IN THE DEEP

It was an exciting morning in the 'Boat today; we've been watching the snow pile on since yesterday afternoon until this morning thinking... ooooh, deeeeeep. I personally couldn't sleep past 6:30 from all the excitement.We pressed glass at the Gondy, getting first chair once again thanks to some mule help from Rob W and Travis G with the gear! We didn't make it up before the Thunderhead pressers but Rudy's tracked out on a 24" day is...

Today's tasty surprises were everywhere, and the skiers were nowhere to be seen. We had the place to ourselves this morning, and it was delightful. Craig's bff Keith insisted on the Gondy, even though Thunderhead is now open, and we got first tracks down Rudy's, fresh untracked cord with a few inches of butter on the side... tasty. Storm wasn't open so we rode up BC for a few turns down newly-opened Surprise for some fresh.Up Sundown...

We've been in the mix of a tentative- and temperamental- storm warning these last few days and I'm beginning to lose track of things already! It's Thursday, a week from Christmas, it's frigid, and it's snowing- it's not snowing- it's snowing... that's the extent of my awareness right now. Yesterday we had a few new inches at the top and today we had a dusting as well. It started dumping huge saucer-sized flakes today around 11:30am, and snowed for several hours. But the big dark storm system they promised would drop several...

Well it’s another powder day in the ‘Boat and a sleeper at that. After being spoiled this past weekend with over a foot of snow, the four inch report this morning scared off the crowds and provided run after run of unspoiled freshness, with no lines at all!After noticing a late opening on Storm Peak Express we headed up Burgess Creek and over to Sundown for a fast, fresh run through Keith’s ridge, followed by Sunshine Lift Line and over...

Glorious day up there today friends; Steamboat is inching towards max opening and today was an outstanding advance in the right direction. The Gondy line was enormous, full of the weekend warriors and the usual faces in front, we bypassed to the disabled entrance, loaded, and made it down to Storm to collect with the early rising hikers and staff for some fresh powder. The ride down Rudys was mint: 3" of fresh or so on top of a blanket...

When the entire forecast shows snow... you can guess we'll be on the hill eating it up....Stay tuned to this channel folks, low temps and 4 straight days of snow might be heading our w...

So feeling guilty we hadn't been up there, and getting some slack from one of our loyal readers in Bethesda Md, we watched the clouds roll in last night, excited to ski today. However, it never snowed very hard yesterday, despite the dedicated powderhound dance we were all doing, and despite the forecast for snow from Monday night to Wednesday morning. Alas, the storm drifted south and pounded ski areas from the CO/NM border up to Aspen. Rarely does Steamboat get jipped on storms that have dumped that much precip on the west...

We uploaded a little early today, thanks to the best Gondola crew of the decade, and skied down to a deserted - and operational - Storm Peak Express. To our pleasant surprise they waved us through at 8:35 and we had the lift to ourselves for about 5 minutes, and as we climbed up to the peak we slowly started to see the glass-pressers ease in behind us.We got to the top of Storm Peak and saw minimal tracks in 10-12" of new snow and decided...

Well I can say it's finally here, and ya'll should be excited, 'cuz we sure are. We got first chair on the Gondy today (thanks to both Keith and Erin for helping us with Craig's rig, chair, skis, etc, man we'll be glad when they open up Thunderhead!), and that first smooth run down left side of Rudy's was mint... mind you it was cavernous in spots, but still tastycakes-good, from the cord to the 6" of fresh. It was about 11° up there so...

It's been snowing since around 2am, and it's piling on!! I heard today that over last weekend we got up to 3 feet at the top, and some wiseguy at the gym told Craig that he'd skied Hurricane and it was sick. Reminding a monoskier you can hike to get your turns, some nerve. [chuckle] Not that hiking UP Rainbow sounds like our cup of tea anyway.So Craig has vowed to get his rig sorted out today (whence last I wrote he had issues with the shock jamming) while we're up at the activity fair at the Grand, so we can ski tomorrow and...

If small towns churn rumors like coffee beans in the grinder, Steamboat is the Rumor Mill...Word is they're opening a few extra runs this weekend, but no more lifts: The bottom of Valley View (exit stage right off Christie) and See Me (next to See Ya). Now, that's unconfirmed, but the runs have been tilled by the grooming crew, meaning they are at least fixin' to do somethin' with them! And NOT a rumor: To entice the skiers Steamboat's...

Not so bad, glazed over in spots but not icey, soft on the edges, 22 degrees, and a good warm up. Short & sweet. Like Craig said, 'this is what I skied in NY, like West Mountain.' Craig also jacked his rig down, jammed into the compressed position. After all the work he did on this, its just another issue with the ProComp. The shocks that come on those are weak. Gonna bring the camera up when we open up.... Treo Mob...

