Industry News
FAIRFIELD, Idaho (March 4, 2025) — Soldier Mountain is opening 250 acres of expert and intermediate terrain that was always inbounds of the ski area but previously inaccessible. The recent installation of new cat roads and groomed bootpack trails have made the terrain in the Bridge Creek area easily accessible to Soldier Mountain guests for the first time in the resort’s 77-year history.
Soldier Mountain will run its TRAX side-by-side UTV on select days to transport guests to the top of Bridge Creek, and on days the vehicle is not running the terrain will be accessible by foot on established bootpack trails or by skinning uphill in Alpine touring gear. Dubbed the Bridge Creek Sidecountry Project, Soldier Mountain GM David Alden said opening the new terrain is among many bold moves the resort has made this winter to elevate its experiences. The resort also established the Soldier Mountain Snow Training Center, staged a training camp for U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s slopestyle teams on the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team and the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team, and hosted the season opener for the Rocky Mountain Snowmobile Hillclimb Association’s 2025 racing series.
“The Bridge Creek Sidecountry Project elevates Soldier Mountain to one of the most challenging and terrain-intensive ski areas in Idaho,” Alden said. “The newly accessible terrain encompasses mid-angle glades and steep, north-facing trees and ridges, adding technical sidecountry to Soldier Mountain’s world-class cat ski operation and our legendary inbounds bowls, glades, and groomers. The Bridge Creek area is so close to our existing terrain and so visually inviting that nearly every guest who visits Soldier has looked at that area and wished it were accessible. Now it is. It is a huge step for Soldier Mountain.”
The terrain will debut March 8-9 and March 15-16 by opening it to small guest groups who will be transported back to the top of each run in the new Soldier Mountain TRAX vehicle, the newest and fastest way to move quickly through the backcountry. Tickets to the grand opening are free and limited to the first 20 guests to sign up for each day. According to Alden, the limited group size ensures fresh powder for everyone, and tickets are going to go quickly.
Alden said Soldier Mountain is one of the first ski areas in the U.S. to add TRAX side-by-side UTVs to its cat ski fleet. “For small groups, they are a faster, nimbler way to move skiers and snowboarders up the mountain in the backcountry and sidecountry than a traditional snowcat,” he said, “which yields more laps and more vertical.”
Visit soldiermountain.com for more details and to book tickets.
