Every time I'm in Montana to ski Big Sky, I also ski a few days at Bridger. The drive from Bozeman is 20-25 minutes. There are buses from town for locals, which is good for students at Montana State Univ.
Part of the reason is that I started working with an instructor at Bridger in 2012 when I attended Diva West at Big Sky. He's semi-retired but still available for previous clients. Bill and I were lucky he was available for a Monday morning lesson. Given that off-piste terrain wasn't particularly good, we worked on a fundamental skill on green/blue groomers that's hard to achieve consistently for skiers who learned on straight skis long ago.
Bridger is a
non-profit, 501(c) (4), managed by a well organized Board that's been successful since the 1950s. It has 2000 skiable acres with 2600 ft vertical. There is terrain for all ability levels from beginners to experts willing to hike to ski very steep chutes. Lift tickets and lessons are priced reasonably.
Snow levels this season at Bridger are unusually low. Even worse than Big Sky, which doesn't happen often. However, the groomers were in good shape. We also figured out where the shade from trees or cliffs meant it was possible to find cold snow that hadn't gone through a thaw/freeze since the last snowstorm. Learned one nice route at the end of our lesson.
My lift tickets were $77 per day when bought online. Bill's tickets were $45 since he's over 70. Folks 80 and over ski for free. We used the RFID cards we got last season. When I called to set up the lesson, the ski school rep had no trouble finding our records for emailing waivers and adding a lift ticket.
With low snow, arriving by 8:30 on Sunday meant parking in Lot C. On Monday at 8;30, we parked in Lot B. Lot A is next to the base buildings and is good for families with little kids because it's a short walk to the dedicated beginner teaching area. Can be slow to exit Lot A if leaving about the same time as other people.
There are three cafeterias, two at the base and one a mid-mountain. Also a small cafe at mid-mountain in the area with mostly green/blue groomers.
Some stairs required to get to the base lifts. Can take an elevator inside the base building (on the left) that has the ticket windows and ski school office.
Ski school office in building to the right, cafeteria, bar & grill, rentals, and ski shop in building to the left
Mid-mountain lodge, closes by 3:00
Note rack for hanging backpacks. Lots of signs about keeping gear off the ground.
Examples provided in the main cafeteria for what can be recycled
Ski and bag check, either for the day or overnight
New for 2023-24 are a few free storage lockers near the ski school office
Every floor of this building has a large restroom, with seasonal lockers on the ground floor and middle floor