Tomorrow will be the day. Building extra base on top of that machine-made 10'' we had is slowly amping up our motivation to test the scant 45 acres (~10%). Spoiled or lazy? I'm blaming it on both triptophan and equipment. Today's 6'' at 5am and 2-3 since then just weren't better than my bed... Yet. When you can ski everyday, conditions be the judge.Supposed to snow through the night, and the holidayers depart tomorrow, leaving us alone with Mt Werner to pile it on & ski in peace next week, as the season begins to shape...

With a dusting of new but only a 10'' base, 2 lifts, 4 trails, nothing open above Christie peak, and ''machine-made conditions'' (call the snow phone yourself for that quote: 970.879.7300), we decided on catching the Macy's Day Parade instead. The other die-hards were up there, but Craig's rig isn't completely ready to go (the shock still needs to be rebuilt and the new strut needs to be put on), and although we're storing our buddy Baker's...

Truthfully, we never ski on Scholarship Day.But we always ski on Thanksgiving. Now, on a year when we have a powder day on opening day and I'm really THAT itching to ski, I might very well ski on Scholarship Day- proceeds for this day ($15 tickets, season pass or not) go to our local youth Winter Sports Club- but so far, that hasn't happened in 10 years. However for at least the last seven, I've skied Thanksgiving morning, before I start...

With sunny skies and warm temps for over a week, talk of town is a repeat of last year's delayed opening. Consensus is that's OK if we get last year's quantity; who needs snow in November if we're up to our neck in it by January?The ski area does, that's who. With a cut-back budget, reduced staff, and bookings far below average, a continual dumping of the white stuff would be key right now. Or as one of the higher ups told me, a national broadcasted Broncos game under snowing skies would increase bookings considerably.The...

Snowmaking continues through cold weather & partly cloudy skies... 11 days and counti...

The mountain is already reporting two feet of snow thus far, with a one-foot base and it's been snowing all day. A Twitter friend's update tells me that skiers are lappin' it up at Loveland already, and although we're ready, we're not.Craig's been gathering gear like a ravaged midwestern soccer mom on Black Friday; Old skis and bindings checked? Check. New leg for the monoski? Check. New powder skis? Check. New powder outriggers?...

In doing research for our 4th annual Steamboat All Mountain Ski Camp today, I found myself on Powder Magazine's website looking at Steamboat in three-dimensional glory from a view I have yet to experience up there, Birds' Eye. I've flown over the mountain once on the way into Hayden, but the distance was still far and the speed was fast; this view is computer animated sure, and green in color, which although it's not winter-themed, it...

Testing this technology out today to get us amped for the trick of direct-upload from ski lift. Looks like it works just dandy! Here's another reason to be amped, brand new powder skis... mmm, the "Bro..."Oh, and another 3-6'' on the mountain last night! And chance of snow from tonight until Thursday! We're building a ski hi...

I'm not going to start counting yet because the mountain isn't open, but I think as soon as it is, I'm going to tally the incorrect forecasts. So far they'd be 0-2, and as someone said to me yesterday, "Don't they look out their windows?" But the mountains do something strange to weather systems, and although I call myself something of a weather buff, I wouldn't want the job of predicting snow around here. Sometimes the mountains suck in the system and keep it here for days, sometimes they don't. I'm not sure if there's...

It's early November and many locals are saying they "aren't ready for this snow...."It comes every year at Halloween, you know it does, and it breaks for the Sun's vitaminD charge in between storms. It doesn't get booger-freeze cold (as best a description as I've ever had for it, that's where you inhale through your nostrils and they stick together) until mid or late December, and only stays that way for 4-6 weeks when the Sun has gone...

6-10" new inches on our deck means twice that on the hill! That's right, the first Powder Day is here!Unfortunately none of us can take advantage of it of course, what with the mountain not open, but we're building base, and it's been blowing sideways since last night, big flakes falling off and on, and if what we got on our deck is any inclination of what fell on Mt Werner, we're startin' the season out right. We're all hoping that Oak...

That's right folks, our first winter storm warning is in effect. We've been hearing about this "Tuesday snow" for days, and since the Sunday and Monday rain forecast was wrong, we had our doubts. But I held hope, both for a change in weather and a change in government on this powerful election day. We awoke to darkness, the skies are Halloween-esque, gloomy and filled with a variety of stratus clouds- a combination of cirrostratus,...

Right on time as always, October 31st brings precipitation to the 'Boat. Check in on Tuesday, it's supposed to turn cold then, and as we hope, not stop snowing until mid-April.What can we say, we're powder hounds.... Bring it!If you want to follow along on the best satellite we've found, go to:http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/ and scroll down to infrared, western US, 4km, animation... and watch it roll.-See You in the D...

Halloween.This is about the time of year it begins to snow. We've all been relaxed about it because last winter trickled out long and cold well into June, welcoming the warm sunny days and lengthy fall colors. But this week, we all started getting antsy. The snow we got about 10 days ago is melting off the peaks, the sun persists, and the Oak Creek Dowser's 08-09 prediction of 30% more snow over last year's epic and record breaking 550" season seems to be teasing us.We know it will snow soon, but with 26 days left to build...