MISSOULA — It's almost three-quarters of a century in operation for Montana Snowbowl and the ski area is gearing up for what they hope is a snowy season ahead.
Missoula residents can see the slopes of Snowbowl rising above the valley each day.
“You know, it's so great that we have something so close that you can come up in 20-some minutes and ski and come down," shared Snowbowl spokesperson Meg Morris.
Now, the ski area is ringing in its 70th season as part of the Missoula community, “Celebrating that we're putting out merch with the original logo," Morris noted.
Snowbowl started as Snow Park on TV Mountain.
“It had the Griz lift and then when my parents purchased it they put in LaValle that was in like ’85," Morris detailed.
Morris' childhood memories are all on the mountain, “I remember when I was a kid, I just used to lap spartan all day long. Gosh knows why.”
Not only have the slopes brought locals to the hill, but the ski area has also hosted some iconic winter events.
“You know, all of the fun history that is, [we] had Olympians up here and, you know, national championships and just lots of fun stuff for a small little mom-pa ski area in Missoula,” Morris explained.
She says people coming back to the hill are the ones keeping the business going.
“Because we've had so much support that we've been able to keep it going for all these years and be part of the Missoula community.”
Learning from last year’s dry winter, Snowbowl is adapting.
Morris told MTN, “We redid the snowmaking on the [Spartan] head wall and Sunrise. Brush removal, lots of stump removal.”
Plus, they’re opening a chairlift and plan to add more terrain access soon.
“Transporter is going to open up this year for ski runs. There's more lifts coming in and there's gonna be more lodges," Morris said.
The new lift will help further connect TV Mountain to the rest of the ski area.
With three feet of snow on the summit around Thanksgiving, Snowbowl projects to open on December 13.
