Bridger's Cold Smoke

I did not quite make first chair on Schlasman's Lift yesterday; however, I did make the third one. It was about 10.00 and I loaded up with Eddie, a Bridger patroller who gave me the rundown on the Ridge as we were going up. It was a blue bird day and I was pretty excited to learn what folks have been raging about with this new lift. The Bridger Ridge has been a favorite bit of terrain for those willing to hike up from the Bridger or Pierre's Knob lifts. This was my second time skiing at Bridger Bowl and I had never skied on the Ridge.Eddie explained to me after I asked why the chairs were spaced so far apart on Schlasman's that there was not much room when getting off the chair at the top, so they spaced them out to allow people to clear. The rules are pretty simple. Have a transceiver. A shovel and partner are highly recommended along with some avalanche awareness. The wind was howling. I spent most of the morning hiking over to the Saddle Peak area (south from the upper lift) and dropped into some nice steep terrain. It did get a bit narrow in a few hiking sections. The snow was just a touch heavy Saturday. There were some pretty serious cliffs at the base of this section which can be clearly seen coming up the new lift. The below shot is off of the back which no one was skiing (including me).I did some runs through the Fingers section as well which became my exit from the Ridge. It took a bit of cautiously poking around but the Finger section resulted in a drop into the South Bowl and then the Pierre lift area. I could not seem to get over the fun of the Saddle area though and stuck primarily with that descent. Being on this ridge reminded me a bit of Europe - you're on you own up there. I'm going to have to read Stepping Up which I noticed is being sold in the Jim Bridger lodge below.

I tinkered in the Mundy's Bowl area as well, which is still in bounds. Bridger has definitely made the hill more fun for skiers who were prior unwilling to hike. The new lift closed at 2.30 and if there is a visibility issue, Schlasman's will probably not be running. Speaking of visibility, today may have been the best snow of the year for this hill.

We went from sunburns and a blue bird day on Saturday, to a full snow dump today. It was pretty funny, the snow report said they got 4 inches. It started snowing at about 4.00 am today and never stopped. The locals were amazed that the morning lift lines were pretty much nada (it was Sunday) and said it was because of the report of four inches. I had to stop at one point to get the cold smoke out of my lungs. The powder was as light as it gets and there was no one up there until after lunch!

I would guess there was almost a couple of feet of new snow. Schlasman's was not open and visibility was low. Guys were hiking up the Fingers section to access the good stuff as the Ridge was open. Another fellow who has patrolled up there for 20 years told me they were going to maybe put in a triple chair next year going to where the Bridger lift ends, replacing the Deer Park and Bridger lifts. I know one thing, I am definitely going to be spending more time at Bridger. Awesome!