In order to run this line safely, you need to hit the air with a substantial amount of speed, because the landing zone directly below the cliff is riddled with obstacles and you need to soar over these to safety.

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partial description of an "intermediate" run from the Ridge at Bridger Bowl, taken from Stepping Up

The bear cub was first spotted Wednesday in the northeast neighborhood by Dan Bradner, who saw the cub run into bushes on Lamme Street and Plum Avenue about 10:45 a.m. and notified officials. ... In the early afternoon, tree trimmer David Kern helped stop the cub from trotting across Main Street, where it could have been hit in traffic. ... Meanwhile, people who spot a bear in the city are asked not to call 911. "Sighting [a bear] is not an emergency," [Sam] Sheppard said. "There are bears in Bozeman."
-- excerpted from a September 25, 2003, Bozeman Daily Chronicle news article
(one of over 15 bear sightings within the city limits in Fall, 2003)

On September 29 [1869], the three explorers started for home.... Like earlier Yellowstone visitors ..., the three men were reluctant to tell others what they had seen, not wanting to be branded as liars. When the word got out, they were branded anyway, at least by some. When an account of their journey was submitted to the New York Times and either Scribner's Monthly or Harper's, all publications rejected the manuscript because 'they had a reputation that they could not risk with such unreliable material.'
Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley: A History

When David Bertie Christie left Minnesota in 1883 to come west for his asthma, he was so ill he had to be carried off the train in Miles City. After a three hundred mile wagon trip to Bozeman, he was walking and feeling much better. He worked as a ranch hand in the [Gallatin] valley. His wife Emma Mary's nephew Myron Stratton had already established a homestead in Bridger Canyon and convinced David that the area was a good place to settle. .... the Christies moved into their own cabin, built another home for the senior Christies who came from Minnesota, planted a successful garden, and brought stock from town — chickens, sheep, and dairy cows. David Christie's son Will brought in more dairy cows; his business prospered and formed part of the founding base for the modern Darigold firm.
Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley: A History
(note: we purchased our land from the Christie estate)

The wettest spot in Montana is 12 miles northeast of Bozeman (i.e., approximately at Bridger Bowl Ski Area), with an average annual precipitation of 35.15 inches (much is in the annual 300-400 inches of snow). This spot is approximately 8 miles north of Bridger Canyon Lodge. [Note, the average annual precipitation for Seattle is 38.27 inches.]

During the climbing season, there is an Emergency Room at 17,600' on Mount Everest staffed by a doctor from Bozeman, MT.

In the Bozone, it's a primo bio-region.
In the Bozone, full of carnivores and vegans.
In the Bozone, it's the yuppie Foreign Legion.
Yes, the smog'll never reach 'em in the Bozone.
— Enquiring Minds by Greg Keeler

"I might be movin’ to Montana soon
Just to raise me up a crop of
... Dental Floss."
- Frank Zappa, Montana
Learn more about zircon encrusted tweezers

The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative hopes to create "An interconnected system of wild lands and waters stretching from Yellowstone to Yukon, harmonizing the needs of people with those of nature." The Bridger Mountain Range figures prominently in making that happen, and detailed studies show a local corridor running through our property.

"In downtown Bozeman, Mont., the flashing blue light set atop the old Bozeman Hotel has long been a beacon for alpine skiers."
— Christian Science Monitor
Actually, it's the Hotel Baxter and it is no longer a hotel. The sign violates city law, but has been given a variance: "pursuant to Title 18, Chapter 52, Section 160 of the Bozeman Municipal Code the Baxter Hotel's 'Hotel Baxter' roof sign, including the blue light ... having historical significance ... may lawfully not conform to the provisions of the Bozeman Municipal Code."
Only one other beloved sign has been granted such an exception.

Images of the Old West draw people to an area once filled with miners, farmers, ranchers, loggers and other agricultural workers. Often newcomers are much more romantic about the West than the old-timers and have false hopes about bringing their urban lifestyles into the great outdoors. They come with false expectations. They believe they can fax and e-mail from the mountain top. In the New West, the information superhighway is often a dirt road.
from the Gallatin County Web Site

West Thumb Geyser Basin: Located on Yellowstone Lake's shore, this small thermal area holds lake shore geysers, hot springs, and bubbling paint pots. Fishing Cone is one of many lake shore geysers submerged here until the lake's water level drops in late summer. Fishing Cone gets its name from the fact that fishermen used to catch trout from the lake and then promptly drop them into its boiling waters to cook.
— from the Yellowstone Park Web Site Site

Jim Bridger's Tall Tales
The other two authentic Bridger stories referring to the Yellowstone region are those concerning the stream-heated-by-friction and Hell-close-below. The former was recorded by Raynolds, while we are indebted to Ware for the latter. Several other tall tales concerned with the use of an echo as an alarm clock, the convenient suspension of gravity, and the shrinking ability of certain waters, have no traceable antecedents in fur trade days, and probably are of more recent origin.
from the National Park Service Links to the Past Site

The wise hunter chooses a companion with a weak mind and a strong back.
- advice to elk hunters

Signs of Bear Activity
One evidence of ... bear activity is evidence of digging for roots, bulbs, corms, tubers, or small mammals. ... If you see diggings, try to estimate how old they are. Remove the soil that the bear in digging has thrown on top of nearby plants and grasses. Is the vegetation that you have uncovered still as fresh looking as nearby vegetation that was not covered? If so, you ought to be looking over your shoulder....
from Bear Attacks - Their Causes and Avoidance

Seasons in the Northern Rockies
Almost Winter
Winter
Still Winter
Construction

The Montana Yogo Sapphire is the only North American gem included in the Crown Jewels of England.

