WOOT WOOT! Nukin' in Missoula

[Danno]

My daughter is a pretty good skier, she's not quite at double black level but she can handle most blacks and all blues, I think she'll do fine if we take the plunge.

[RootSkier]

The other negative is Snowbowl -- we've skied as a family at almost every hill in Montana, Idaho, Washington, and British Columbia, and I can't think of a worse place to take your kids to ski than Snowbowl. Sure -- a new chair is planned which will have intermediate terrain (though no promise it will ever be groomed) -- and of all the used chairs in the world Snowbowl could have got, they got a fucking Riblet. Ever loaded a four year old on a Riblet? It will scare the shit out of you, even if Snowbowl's chairs don't break down as much as they used to.

100% true and yet my kid, who turned 5 last December and rode the lifts at Snowbowl for the first time immediately before his birthday, absolutely refused to go anywhere else by the end of the season. He claims correctly that the drive to Disco "sucks" and even if the snow sucks at the Bowl, he is always down for hot chocolate and pizza at the Last Run Inn.

Apparently I now have to get him one of the Snowbowl Low Life stickers.

[stan51]

There you have the range of opinions on Snowbowl in a nutshell ; "the most underrated ski area in the country", or "it sucks"!

I am a fan of the place myself, but I agree that it is not kind to beginners and lower intermediates.

I have limited knowledge of the Missoula school system, but I have volunteered in the high schools and from what I can see the quality of the teaching is good, although the physical facilities are not uniformly top notch.

All in all, this is a great place to live, though. I moved here four years ago from suburban Philadelphia and have not regretted it a bit.

[RootSkier]

There you have the range of opinions on Snowbowl in a nutshell ; "the most underrated ski area in the country", or "it sucks"!

These are not mutually exclusive. Those who love Snowbowl the most also bitch the most. And there are legitimate and defensible reasons for thinking both on any given day.

[CountryFunk]

These are not mutually exclusive. Those who love Snowbowl the most also bitch the most. And there are legitimate and defensible reasons for thinking both on any given day.

I accept your apology.

[senior researcher]

Now it is on fire! It sucks here, real bad.

[senior researcher]

Year round air quality - Particulate 11th worse,in the U.S, above Detroit. Short term particulate 5th,above 11th, L.A.

[senior researcher]

7th.

[stuckathuntermtn]

The wind is mostly blowing the smoke from the small fire away from town. Finally smelled it late last night.
Snowbowl can be really good when it snows a lot. As a business, they suck.

[RootSkier]

I accept your apology.

I give you grief because you were right and still hold the title for best rant in this thread.

[RootSkier]

It sucks here, real bad.

Especially when you get banned from Snowbowl.

[stan51]

As a business, SB has been somewhat screwed by either or all of USFS, Missoula County or MTDOT... They are entirely responsible for building and maintaining their 12 mile access road, something no other ski area that I know of has to do. While I have no inside scoop on their actual finances, that has to be a huge money drain on the owners.

[stuckathuntermtn]

They are paid to maintain the road. It's a county road.
That's the impression/information I got.

[Rasputin]

As a business, SB has been somewhat screwed by either or all of USFS, Missoula County or MTDOT... They are entirely responsible for building and maintaining their 12 mile access road, something no other ski area that I know of has to do. While I have no inside scoop on their actual finances, that has to be a huge money drain on the owners.

Snowbowl Road is, in fact, six miles from Grant Creek to The Bowl. They do not maintain the County portion of the road (Grant Creek Road to the horseshoe turn). They do pay to maintain the USFS portion of the road (about five and a half miles). Maintaining the road is the largest portion of their operating overhead. In order to gain USFS approval for the chairlifts in their development plan, they widened and straightened the road (which used to look like a glorified goat path) to a minimum of twenty two feet wide ( I can't recall how many million that cost), and put in 3 million dollars worth of guard railing.

[Rasputin]

They are paid to maintain the road. It's a county road.
That's the impression/information I got.

Your ignorance is as consistent as your willingness to speak from it.

[stuckathuntermtn]

I was told differently by the hunchback dude. Isn't that Ronnie's husband?

[Harry]

Danno: I lived in Missoula for 25 years. Great town. There is lots about it that I miss. For a reference point, my next door neighbor there grew up in Boulder, his dad was a professor there. When I moved in his kids were in grade school there. Now his grandkids are in the same school, with many of the same teachers. I don't have kids, but in my years there I do not recall hearing people bitch about the education their kids were getting.
Missoula is not the best place place for anything, but it is a great place for almost everything.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[RootSkier]

put in 3 million dollars worth of guard railing.

Not a single piece of which would ever prevent anyone from sliding off the road.

[jamal]

Hey well if you put the guardrails on the outside of corners people would be running into them all the time.

[RootSkier]

Exactly. If someone is gonna be a shitty driver, better that they simply go off the road so as not to block the orderly flow of traffic.

[S_jenks]

Most of the 'accidents' I've seen post road-widening were cars that got 1-2 tires sucked into the snowbank. Most of them were at the U-bend heading on the way down.

In other news, the bowl changed the trail map on their website to include the new 'snow park' chair. Uh huh, I'll believe it when I'm actually riding the chair.

[RootSkier]

Those new run names, jesus.

[S_jenks]

Those new run names, jesus.

Yabba Dabba Doo!

[stuckathuntermtn]

At least they got a real trail map drawn by that James guy. I gotta get that coffee table book of his maps.

[Danno]

So that lift and terrain doesn't actually exist?

Funny how trail maps don't tell the story of a place, nothing about that trail map gives off the impression that y'all have given me about the place.