"The Whole Reason For Winter"

Last weekend, as temperatures rose, snow settled and skies broke, Laura and I headed up to Snowbowl.

Properly, the ski area is called Montana Snow Bowl, but over the years it's also been called TV Mountain, SnowPark and Missoula Snow Bowl. Either way, the ski area is about 11 miles from our front door and visible from all over town. On radio and TV commercials we're told Snowbowl is "the whole reason for winter.

Snowbowl is best known for its steeps, accessibility and low lift ticket prices. It's rather infamous for its rickety facilities and southern exposure. (One sticker plastered on a chairlift tower on the Grizzly lift says "Snowbowl: The Whole Reason for P-Tex.")

Montana is filled with funky locals-only hills like Snowbowl. Each have their bonuses, and each have their drawbacks, but all are uniform in that they are cheap. I tried to figure a formula for comparing Montana ski areas against those elsewhere in the country and never decided what were the appropriate factors to use. Nevertheless, you can't argue with the prices. Lookout Pass is $33. Lost Trail is $34. Discovery is $39. And Montana Snowbowl is $39 as well.

In many respects, you get much more than you pay for. In others, you get exactly what you pay for. Swanky on-mountain lodges and high-speeds lifts do not have a home in our part of Montana (and really only are those found in a few places in the Treasure State). Snowbowl's access road is dirt, its chairlifts squeaky and ancient, its parking attendants look slightly crazy, and the lodge could use a good scrubbing. And all those reasons are precisely why it's also so loveable.

Oh, and then there's the skiing.

All this stoke comes from Laura. Enjoy.