Bozeman: a nice drinking town with a serious skiing problem.
— sign at Bridger Bowl

Leading candidate for Montana State Insect:
# 12 Joe's Hopper

Think twice if you see an untracked field of powder; this may be a strong indication that something not so friendly is waiting below you.

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Tips for skiing the Ridge at Bridger Bowl, taken from Stepping Up

There are two types of precipitation in Montana:
• too little
• too much

"Deconstruction signifies a project of critical thought whose task is to locate and 'take apart'.... 'Deconstruction' is somewhat less negative than the Heideggerian or Nietzschean terms 'destruction' or 'reversal'; it suggests that certain foundational concepts of metaphysics will never be entirely eliminated...."
(Introduction by Allison, in Speech and Phenomena, Jaques Derrida, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1973, p xxxii, n 1)

Mountain Lions: If ... the lion does not run, stay calm, stand tall, do not run; talk to the lion in a confident manner, pick up any small children off the ground to lessen any chance of rapid movement that might provoke an attack from the lion. Try to keep your dog under control so as not to antagonize the lion. If attacked, fight back with everything and anything: sticks, stones, etc. It's a good idea to carry a bottle of pepper spray with you on hikes or around your property at night to fend off any and all such dangerous encounters....
Bridger Canyon Property Owner's Association
January, 2006 Newsletter

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If you see a mountain lion, don't worry – you won't see the one that kills you.
Gary's words of wisdom.

Seasoned Red Fir. Two year old Cord Wood. $5.50 per cord. Stove length $6.50. Poles $5. Prompt Delivery. Phone# 4

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For Sale Ad by Will Sparr, in the 1909 Bozeman Avant Courier
4 was the phone number of the lumber yard; the order was conveyed to Will Sparr in Bridger Canyon, which did not have phone service. The Sparr homestead is across the highway from us, next to the Christie farm.

In spite of obstacles such as muddy roads, many [Bridger] Canyonites managed to travel beyond the boundaries of Gallatin County. Bessie Stratton Turner recalls leaving Bridger Canyon on June 28, 1913, en route to Yellowstone National Park. As their party rode up Gallatin Canyon, travelling by spring wagon, top buggy and covered wagon, the men had to cut and move fallen trees which lay in their path. Often they had to dig their way out of mud holes.
from Canyon Cookery by the Bridger Canyon Women's Club

If a crowd of locals gathers to watch you driving on the lake ice, something bad is probably going to happen.
iceshanty.com

First contact with an alien species will occur at 7:43PM MST on April 5th, 2063, near Bozeman, MT.

To this day, the most provocative public symbol in the state of Montana is a set of numbers — 3-7-77 — whose meaning is a complete and utter mystery to everyone living there.
The mysterious numbers 3-7-77, often posted on doors, were used for years as a symbol of banishment in Montana. But contrary to widespread belief, they were never used by the original vigilantes of 1864 who hanged Sheriff Henry Plummer. The numbers actually appeared for the first time in 1879 to warn "undesirables" to leave Helena. Today the numbers appear on the shoulder patch and car door insignia of the Montana Highway Patrol and are meant to convey a benign message of law and order. Montana Vigilantes

The first warp drive (the engine that propels space ships faster than light) will be invented in 2054 near Bozeman, Montana. Work on this has already begun.

Yellowstone Park contains approximately one-half of the worlds hydrothermal features. There are over 10,000 hydrothermal features, including over 300 geysers, in the park.

There were no wolves in Yellowstone Park in 1994. The wolves that were reintroduced in 1995 and 1996 thrived and there are now over 300 of their descendents living in the Greater Yellowstone Area.

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Not long ago, Ed Adams, a civil engineering professor, studied avalanches by setting them off with dynamite and studying their movement as they buried him, his instruments and his colleagues in a tiny shack.
 
— from NYTimes article on avalanche research at Montana State University.

The Bozeman police reports are often more entertaining than the comics.
Check these out.

A disproportionate number of 911 calls emanate from the mysterious
"Bar-muda Triangle" area of Bozeman.
This fabled part of town even merits attention in Frommer's Guide.

In 1920, Mary Icenoggle spent 39 days riding horseback through Bridger Canyon as an enumerator for the U.S. Census. Because there were no facilities in the canyon, families she was interviewing gave her free meals and places to sleep.

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summarized from "Counting Noses On Horseback" in the Pioneer Museum Quarterly, Spring, 2010.

There are no friends on a powder day.
Frequently overheard on the Bridger lift

The Guardian Spirit is a carved and painted wooden whale at about mile marker 12 on Bridger Canyon Road (on the way to Bridger Bowl Ski Area). We have been told that it is bad luck to look directly at the whale on the way up the canyon, and that one should salute the whale on the way down. Failure to follow this procedure is rumored to lead to serious consequences on the ski slopes.

Bear Grease
Render the fat from the bear in the kitchen with the doors open to get rid of the odor. This depending on what the bear has been eating. On one occasion the bear had fed on a dead cow and the odor was really bad. Leave the grease to stand in the warming oven for a long while. Eventually the disagreeable odor will disappear.
— From a recipe submitted by Dagmar Papke to Canyon Cookery

The 1988 (Yellowstone Park) fires affected 793,880 acres or 36 percent of the park. Five fires burned into the park that year from adjacent public lands. The largest, the North Fork Fire, started from a discarded cigarette. It burned more than 410,000 acres.

De gustibus non est disputandum.