Skiing Bridger Bowl : The North Bowl

The North Bowl at Bridger Bowl Ski Area

As mentioned on the previous page, Bridger Bowl ski area is essentially two massive bowls (North and South) that merge into a flat part on the bottom of the mountain. You access these two bowls by using the quad chairlift that begins at the base area and drops you off at the top of the “flat part” of the mountain. On this page, skiing the North Bowl at Bridger Bowl ski area is covered.

Cick to See North Bowl Map

Skiing the North Bowl at Bridger Bowl

The North Bowl at Bridger Bowl is really two bowls, not just one. The “main bowl” is the huge bowl you see right at the top of the Powder Park chairlift. The lift served portion of the main North Bowl primarily has a mix of open terrain and gladed skiing – with a few small chutes thrown in for variety.

The top of the lift served portion of the North Bowl is quite steep and flattens out to a more intermediate grade as you near the bottom of the bowl. By and large, almost all ski trails in the North Bowl at Bridger Bowl ski area are rated for expert skiers. None of the trails – except for one cat trail (North Bowl Road) - are groomed. The lack of grooming combined with the steepness of the ski trails limits intermediate skiing possibilities – but makes for wonderful expert skiing. There are also absolutely no ski trails for beginners in the North Bowl, either.

Access to the North Bowl is gained by using the Bridger double chair. This chairlift is steep – gaining more than 1300 vertical feet over the course of its short 4000 foot length. From the top of this lift, you want to follow a cat trail that cuts under the lift. And from there, where you go really depends on you – as a massive bowl of open terrain of varying degrees of steepness await. If you like to ski bumps on open terrain, you must absolute, positively make a trip into the North Bowl. You won’t be disappointed by the terrain!

Skiing Down the North Bowl

Another option when skiing off the Bridger chair lift is to ski right under the chairlift itself. When you ski under the chair, you are essentially skiing down the ridge that separates the North Bowl from the South Bowl. When skiing under the chair, the terrain first starts out very steep – giving way to some intermediate gradients about half way down. The two ski trails you use, Bronco and Deer Park Face, are not intermediate ski trails at first. These trails are also generally full of very large bumps.

Happily, there is a second, minor bowl that is just to the North of the main North Bowl – if that makes any sense. This minor bowl, unlike the main one, is IDEAL for beginner and intermediate skiers. In fact, this bowl has the best skiing for beginners on the entire mountain. The beginner runs back in this minor bowl are long, have a great variety of terrain and aren’t so horribly flat that you always have to pole to go somewhere.

This minor bowl is served by the Alpine double chair, which can be accessed by heading off to the right from the top of the Powder Park Quad lift (the lift that takes you up and over the flat part of the lower mountain). The vertical on this lift is 920 feet – all of it true.

When riding this lift, don’t be too intimidated by the look of the terrain. All of the beginner and intermediate ski trails are off to the right of the lift and can’t really be seen form the lift itself.

Bumps in the North Bowl at Bridger Bowl

Intermediate skiers also will find some great terrain off the Alpine Lift. Even better, this part of Bridger Bowl ski area has some true “intermediate glade runs.” What I mean by this is that the ski area has cut some great, albeit short, glade ski runs on slopes that aren’t horrifyingly steep. And should the trees pose too much of a problem, it is easy enough to swing back on the open trails that parallel the gladed areas. As such, if you are an intermediate skier and want to get a taste of skiing in the trees, this is the place to go.

These intermediate gladed ski trails are called Crazy Woman, Elk Run, Good Clean Fun and Cross Cut and are located on the far north end of the ski area. One word of warning, though, if you ski these gladed ski trails. Once you reach the bottom of the gladed area of these trails you have to make a long, relatively flat cruise back all the way down to the base area on a less than thrilling trail called Timmy’s Road.

Expert skiers will also find some nice terrain back in this minor bowl, although not nearly as great as what is found out in the main North Bowl. At the top of the Alpine Lift, expert skiers can cut to the left. Doing so will provide access to a number of gladed ski trails and a few areas that provide open terrain skiing. These ski trails aren’t very long in relation to other expert ski trails at Bridger Bowl, but are still fun to hit at least once during the day.

Next Page : Skiing the South Bowl

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