Bozemanmountain town

If you’d rather avoid the well-heeled crowd of out-of-towners at Big Sky, the non-profit, locally owned Bridger Bowl is a pretty great alternative. Lift tickets are considerably cheaper, but the powder is the same. On the weekends, the resort even runs a free shuttle bus from a handful of locations around town. Daily mountain tours at 10 a.m. are a good way to familiarize yourself with the terrain. Serious powderhounds will love this hill. There’s a definite family vibe on the mountain’s lower half, but the highest reaches of Bridger’s terrain, known as the Ridge, are open to expert skiers only and require avalanche transceivers. Be sure to pause for a beer or a bite at the mid-mountain Deer Park Chalet, where the valley views from the slope-side deck are as dramatic as the runs.