My personal ski life began before I could talk—on the back of my father, cross-country skiing through the wilderness of Montana. Both of my parents had fat orange cross-country skis that were well used in the Montana backcountry during the first few years of my life, and beyond. When I was about seven and my brother was five we both got cross-country skis for Christmas. We spent endless hours on the hill in our front yard making turns, side stepping up, and making more turns. Even then I was more interested in going down hill than cross country on my skis. It took until I was sixteen to meet a friend excited enough about downhill skiing to volunteer to teach me. Her home mountain was Lost Trail (over an hour from her home in Stevensville, MT). The night before our trek to LT she took me to the home of some friends and fellow schoolmates – the Bergoust’s – to find some skis and boots that would fit me and keep my lift ticket as my only expense (I’m pretty sure it was $20 or less). At the Bergoust’s, I saw a trampoline; I was told that the boys often used it to practice their ski flips and tricks. Their practice paid off; in 1998 Eric Bergoust won a gold medal in Aerials. He went on to compete in aerials at the next three successive Winter Olympics. Eric is one of eleven people known to have performed a quadruple flip on snow. I’m not totally certain, but I very well may have skied my first downhill experience on the skis of a future gold medalist!

Future downhill adventures included youth group trips to various Montana and Idaho ski hills. I thought I was pretty cool making my snowplow turns and snow spraying stops, most of the kids I skied with were on the ground nearly as much us they were upright. I learned quickly the next season at Snowbowl with a couple of guy friends that I was not nearly as good as I thought I was, and it was my turn to hold up the group. I took a couple years off from this ski life before I moved to Bozeman at the age of 19. It seemed everyone I met at MSU had come to Bozeman to ski. I didn’t get it for about a year, until I got on the slopes of Bridger Bowl with two sticks under my feet instead of one (my snowboarding days were very short lived).

The first pair of downhill skis that I could call my own were purchased for $5 at the Bozeman Salvation Army. For their day they were a great pair of short skinny skis with decent bindings. I began receiving my degree from the University of Bridger Bowl the winter of 1998, I’m not sure if you ever actually graduate from UBB, or if it is a lifelong degree program. There were many yard sales (ski falls that result in the loss of gear including; but not limited to skis, poles, and goggles), and many trips down the hill with minimal visibility through foggy goggles due to face plants. Even with all the time spent face down in the snow I had a blast, and never wanted to stay home when powder was to be had.

My first pair of shape skis were 195’s, and I am 5’ 4”. This is much too long a ski for a petite snowbunny, but it didn’t stop me from gliding down the trails on huge powder days. There were more falls, but not quite as many. The first time I rode my appropriately sized Atomic fat skis from the top of North Bowl to the bottom without missing a beat I knew my ski life would never be the same. That same season I rode up the Tram with a bunch of guys that were much better and more experienced skiers than I, and I remember when we made it down Liberty Bowl one of them said “wow, she can really ski!” Delighted I continued down the mountain.

In 2004 I took my ski life to Moonlight Basin and helped park cars on the weekends. This job started early in the morning and ended at 1pm, leaving me three good hours of skiing per day. I notched 75 ski days that season between a mid-week Bridger pass and a full Moonlight pass, my best season for sure. I even saw a moose on a run at Big Sky from the chairlift – that was fantastic!

In 2005-2006 I skied November through March while pregnant with my first child. My husband and I taught her to ski when she was two. One afternoon she refused to ski to the bottom after crashing under the Powder Park lift at Bridger. I carried her with her skis on (while skiing, and pregnant with her brother) to the Jim Bridger lodge. She told me at the bottom that I deserved a Gold Medal. In 2012 I skied at Big Sky two months after having my third baby, this would be the last time I would ski with my dad before he passed away, and I am so thankful for it.

This season my entire family of five has passes to Bridger Bowl. My seven year old will be ripping down Holy Gully as many times as she can get her dad and I to ski it with her, our four year old will be taking his first turns and lessons, and we’re not too sure about the baby who turns two at the end of January, but we got her a preschool pass just in case.

It’s never too early or too late to start your ski life – and I dare say there’s nowhere better to do it than Bozeman, Montana.

Angie Ripple is the publisher of Bozeman Magazine, she plans to ski her pass off this season in between selling advertising for the magazine and all the other tasks involved in making it happen each month. She can be reached at angie@bozemanmagazine.com

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