with them to their offices, and which is how we got to talking about Missoula in the off-season. But I know it wasn't Enterprise. They were cool, but I felt more like a granddaughter to them. I kind of half think that they just rarely see Asians. Actually, when my brother flew in, I tasked him with going to the grocery store for supplies, and he came back and reported that everyone was saying hi to him. We weren't sure if it was them (a small town thing) or us (ethnicity thing).

Ha, it's a small town thing. Did you enjoy your visit? WTH were you doing here?

 

[Pequenita]

LOVED being there. I was there for work, giving a talk to a bunch of (essentially) hunters and fishermen that were a part of an advisory committee. At night I'd go to the Osprey games for kicks, and then my brother flew in at the end of the week, and we went camping in Glacier -- we had just missed the wildfires that closed access to the eastern part of the park.