Skiing Bridger Bowl : The North Bowl.gif)
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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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