Bridger Bowl on The Bozeman Daily Bee

Why The Five-Dollar Ski Parking Fee Is A Moral Outrage

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 01:41:05 +0000

I checked my bank account this morning and saw a notification for a five-dollar parking fee at the hill. It feels like we are losing the soul of the valley, one handful of change at a time. I’ve skied here for six seasons, and I’ve never had to pay for the privilege of accessing public snow.

Some people say that five dollars is just the price of a fancy coffee. That’s a false equivalency. A coffee is a beverage that lasts twenty minutes, while a parking spot is a foundational right of a local. If I have to spend five dollars every time I head up for first chair, I’m looking at an extra three hundred dollars a season. That is money that could be going toward my lift ticket, my gas, or the occasional après-ski burrito.

Dwayne "D.J." Kestrel, 62

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:29:30 +0000

Dwayne “D.J.” Kestrel died peacefully at home on August 3 after a brief illness, surrounded by the stack of trail maps he never threw away. He was 62.

D.J. arrived in Bozeman in 1998 with a Subaru wagon held together by duct tape and a season pass to Bridger Bowl, intending to stay one winter. Twenty-eight years later he was still here, driving a county plow truck on North 19th and knowing exactly which corners ice over first.

Bridger Bowl summer scenic lift rides offer gravity assisted hiking

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 19:03:08 +0000

Bridger Bowl opened its summer scenic chairlift operations last weekend, allowing hikers to ride Sunnyside up and walk down the same runs they skin up in January. The resort calls it “gravity-assisted elevation management.” Locals call it Tuesday.

The lift runs Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., $25 round trip or $15 for pass holders who already paid for winter. Dogs ride free if they fit on your lap. The waiver now includes a clause about “voluntary descent via alpine terrain.”

Bridger Bowl summer lift passes outsell winter passes

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 19:04:11 +0000

Bridger Bowl sold more summer scenic lift passes than winter ski passes for the first time in resort history this July, according to numbers released Tuesday. The Saddle Peak lift carried 12,400 uphill hikers last month compared to 9,800 skiers in January.

“I drive up from Belgrade at 4:30 a.m. to beat the crowds,” said Dale Hemmert, 34, who works nights at a distribution center and hikes the Ridge Trail three times a week. “The lift saves me two thousand feet of climbing. That’s two more beers I can have at the end.”