Just Plain Chips

Today Sean and I went up to Bridger in the afternoon. We figured it would be time better spent than time spent at work.
If you would like to know where we skied and what we did you can refer to the Bridger Bowl trail map here.

We got up and got on the #6 lift, Powder Park at about 12:30. We skied to the right and over to the lift #2, Alpine. We headed to the left and went down the little bowl right under the chair at #44. Then we headed through the forest crossing #41 and #40. Of course right before we get to the open I hit a stump that is hidden under barely any snow and I crash pretty quickly. No harm done. Back on the skis and over to life #1, the Bridger Lift.

I know what you’re thinking. There’s nothing but black diamonds and double black diamonds! Where would you go down! So we didn’t go down. We went up. One of the special and unique features of Bridger Bowl is the Ridge. You can ski off of nearly the entire ridge line of the mountains above Bridger Bowl ski resort. The only problem is that it is not lift accessible, you have to hike it. You are only allowed up to the ridge if you have a Avalanche Transceiver and you have at least one other person that you’re skiing with.

From the top of the Bridger Chair Lift you basically hike straight up the mountain. This is picture I took a few winters ago looking up the hike, from about halfway up the hike. The lift line you see is a pommel life and is for ski patrol only. They need to be able to get up to the Ridge quickly incase anyone is in need of help. Having the hike itself is a deterrent to skiers who are not advanced enough to handle the terrain and the danger.

Once you reach the top you are at the top of the Bridger Mountian range. I always felt that they should have a welcoming committee with huge banners that say “Welcome to the Ridge” and serving hot cocoa. But that’s probably just me, since I’m not super hardcore like some of the people who do it and I feel like it’s a huge accomplishment when I make it.

Here is a picture (from a few winters ago, again) looking out across the Ridge. The little dots along the crest are people, and the first one happens to be my brother Brian. Sean and I hiked halfway up the slope to that hightest point and then traversed along the face past (if you refer to the Bridger Ski map) Bridger Gully and the Apron. We didn’t actually go too far past the Apron, but pretty much right to the Northern Boundry. This area is called the Northwest Passage.

There is a fairly large chute that you ski out of first and then you get to a wide open and huge field of powder. After that you ski through some nicely spaced out trees and after that you are above the Alpine ski lift again and you just ski into the normal ski area.

Here are a few pictures that Sean took of me coming down. The powder was probably shin to knee deep and pretty light and fluffy. One bad thing was that my goggles were pretty fogged up for most of this, so I couldn’t see all that well. Luckily the ski down is pretty easy, the traverse was the hard part, and I had my goggles up for that.

The first two are shots coming out of the large chute, and then the third is a shot of me coming down the big powder field. I really have to thank Sean for bringing the camera and whipping it out to take a few shots. The snow was really coming down hard, which is why everything is so white.

The night of Christmas Day we hung out at Brian’s apartment and opened presents. I was very embarrassed because none of my presents were wrapped for anyone, and I didn’t even have my dad’s present in the state (of California). Luckily, my family loves me and none of that really mattered. We ate a snacky dinner of nuts, cheese, and crackers and hung out for a while before Brian took our parents back to the hotel.

The day after Christmas was much like the rest of the days. Didn’t do a whole lot. I had mentioned that we watched and I eventually bought Napolean Dynamite. We all watched that and then my parents went home. When he got back, Brian and I watched I, Robot. After first seeing the previews and having read Isaac Asimov’s book I was appalled at the way they had butchered the story (though now I am appalled to see that they are selling the book with Will Smith’s picture on it). Then I read somewhere that the writer had written this screenplay with no connection to Asimov and only later they put in references to a few of Asimov’s characters and the Three Laws. So that made me feel a little better and my interest grew back to normal levels.

Thankfully it did not grow too much as I didn’t need to be appalled at the gall to have Asimov’s name associated with it, it just wasn’t a very good movie. Brian and I had many laughs at plot holes, coincidences, and the like. It’s fun to watch bad movies with Brian. With his film school training and my cynicism, we can keep ripping the movie apart for nearly the whole time, it makes bad movies way more entertaining. (Like Jackie Chan flicks, right Steve?) Anyway, it had a little bit of good action, some of the effects were neat, and they had a couple of clever ideas about the future, but it was all in all what I expected, not very good.

The next day Brian and I took our parents to the airport and they left for Chicago. That day wasn’t spent doing too much. The next day was just as lazy. Later in the evening we went to see House of Flying Daggers. The cineplex we saw it at was huge, I think it had over 20 screens and the “director’s” theaters included leather seats and ginormous screens. We saw it in a normal theater, but still had to pay $11 a ticket. I ended up really enjoying the movie, Brian, not so much. I think he might have had his hopes too high, though I was pretty excited about it myself. I can’t say it is as good as Crouching Tiger or Hero, but I still liked it a lot. There were so many of the same elements in the story from the other two, that made some things a little repetitive. One thing that I really enjoyed was the sound design. One of the characters was blind and thus was able to do all of her crazy moves just by detecting sounds around her. The feel and mood of those scenes was brought across excellently, I thought.