Skiing
Averaging over 350 inches of snowfall each year, the mountains around Bozeman provide some of the best skiing in the country. Throw in cold temps and you've got a glide-friendly Nordic playground as well. From high-end resorts and groomed tracks to pristine backcountry slopes and snow-covered trails, it's all right here, waiting to be enjoyed.
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The day before Missoula’s 2012 GrizzlyMan Adventure Race, Team First Descents athletes Jordan Stoner and Josh Vandermeer were set to scram with $1,800 in pledges for First Descents, a non-profit that takes young adults with cancer on outdoor adventures. Read more >>
Pioneering athletes such as Pat Callis, Alex Lowe, Ed Anacker, and Tom Jungst established Bozeman’s reputation as a premier outdoor-sports community. Read more >>
With ski season on the horizon, it’s time to get those ski/snowboard/nordic legs ready—try these exercises to improve your cardio strength, stamina, agility, and balance before the snow flies.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Read more >>
Once the ski season gets rolling, I often see skiers and snowboarders (referred to collectively as “skiers” from here on out) complain about pain in their anterior shins. Read more >>
Whether you’re an expert skier dropping into steep chutes or just making mellow turns on groomers, staying injury-free this winter ought to be high on your priority list. Read more >>
The secret to keeping those small nagging pains from becoming chronic injuries is often early intervention. Here are a few tips for some common pains you may encounter this winter.
Knee Pain Read more >>
The Dos Equis–hawking character dubbed “the Most Interesting Man in the World” has a rival in Bozeman resident Doug Chabot. The 48-year-old was arrested and jailed for a week by border guards in Tajikistan. Read more >>
They wait all year for ski season to come around—sometimes they’ll even ask in the middle of summer when they can ski again. Once the slopes finally open, they arrive with huge smiles and excitement in their eyes. Read more >>
For exact dates, check out our Events page.
January
Bridger Alpine Community Ski Race—Three-part race series for citizen racers of all ages. bridgerbowl.com/events. Read more >>
The greatest gift given to Bozeman-area skiers since the Lone Peak Tram has certainly endured some growing pains during its infant years. Read more >>
The use of wearable cameras is expanding rapidly in all action sports, and the technology is keeping up with it. Manufacturers are racing toward better resolution, higher frame rates, and crisp optics. Read more >>
The best time to get your ski legs ready is right now—so get strong and fast before the snow starts falling. Here’s a broad overview of the types of exercises that you will want to incorporate into your ski-conditioning routine. Read more >>
The Beartooth Pass typically opens in late May, after sufficient melt-off for plows to clear the snow-laden Beartooth Highway (U.S. Highway 212). Read more >>
In the shop, lodge, or liftline, there are words being thrown around at ski areas that, frankly, don’t exist. Seriously. Skiers and riders just make shit up all the time. It’s ridiculous. So check out the list below to get up-to-date before you look, like, totally ignorant dude. Read more >>
From the time of the proposed boundary expansion at Bridger Bowl to the moment I first arrived at the Schlasman’s lift line, I was nothing but ecstatic. But in the minutes leading up to my first ride, I began to waver. It was then that I thought about what "Slushman’s" really was. Read more >>
“It’s like standing at the top of the world,” I hear someone say over the constant hiss of the wind. Men mill around in shorts and t-shirts, ladies walk across a snowbank in sandals with heels, and a bright-yellow Mustang convertible rolls up with the top down. Read more >>
What's the most important factor in determining the greatness of a chairlift? The terrain it serves. In one bold move, Bridger Bowl stepped into the big leagues by building a lift that brings skiers a few steps from the top of the Ridge and directly into some of the best ski terrain anywhere. Read more >>
You can't call yourself a dedicated skier without having read John Fry's The Story of Modern Skiing (University Press of New England, $28). It's simply one of the most thorough and diligently written books on the heritage of skiing. Read more >>
I could tell she was a skier by her legs. Sleek and muscular, they looked like they’d spent plenty of time fighting the pull of gravity. The party was small and formal; eventually we were introduced. After the usual small-talk came the standard lull-buster: “So, what do you do?” Read more >>
Alpine
Every sport has its own unique mental components. In a sport like golf, we control the pace of much of the action, but in a sport like freestyle skiing, with its aerials and moguls, the pace is so fast that skiers are that much more at the mercy of the mountain. Read more >>
