Snowbowl and Missoula

For one woman, it's the Fridays and Sundays — her only days off work — she gets to spend skiing with her son.

For another, it's the sense of female camaraderie provided by the Friday afternoon women's lesson program.

For one eighth-grader, it's relishing in missed school for "powder days" when her dad yanks her out of class to go ski fresh snow.

Most couples consider themselves lucky to make it to their golden anniversary.

As Montana Snowbowl celebrates the 50-year anniversary of its marriage to Missoula, it's time to reflect on why the ski area is still around.

The snow conditions are hit-or-miss. The terrain's excellent but extreme, and the lifts are aging. But for a low-elevation, two-chair ski area, Snowbowl has a solid fan base.

On any winter weekend morning in Missoula, there's a full parking lot next to the Starbucks on Grant Creek Road and a line of cars snaking its way up the treacherous Snowbowl Road. On a midweek powder day, skiers tolerate a few extra minutes in the crowded lift line by cracking jokes with each other about skipping work and school.

Between November and April, Snowbowl provides a home for Missoula's skiers, no matter the conditions. In return, Missoula's skiers have kept the area alive since 1961, proving fancy condos and high-speed chairlifts don't measure a ski area's success. In Snowbowl's case, wealth is found in the community that has supported it for half a century.

Stacks of paper and books line every available surface in Stan Cohen's office. The cluttered room is located in the warehouse that holds his publishing company, Pictoral Histories, as well as boxes upon boxes of historical memorabilia. A signed photo of Bob Hope, binders of information on military history, a newspaper from a 17th century London newspaper — Cohen's got it all.

But a good portion of what the warehouse holds is the history of downhill skiing in Montana. In 2007, Cohen published a book that covers everything from the first ski trip in Yellowstone National Park to the opening of Big Sky Resort.

Of special interest to Cohen, however, is the Snowbowl memorabilia, as that's the ski area he's most familiar with. He began working at the ski shop in 1963, a year after Snowbowl moved to its present site from T.V. Mountain, where it had operated under the name Snow Park since 1954.

At the time, Cohen was a recent transplant from West Virginia and had only skied twice in his life.

"I honestly didn't even know which end of the ski went downhill," he said. "And now, all of a sudden, I'm running the ski shop, so I had to learn real fast."

That changed after a decade of running the ski shop and helping manage the area under a series of different owners. By the time he left the business in 1973, Cohen was a regular Snowbowl skier and part of a tightly knit community of Missoula skiers who called the area home.

Although Snowbowl management hoped to draw national attention in 1967 by hosting the U.S. National Alpine Championships, the event didn't bring the area its hoped-for spotlight. Instead, it drew in Missoulians who wanted to ski and race on the area's notoriously advanced terrain.    

Parents who wanted their kids to learn how to race started the Missoula Ski Education Foundation. Originally called the Hellgate Ski Club, the youth ski racing club started at Snow Park and became a part of Snowbowl as soon as the area launched.

Lewis Matelich, who's participated in the program for most of his life, said kids start out in the Grizzly program at age 6 and are coached in ski racing through high school. Lewis said it's quite a different story from Snowbowl's ski school, which offers lessons for people interested in learning how to ski or snowboard. The kids on the team have already been taught how to ski by their parents, so the program just helps them hone their skills.

"It's not a learn-to-ski program," he said. "It's a learn-to-ski-better program."

The Missoula Freestyle Ski Team, which also trains at Snowbowl, does the same thing for kids who are more interested in tricks and flips than spandex and slalom courses.

Lewis' family moved to Missoula 50 years ago and began skiing at the then-brand-new ski area. He grew up learning to ski race and ski better through the Ski Education Foundation. As an adult, he has coached for the foundation with his wife Melanie, held nearly every position on the board and put his own kids through the program.

The foundation has changed and developed over time, parting ways with the freestyle team 20 years ago and attracting new families and new skiers. However, Matelich said, it's still backed by the same passion for skiing held by so many Missoula families.