Read skier and snowboarder-submitted reviews on Montana Snowbowl that rank the ski resort and mountain town on a scale of one to five stars for attributes such as terrain, nightlife and family friendliness. See how Montana Snowbowl stacks up in the reviews, on and off the slopes, from skiing and family activities to the après scene. Read up on pros, cons and other comments in reviews left by fellow skiers and riders. Don't forget to submit your own Montana Snowbowl review! Scroll to the bottom of this page to let other travelers know about your skiing and resort experience.
Reviews for Montana Snowbowl
Total (2.4)
A ski resort's overall star rating displayed here is not calculated based on a simple average but takes several factors, including the age of a review, into account.
Montana Snowbowl is an excellent example of the small ski area and burns bright in the hearts of many locals. The bar is one of the best. On the right day (pow and no crowd) it can be the greatest place on earth. Perfect for maintaining iron legs. It’s detractions are a dominance of steep terrain, poor grooming and a local city of students, trust funders and seasonal workers who can show up for first chair on powder days. This area needs a sugar daddy to buy a parking structure, a transportation system, a carpet to the lift, a beginner area, acres of glading and a bunch of groomers. More importantly, a well paid staff to run it all. The current owners have made improvements but the needs seem beyond them.
Michael
I learned to ski here. It’s hard on a new skier, but if you make it through you ski for life. This is home to me so I love it. My daughter learned here. Just come, have a relaxed mom and pop Montana ski hill attitude and you’ll love it.
Brandon
The road up is not as bad as people will lead you to believe. Just go a little slower and pull over to let people pass if you need to, no biggie.
When this mountain gets snow, oh man is it good. I've had several days where I should have brought a snorkel. I cry myself to sleep nightly at the thought of all the amazing pow-plastered selfies I could have had if I had only grown my beard sooner. The tree skiing and "freestyle" terrain you can get into up here is pretty intense.
The problem is that this mountain does not always have the snow. If it's been a while since the last storm rock skis are going to be a must. The summit is generally better than the base, like every mountain on earth, but even the bottom of the top lift turns into gravel pretty quickly.
The bowl run-out is also lacking, as it is a steep ravine. I'm in pretty decent shape and have been skiing most of my life, but I dread coming out of the bottom of the bowls.
This mountain is not for you if you are not a confident skier or are a beginner. While there are easier runs, you will get much better value out of a mountain like Discovery or Blacktail.
The bar at the bottom makes some of the best pizza I've ever had in my life, and even if you don't ski (or mountain bike in the summer) I recommend you come and enjoy the food if nothing else.
Overall this is one of my favorite mountains just because it has this charm to it, and also those pow face-shots I missed out on.
lisabee
Love this place!
Owen
All around a really good mountain, will be five stars when the finally open up the new lift and runs. There's a tiny terrain park at the bottom of sunrise but if you want to hit jumps you're going to have to find your own (which there are plenty of).
pamrick
Love the Bowl...
accounting
Love da Bowl!
dudetotallybro
Still love Montana Snowbowl.
hannmen
it would be great if the lifts turned faster and didn't break down on a regular basis
Th terrain I hard to beat though.
Potterjons
Disclaimer: Skiers may love this mountain far more than snowboarders. This is an excellent mountain with some serious problems of execution. When visiting snowbowl I would always be suspicious of their snow report. If you are a park person, I'm sorry, the website will continue to tell you there is a park when in fact the park is seemingly always closed. Even if you call and ask if it's open, and they say yes, you will get there to find it closed. Couldn't tell you why.
Similarly, I have often found that they are only running one lift, with no good explanation why. The only place I've ever seen shut down a lift for wind in 15 mph winds. On a mountain.
For snowboarders: you are required to have a leash on your board. They won't tell you that until you get to the front of the - often long - lift line. You know, in case your foot completely disengages from your leg, which happens all the time. Nevermind all those ski ejections - those pose no real threat.
Now, on the plus side, the mountain itself is great. Great terrain, very easily accessed by well placed (if a little slow) lifts. Nice long runs, AMAZING sustained steeps and trees galore. When it gets the snow it's a blast.
It's just my experience there has always been lacking. The staff are almost uniformly rude, as if it was part of their training. The drive up is truly a nightmare, at the end of which you find yourself parking on the side of the road 1/2 a mile from the lodge. Driving down is even worse.
To sum up, the fantastic terrain of this mountain manages to negate a seemingly endless list of reasons NOT to go to snowbowl.
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