I am very fortunate to have been able to ski at Steamboat twice in the past month. My first trip was over Christmas and was with my family. The weather was nice - 6 to 8 inches of snow fell on the 24th, so we had some fresh snow. Steamboat was a little below average for snow totals and not all the runs were open. Mostly the double blacks - the Chutes and Xmas Tree Bowl were closed - and since I don't ski those I didn't really care. My favorite ski area - off the Pioneer Express Lift - was okay on day 1, but with no new snow during our stay it got a little skied off by the end of the week and the stick and rocks were poking through. The runs off Pioneer Express are mostly ungroomed and narrow and twisty by western standards - lots of trees too. Only one of my boys really likes to ski that area much, so I didn't get to ski those runs as much as I would have liked.
My second trip was a "sister" trip with my 3 sisters and our sister-in-law. The temps went down as low as -24 at night and hovered around 0-7 degrees during the day. We wore MANY layers and all of us used heat packs for our hands and toes. We also used boot gloves. One caveat on the boot gloves - my younger sister unknowingly got snow caught up under her boot glove on one foot and it made her boot so cold her toes almost got frostbitten.
We had a little bit of snow (2-3 inches) each day, so it kept the snow fresh. 3 of my sisters preferred the mellow blue runs of the Sunshine Express Lift - these are wide open blue cruisers. One run - Tomahawk - has some short runs (Cub, Pup, Buckshot, Ramrod) off it on the right that are ungroomed and have areas where you can go through the trees. None of these are particularly steep, but it is fun to go through the trees.
My sister-in-law (who grew up skiiing in the Catskills at a little place called Mt. Cathalia that her parents owned) and I prefer a little steeper terrain and after the first day we would seek out the more difficult runs. She and I had late flights on Tuesday and we paid extra for "First Tracks." This was money well spent. They send you up with a guide. We made up one group and there was one other group of 5. We had the mountain to ourselves. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and it was very quiet at the top of the mountain. The snow was soft with no icy sections - the groomers had done a great job. We went down Strorm Peak - a black run I usually avoid because it is often quite windswept and icy. On Tuesday there was very little wind and the snow was soft. We skied it down to Tornado (another black) and then took the Storm Peak Express back up and went down a nice long blue run - Buddy's Run. This is a favorite of many and Steamboat and can get icy, worn and crowded. On Tuesday it was empty and we flew down the run without stopping. We ended up hiring our guide for a 2 hour private after our first tracks and both of us got some very good pointers.
I had only skied a few days last spring on my Dynastar Exclusive Legends, so I was anxious to really put them to the test over my 10 days in Steamboat. I really like these skis. They performed well on the groomers, in the trees and on bumps (I don't ski really big bumps) They carved well on the few icy sections I encountered and were stable when I went fast (which probably isn't too fast!)
Here are photos from my trips:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/81701696@N00/
My second trip was a "sister" trip with my 3 sisters and our sister-in-law. The temps went down as low as -24 at night and hovered around 0-7 degrees during the day. We wore MANY layers and all of us used heat packs for our hands and toes. We also used boot gloves. One caveat on the boot gloves - my younger sister unknowingly got snow caught up under her boot glove on one foot and it made her boot so cold her toes almost got frostbitten.
We had a little bit of snow (2-3 inches) each day, so it kept the snow fresh. 3 of my sisters preferred the mellow blue runs of the Sunshine Express Lift - these are wide open blue cruisers. One run - Tomahawk - has some short runs (Cub, Pup, Buckshot, Ramrod) off it on the right that are ungroomed and have areas where you can go through the trees. None of these are particularly steep, but it is fun to go through the trees.
My sister-in-law (who grew up skiiing in the Catskills at a little place called Mt. Cathalia that her parents owned) and I prefer a little steeper terrain and after the first day we would seek out the more difficult runs. She and I had late flights on Tuesday and we paid extra for "First Tracks." This was money well spent. They send you up with a guide. We made up one group and there was one other group of 5. We had the mountain to ourselves. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and it was very quiet at the top of the mountain. The snow was soft with no icy sections - the groomers had done a great job. We went down Strorm Peak - a black run I usually avoid because it is often quite windswept and icy. On Tuesday there was very little wind and the snow was soft. We skied it down to Tornado (another black) and then took the Storm Peak Express back up and went down a nice long blue run - Buddy's Run. This is a favorite of many and Steamboat and can get icy, worn and crowded. On Tuesday it was empty and we flew down the run without stopping. We ended up hiring our guide for a 2 hour private after our first tracks and both of us got some very good pointers.
I had only skied a few days last spring on my Dynastar Exclusive Legends, so I was anxious to really put them to the test over my 10 days in Steamboat. I really like these skis. They performed well on the groomers, in the trees and on bumps (I don't ski really big bumps) They carved well on the few icy sections I encountered and were stable when I went fast (which probably isn't too fast!)
Here are photos from my trips:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/81701696@N00/
