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Powder praise – Ski magazine touts Missoula’s local ski hill (Snowbowl) in cover story

After all these years of being quietly tucked away in the mountains outside of Missoula, the Snowbowl ski area http://www.montanasnowbowl.com/ has finally garnered some national attention thanks to an article in the recent issue of Ski magazine. Ronnie Morris, owner of Snowbowl, is excited about the article. The only problem was trying to keep some copies of the magazine on hand for folks to read.

By SHERRY DEVLIN of the Missoulian

When the writer from Ski magazine called, Snowbowl was ankle-deep in the worst snow year ever.

Still, owners Brad and Ronnie Morris invited the writer to town and promised him a taste of Snowbowl’s signature powder skiing.

Then karma kicked in.

Just before Andrew Slough pulled into Missoula last winter, the snow started to fall. And fall. And fall.

By the time he hit the ski hill, there was powder galore.

"Everything just kind of clicked," Ronnie Morris said. "The snow was just right. They got a great picture. There was a lot of karma."

The result: Snowbowl and Missoula are on the cover of the January 2004 issue of Ski magazine, touted as "hidden treasures in the Wild, Wild West."

The photographs are beauts: snow-frosted trees, powder everywhere, a thick layer of clouds bubbling up from the valley below.

The copy is no less inspired: "Beneath the town’s hardscrabble exterior lurks a pleasantly historic, increasingly diverse and surprisingly enlightened town," Slough wrote. "More than that, just a quick jaunt up a nearby canyon sits Montana Snowbowl, one of the West’s least known but most worthy powder playgrounds."

Slough was smitten with downtown Missoula’s shops, bars and history. The University of Montana, he said, is "the Harvard of the West." And the skiing was just plain great.

Snowbowl, he wrote, "recalls the late ’70s, when fixed-grip doubles, long skis and grant-no-mercy runs were the norm. Rage non-stop through the bumps on Snowbowl’s infamous Grizzly Run, and your buddies on the chair will hoot, holler and buy you one of bartender Steve Curtis’ bloody marys at the base lodge."

The Morrises could not have hoped for a better ride in a bigger magazine.

"Ski and Skiing are the Time and Newsweek of the ski world," Ronnie Morris said. "And it’s such a positive article. We were really pleased."

"It’s a great article," enthused Brad Morris. "It’s nice to get the recognition."

There’s no telling what impact the coverage will have on business, he said, but it almost surely will be good.

"We are flattered just to be in a magazine and to be on the cover," Brad said. "I was really surprised."

There’ll probably be a lag between the article’s publication and any resulting increase in skiers, Ronnie said. "Most out-of-towners plan their trips a year ahead of time. So if we see any bump, it’ll probably be next winter."

Snowbowl’s not looking to become a national destination resort, Brad said, but it is looking to expand some day – "after we finish upgrading Snowbowl Road."

Already, the area boasts 950 acres of terrain, much of it suited for expert and super-expert skiers.

"A lot of the avid powder skiers like to notch their belt by skiing every tough area in the country," Ronnie said. "And the list always includes the Bird, the Bowl and the Hole."

That’s Snowbird in Utah, Jackson Hole in Wyoming and Snowbowl in Montana.

"Our terrain is really our strength," she said. "It’s unusual to have so much expert terrain so close to town. That’s one of the reasons we moved here in the first place."

Missoula also won rave reviews from writer Slough. He made much of the locals’ insistence on protecting the town and its secrets, but managed to find a few of the treasures: the riverfront, the friendly mix of people, "the tremendous open spaces."

"It’s great," said Brad Martens, owner of the Rhino bar and one of the businessmen featured in Slough’s story. "Stories like that bring people to town, and I for one think that’s a good thing."

And Snowbowl? "I love it," Martens said. "Every year, Brad Morris pumps the money he makes right back into the area. He’s making it better all the time."

And this year, the snow gods are smiling a good bit more kindly on the mountains of western Montana than they did last winter.

There’d be no worries if Ski magazine called this January, Ronnie Morris said.

"We are on record pace," she said. "It’s been a great year. We have every single run on the mountain open and good crowds and good pass sales."

And nothing but snow and smiling faces in the holiday week forecast.

If you’re interested

The January 2004 edition of Ski magazine is on sale now and features not only a story about Missoula and Snowbowl, but also a light-hearted story about skiing the Lewis and Clark Trail in western Montana. The famous explorers, the magazine opines, ought to have packed their skis.

Reporter Sherry Devlin can be reached at 523-5268 or at [email protected]

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