The middle of October doesn’t always scream “ski season”, but the past few days have been huge for snow in some parts of western North America. Montana specifically has had a great 48 hours, with many higher altitude areas seeing well over a foot of new snow.
Showdown Mountain, located near Neihart, Montana, has received 19 inches of snow since Sunday. That’s 19 inches on top of no snow base whatsoever, so skiing or snowboarding on it would likely result in some damaged bases, but that didn’t stop a handful of people from getting out there and shredding it up.
It didn’t snow quite as much at Bridger Bowl, located closer to Bozeman, Montana, but it did enough for some to get a lap in.
Skiing or Snowboarding at Closed Resorts
Skiing or snowboarding at a ski area that’s yet to open for the season can be dangerous or outright against the law, depending on where you’re doing it. Neither Bridger Bowl nor Showdown are open, and while neither ban skiing or snowboarding when they’re closed, it’s important to understand that backcountry conditions do exist. No avalanche mitigation has been conducted and there’s no ski patrol on the mountain to assist in case of an emergency, so getting on the mountain is done at your own risk.
Both Showdown and Bridger Bowl anticipate opening on December 11th this year, if conditions allow. Make sure to head to their websites to find out more about the season ahead.
Plenty of snow has since landed across Utah, Colorado, and other parts of the West. While no area is quite ready to open for the winter, we wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more clips of skiers grabbing some turns while the snow is still there.