Every so often, a blue light flashes on top of the Baxter Hotel, alerting anyone within view of the tallest building in Bozeman that snow is falling at Bridger Bowl. Read more >>
Elusive as she is desirable; terrifying as she is tantalizing; cold as she is hot—the mountain snow bunny is Bozeman’s most coveted trophy.* Read more >>
Winter’s just around the corner, and it’s a given that dedicated skiers in southwest Montana will hunt down a few turns before the season gets started. Read more >>Telemark
Ah, the T1. Amazing how such a simple letter-number combination can evoke so much unbridled lust. Like most developing tele skiers, I’ve always wanted a pair. And now, thanks to the established protocols of gear-review reciprocity, I have them. Read more >>Creative costumery, copious cross-dressing, amazing music, parades, parties, prizes, and pandemonium—it’s not New Orleans, it’s Mardi Gras in Montana: the Montana Telemark Corporation’s Pinhead Classic, affectionately referred to by freeheel fanatics everywhere as “the Pinhead.” Every spring, imp Read more >>
Telemarking is one of those things, like rock climbing or perhaps fly fishing, that can’t be easily explained to outsiders. I mean, why make skiing harder than it has to be? Read more >>There is a peculiar, primitive joy to free-heeling the bottomless. You genuflect to the grace of fallen snow and once you’ve been properly submersed, everything else feels like swimming with your clothes on. It’s a dance, your partner is Mother Nature, and she’s the hottest babe in town. Read more >>Snowboard
“If you get buried down there and die,” Ken asks, “what do you want inscribed on your tombstone?” Read more >>
There’s a wise older woman in my life who told me, “Don’t give advice, just tell your story.” So as we head toward winter and the plethora of outdoor recreational activities associated with cold smoke, I can’t help but give in to the urge to tell all women under 30: Do not learn skiing or snowboa Read more >>
For years I sat in humble awe on the chairlift, content to be carried to the tops of runs. Content to sip coffee and eat overpriced french fries in lodges with noisy tourists. At some point, all that chair-gazing awakened me to the perfect paradise just over the boundary ropes. Read more >>Nordic
One winter morning, after spending the night at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge in the middle of Yellowstone, I woke early for a short solo ski tour. The boardwalks around the Upper Geyser Basin were still covered in a thin layer of snow. No one was around. Read more >>
Imagine flying through Yellowstone just inches about the ground. You zoom past lodgepole pines and along rivers not yet full with spring flows. Elk watch from the ecotones and ermine leap out of your way. Rolling meadows are covered in a smooth, sexy blanket that reflects the sun like diamonds. Read more >>
Looking for a new venue for your favorite winter activity? Just head over the hill. Doesn’t matter what blows your hair back—once the snow comes down, you can find it in Paradise Valley. Read more >>Backcountry
It was the loudest thing in my world at that moment. Soft brushing sounds resonated like long strokes on stiff canvas. The sound intensified as I opened my eyes and slid from shadow to light. Read more >>
With soaring peaks that remain snow-capped much of the year, the Crazy Mountains have drawn me like a moth to flame since I arrived in southwest Montana six years ago. So when my friend Bob said he’d like to do a ski trip in the Crazies, I jumped on board. Read more >>
Super Bowl Sunday of 2011 was an unpredicted snow day, and I woke up to a ringing cell phone. It was a close friend looking for a ski partner. Before fully awakening, I’d left the house and was heading toward the northern Bridgers. Read more >>
Snow fell late in the season last year. So in spite of the nearing arrival of spring with pleasant dreams of sunshine and warm rock, there were untouched fields of snow demanding attention. Read more >>Ski Mountaineering
On a Friday morning in early February, 1971, George Claggett called up from Bozeman, just over the hill from where I lived in Ennis, to inform me that we were getting too fat from sitting behind our desks all winter and it was time to go on a trip. Read more >>
With its blocky shape, truncated summit, and unique color, Sphinx Mountain has drawn more people climbers to its summit than any other major peak in the Madison Range. Read more >>
Three turns. That’s all we need. That’s the unwritten code of the early-season gully skier. To be honest, it’s not really much of a code—more of a goal. Read more >>
Since the first version was published in 1960, Freedom of the Hills (Mountaineers Books, $38) has been the most comprehensive reference for those traveling into the mountains. Read more >>
Backcountry Guide
New for the '11-'12 season, the Bozeman and Big Sky Backcountry Ski guide covers 25 routes in six local ranges. Click here to check it out.
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