Bridger Bowl..Open Letter to Bridger Manager Randy Elliot
By FuMa, New West Unfiltered 4-22-06
This letter addresses several concerns about policy and the inevitable expansion and is an attempt to open discussion in a way that can communicate the wants and needs of the community of skiers as a whole. The format will remain consistent and is as follows per item.
# Subject,
(problem, concern, feedback) with subparts consisting of evidence and examples, and secondly
- practical actions or possible solutions that is being asked for.
1: Rift in Communication between the Board of Directors and the skier community.
(The Bridger association is a dated structure that provides for little feedback )
-rearrange the voting structure to include all pass holders voting rights over specific issues and actions taken by the board. 1 year = 1 vote.
-Meet during the ski season while the skier community is gathered
-Utilize the internet to make a forum of communication and voting that can be done anywhere or anytime.
This would help to prioritize the wants and needs of the skier community.
2: Insufficint lift served terrain.
(Gallatin Valley had quadrupled in size in the last generation but the lift structure has gone rellativley unchanged.)
-Slushmans lift....?Pieere's Knob to Fort Benton lift or poma.
-Open Poma Lift
-West side lift or surface lift.
-Is expanding North the best for skiers? ..most dont think so but somehow that seems to be the priority.
3: Lift Layout issues.
(The Traverse problem from DeerPark lift)
Make a replacement lift for DP extend to the ridge with midway unloading at the existing ramp and road. This would eliminate the lower HO CHI MEN traverse back to bridger chair.
Before new lifts are built, it is imperative that the existing lift structure also be taken into consideration.
4: Boundary Policy:
-Open gates to north south and west from the ridge.
-This is hands down the most cost effective ski area improvment that could take place. Bridger is one of the largest natural ski areas anywhere...Saddle peak to Ross Pass east and west. It should be open from the poma at the top, DP to the top, Fort Benton from PK at the top. Skier compaction improves run quality and saftey. [End of article]
Marcus addresses several issues that are key to the success of Bridger's future expansion.
It is amazing that Bridger is "community owned" and yet most in the community have no idea how to voice their opinion,and when they do they are rarely listened to. The Bridger Bowl web site doesn't even talk about the association or give any info on future meetings or issues that are currently being discussed. It would be great if when you bought a season pass, there was a simple box to check to join the asso. and pay the fee right there and then.
And imagine the number of people that would attend a general meeting if it was held at 4:30 or 5:00 pm on a Saturday in the lodge, DURING the ski season. When people are there and have skiing on their minds.
Here are some facts... the population of the Gallatin Valley in 1980 was 42,865 - in 2005 the population was estimated to be 78,210. It has nearly doubled in just 25 years, with no sign of letting up in the future. Bridger hasn't had a significant terrain expansion since the 70's when Pierre's and Dear Park were built and the ridge was opened in 1973. The recently approved 40 year plan to expand is modest if you consider the number of people that will undoubtedly be coming to the valley in that time.
Leading to the final point, the outdated lift system Bridger is still running. Every major ski area is running high speed lifts except Bridger, the self proclaimed "world class community ski area". We do have "World Class" terrain, but most ski areas have lifts that serve the best skiing spots, not traverses and boot pack trails. The bottom line is that we need more quality, lift served terrain, period.
I think that the PK expansion was late 70's, like 78-79....Still over 25 years!
In any case it is still overlaping terrain considering
people use Brider chair to traverse all the way to Saddle peak to the south and to wolverne Bowl to the North.
Saddle can be skied back to the Deer Park Base where as the Wolverene area can only be skied by the very long yet well cut trail back to the base area. This is a good reason to keep expansion out of the North.
What about PK-fort benton with d-route to be skied south to north? and a short traverse to slushmans and noname...a little hike to saddle? If you really want to hike try comming back from Bostiwick Canyon Behind Saddle or Saint Lawrence Bowl Behind D-Route to the West...Arguabley some of the Best tererain in the whole range..but shhhh...its secret and closed and not accessable safley from the top because the top is in bounds at Brider.
The simplest expansion that Bridger is simply to drop the ropes..This roughly triples or more the skiable terrain from the top of BridgerChair...!
-Marcus