Thursday, October 29, 2009

Early Season Night Skiing Bridger Bowl




Last night Oct. 28th, Steve Jay, Zach Jay and I decided to take advantage of the two feet of new snow that fell in the Bridger Mountains the day before. Just like every early season adventure everyone had to take a little extra time to gather gear which had been in hibernation for a couple of months. We finally loaded all the skis, boots, packs and some celebratory beers into Steve's Jeep and left Bozeman around 7:30pm. Arriving at Bridger Bowl we were impressed on the coverage the base had, they have really been gettin' with the snow making up there. We quickly geared up, slapped on our skins and started the climb up the hill. The moon was in its waxing stage glowing a bright three quarters making the fresh snow illuminate the entire mountain range. Reaching our half way point we stopped into one of the Alpine Smoke Huts to discuss safety and to enjoy a frosty beverage. After resting for about 15min we continued on, breaking trail up slope to the bottom of the Apron, stopping from time to time as we continued up to take in the beauty of the glowing landscape and crystal clear sky's. Reaching the top, we clicked out and de-skinned stoked to ski the couple feet of PowPow. I went First, to set up my camera to get some night skiing shots, the snow was sort of wind buffed in spots with some weird layers already existing that will more than likely propagate some small slides in a couple months. I set up, got my exposure and signaled for Steve to "Rip It". Skiing straight towards me, he slashed a big turn right in front of the camera. Perfect! Zach went next making beautiful powder turns following Steve's route, click..Flash... Dang! I just missed him. Night Shooting is Definitely an art that I have yet still to Conquer. After one more half lap we headed back to the car stopping in at the hut once more to enjoy our time out and of course another brew. Great Early Turns!....Come on Ullr! give us some more white stuff!
-Steve