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Powderhounds Pack Bridger Bowl

By: Ted Sullivan
Publication: Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Date: January 19, 2008

Amanda Pfleeger has a sweet job perk: ski days.

“I have the coolest boss in the world. She lets me go skiing a couple days a week” the Classic Ink employee said Friday after roaring down 20 inches of fresh powder at Bridger Bowl.

“We hiked up Hidden (Chute), and we were the first group of people down there. There were a couple pockets that were over our heads. It was unbelievable,” she said.

A perfect storm of lift-ticket specials, no school for sixth through 12th-graders and 20 inches of fresh snow brought up to 4,000 skiers and snowboarders to Bridger Friday, said Doug Wales, Bridger marking director.

“We had quite a line waiting for opening chair,” Wales said.

It was one of the busiest days of the year. The parking lots and roads up to Bridger were packed with vehicles.

“We filled pretty much every little nook and cranny we could find, from the parking lots all the way down to the road,” Wales said. “It was a great day, a lot of happy faces. You couldn't ask for better snow.”

Jon Ballard and Rich Lane were at Bridger by 9:15 a.m. They said they had to hit the mountain after seeing it snow all day and night.

Ski conditions were the best of the year, they said, describing the powder as thigh deep, with head-high sprays and full of face shots.

“When you get that angle on the turn, it gets above your head,” Ballard said. “I was covered a couple times.”

Lane, a season-pass holder who works for his dad at Lane Electric, said he was given permission to miss work.

“I had to skip work,” he said. “I decided last night that I was skipping after it snowed all day.”

Ballard was one of those who got in on the $10 lift-ticket deal. People who bought $10 lift tickets last week were allowed to return Friday for a second $10 day, Wales said.

“I had to come up for the $10 day -- but even if it wasn't 10 bucks, it would have been worth coming up,” he said.

In addition to the $10 deal, Montana State University students were offered $15 lift tickets as part of a fundraiser for the Bobcat ski team.

But it was the powder that made the day.

By 11 a.m., Pfleeger was on her way to work. She said climbing up the ridge in deep snow had been one of the toughest hikes in her life, but it was worth blazing fresh trails down the mountain.

“That's what you live for,” Pfleeger said. “That's why we live here.”

To avoid parking problems, Bridger Bowl offers a bus service on weekends, said Doug Wales, Bridger marketing director.

People can park at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds and catch the bus to the mountain. The bus is free and open to the public.

A schedule can be found online at www.bridgerbowl.com.

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