Bridger is finally good!

Aenigma

Active member
So after enduring a few months of pain and suffering, we have finally gotten the first powder day of the year! Here's a few shots I got today if you can't believe it:

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The northwest had it good early this year, maybe now it's montana's turn?
 
There was a powder day earlier in the year too...but today was definitely the best snow yet.
 
course i left for the first powder day of the season and skied targhee today. and it was pretty damn good. tons of snow, blue bird, no wind and about 20. also no lines whatsoever.
 
Today we did some huckin'.

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If any of you guys have AT gear and want to go do some backcountry later this week let me know! If it snows a lot you may even persuade me to ski in bounds...
 
Bridger was pretty good today, except they didn't open up the ridge until like 2:15. the snow is pretty heavy and there is like a 2 inch crust thats on the surface of most of it, but if you search hard enough you can find some good stuff, plus its good snow for hucking cliffs. I can't imagine what avalanche conditions are going to be like with another snowfall on some of that, such a weak layer. other than that, it was just super busy day, the whole parking lot was full by 10:30 in the morning.
 
You don't have to imagine the avalanche conditons, just look at Saddle or Slushman's for a good report. I think that 600 foot wide slides with 5 foot crowns would be an indication that the snow wants to slide. However, the skiing was really good today, it's just too bad I have a tweaked knee so I can't jump anything.
 
I skied by there this afternoon and common sense told me it would be awful so I didn't ski it. We skied the Virtues and those held fine with only a little sluff coming down, but I can definitely see psychopath ripping out since it's just sideslipped ice and dirt right now.
 
oh and just a fyi, snow on sunday night and monday morning, sounds like up to 10 inches in the mountains around bozeman. did any of you guys see the crown line up in the fingers area today? It was super deep, probably over 5 feet deep, the debris ended up way down in the south bowl.
 
I saw a crown over on the lower south end of D-Route, but I didn't think the fingers slid. That would be really weird for those to go. I think they had south bowl and high t closed because of the sun exposure--or at least that's why the ridge was closed most of the day.
 
I went up to the debris pile on Slushman's today and, in short, some trees got pwned! The gully is filled from where the steep part ends all the way past where you can see from the backcountry gate, it's insane. There are spots where the ground got completely stripped of snow and trees. I didn't see the Saddle one up close, but that looked even more brutal. The terrain trap over there isn't quite as bad, but that slide was so huge it just destroyed everything in its path. So basically we're fucked for backcountry skiing until it all turns to corn now.
 
I didn't take any pictures, but here's some links to lovely information on our snow(not)pack.

http://www.mtavalanche.com/photos/photos.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V56DpdEJOns
 
i was up there this afternoon, it was pretty tracked out in most spots, however i did have some great runs. Definitly over 6 inches, probably more like 10 to 12. Lets hope it keeps snowing!!!!!
 
I was one of the first people out to the north boundary when they opened up the ridge today, it was awesome. I got first tracks down 1st virtue, so obviously I straightlined it. The snow was not very stable though; when I was cutting the traverse out the first gate I triggered a small slide right above an extremely sketchy 50-60' cliff which was a little scary. NW passage was good in the 20% of it that wasn't covered in debris with plenty of knee to thigh deep snow. If anybody wants to hike tomorrow just look for the guy in all black with riveted Legend Pros.
 
i am down for a hike tomorrow. My buddy George and I are headed up after class at about 11-11:30ish. Probably will be at Bridger lift by noon. Anyways, I am not going to make plans but if i see you lets go hiking. I will be on the black gotamas, and all black ski apparel. So i take it, it was pretty good today huh? yesterday was stellar, but i didn't get up on the ridge, due to lack of a partner.
 
I finally decided the backcountry was semi-safe today, so we went out and brought on the G-nar. I skied the ridge on the north end of Saddle (which was knee-thigh deep the whole way down) and a couloir on the north side of Slushman's with a 3 foot wide entrace. If you get up there soon you can see our two turns coming down that one. Snow stablility was great, we found a weak layer about 3' down on slushman's but nothing to really worry about. And D-route is open now so that was insane.
 
^you gunna be up any time next week? I will be skiing everyday but wednesday, so if you got anytime let me know. I would like to go get some fresh turns, since bridger is pretty damn skied out right now.
 
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