Todays conditions were a welcoming blend of soft and fast for the influx of visitors who are arriving this weekeend, including Craig's sister and beau. Only on Sunnyside ironically did we find hard crumbs of days past, the rest of the groomers we cruised today were plush with soft, fast, packed powder (video). We were up from about 10am to 130, and at 24degrees and sunny, layers were shed and cheeks got red! Hopefully we'll see some more of the white gold before sis' leaves on the 1st. -See you in the deep!Published...
Today did not disappoint! The 5am report stated that only one inch fell since the mountain closed, but Rudy's had at least three over the groom, it's been snowing since sunrise, and as I stated yesterday, it shows no signs of stopping. The skies were throwing snowballs down on us all morning, as we found the stashes in the trees, where the thick clouds weren't as blinding. It's a white out out there! Not many braved the morning runs; the Gondy line was minimal, and we rode the Christy to Thunderhead,...
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Here it comes!
The winter storm we've all been waiting for, and just in time for the holiday visitors, don't we aim to please?
This morning's 4" report kept me off the slopes with day packed full of errands and no powderhound to ski with... Craig and Matt are on day2 of a 2-day monoski workshop, training nearly 50 instructors total for the STARS program. But he's free to ski tomorrow through Tuesday in this...
It never ceases to amaze me the emptiness of this time of year.
With 5" new and an excited "still snowing" following that, the 5am report fooled only 100 of us. The line at the Gondy didn't make up half the covered maze; I arrived about 8:15 and was only about 20 back in the singles line. Craig is in Denver yesterday and today training United Airlines on how to handle customers with disabilities and their equipment (yes, 'bout time United), so I had to brave the (gasp) lines alone. Ha. Lines. Therefore I was quite...
The season's first official powder day left plenty of locals giggling down the trails today. We made first chair on Four Points and beelined it right to a knee-deep Cyclone, smooth like butter with two tracks down its rolling, silky glade. Despite not remembering to switch out Craigs Tiger racing ski for the Bro powder ski, we had no incidents with a buried mono- the snow billowed over his head, leaving a 30 yard cloud in his wake. Next we headed up Storm to hit the Face, meadow, and Sunset, all barely tracked,...
Made our first turns down the hill today, just as another storm started rolling in. Thunderhead is closed until next week, so we mounted the Gondola instead of the lifts around 10:30 and headed for Storm Peak.
Buddy's, Rainbow, Storm, Cyclone, all in great shape with a thick base, soft, and carvey. We stayed up til about 1, hitting our favorite groomers but staying out of the trees; Craig sunk down into the bottomlessness just above Cyclone- save that for a few weeks, buddy! Much of the hill is still closed, but soon...
The final stretch of the countdown has begun... next Wednesday we'll all be taking the lifts again to get our vertical on Mt Werner!
It's been snowing for two days here, (currently smack in between 3 consecutive Winter Storm Warnings!) and on top of the snow that's lingered from last week, it's building an amazing base for next Wednesday's opening of Steamboat! The heavy stuff, and a lot of it. Steamboat is reporting over...
Happy to say that after a week of warmth, we'll be going back under that white blanket sometime this evening, hopefully to stay until April. The forecast looks dark and ominous, and the natives are restless. . .
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The 40 day mark has arrived, as locals watch the battle between Fall and Winter pan out.Since 2008, October is usually the month when our posts begin for In The Deep, depending on when the snow starts to fly. This past weekend wasn't the first dusting we got in Colorado, but it's the first one that's stuck in the 'Boat. In 2006, that happened as early as we can remember in 16 years, on September 9th. But the weather has been reasonably...
For the first time in 15 years, Craig managed to glide beneath the lifts of Steamboat Ski Area in July.The sky is just as blue, but the mountain looks entirely different in the summer- lush with raspberry, thimble berry, indian paint brush, ferns, fireweed, and of course the aspens in full flicker. It sounds more alive with songs of wrens, swallows, hawks, and the occasional hot air balloon. The curves of the open glades are permanent and...
It's always these "slim" years that we get hammered in April.... the numbers don't lie. We average 350" of snowfall annually, so when I see only 225 by March 2oth, I assume it'll come sometime. Maybe after it's any use to us, but it will come. And it did. And I reveled in it. Thankfully.Being out for 2 weeks during some of the best powder days of the year was one of the hardest acts of patience I've ever had to perform. I twisted my leg pretty bad on March 22nd, and gave myself two solid weeks to heal and retrain. My patience...
In The Deep – 4.1.10 & 4.2.10So I guess you could look at our April first snow storm and powder days in two ways. April fools on all the summer lovers who can’t wait to put their short and sun dresses on is one way to see it. But I like to think it was all of us powder hounds who fooled Mother Nature into thinking we had had enough snow and were ready for Spring. Well the joke is on her because the mountain reported 14 inches in 48 hours but it was way more than that. I skied over a foot of fresh in places yesterday...
So even though it’s a little late, I just had to brag about how incredible the mountain was on Sunday. Saturday was obviously a tremendous day for the end of March and the fun continued into Sunday. With warm temperatures in the forecast and Butch Butler, monoskier extraordinaire, in town from South Carolina, we decided to hit the mountain early in search of freshies. After a quite cold ride up the mountain (yep, temperatures stayed pretty chilly until late morning) we headed directly to Storm Peak to check out the fresh snow...
(Saturday March 27th, posted by Craig Kennedy)It’s the end of March and there are no brown spots on the mountain. And despite what the report said this morning the mountain was in beautiful mid winter shape. The five inches that fell two nights ago and into yesterday morning with the 6 on the report this morning (and it snowed all morning too) made for over a foot of fresh (and more in spots) and barely a notice of the treacherous conditions lurking beneath.After a buttery run down Rudy’s we loaded Four Points in the 15th position...
Yesterday's powder was so much fun, we decided to post more videos!Craig's Ridge/Westside- barring the first 20 seconds of me getting my bearings (and maybe swearing about it, sorry!), Craig hits this jump on Westside like a champ!Keith's shot down Buckshot- powder was in the trees today!Ramrod- This one's long, but a nice tree run if I could only keep my hand straight. :)-See you in the De...
After several weeks of what seemed like a repeat of Ice Age 2:The Melt Down, winter has finally returned in the 'Boat and locals were up bright and early this morning tasting 9 new in 24. What fell yesterday squashed nicely into the base, filling in between bumps, holes, and patches, so that when today's half-a-foot fell, it was icing on the cake.We made turned chair on Four Points into a rare lap back to Storm for what was our best run down Cyclone all year. 5" new on a fresh mow, meow. Big swooping GS turns, we cut first tracks...
When you hear "5" fell in the last 24 hours and none since the mountain closed," you tend to think, do I bother? But it had been a week since I had, and Craig goes up nearly every day, so yeah, we bothered. And it wasn't quite a powder day, but it'll do. We had to work a little for the stashes, but they were there.The trees were barely tracked- Wristband was among today's favorites, and didn't get to Pumphouse or 130 today but tasted Kodak and some Morningside trees, the upper trees above Big Meadow, 1230, Twister, Ramrod...
Unquestionably the best day and best powder we've had all year, today brought a reported minimal 8" of new in the last 24 but it was definitely more like a foot in spots as usual.First chair up Christie to Four Points, we made our fresh knee-high turns down into Moonlight trees in light powder with Keith and Jesse, and headed up Sundown to seek out the stashes before the Saturday mob arrived. From the top we did "Keith's Ridge" under the top of Sunshine Lift Line, where visibility was pretty minimal under a thick fog but the...
With my parents and their college friends in town this week for the Carnival, of course we've been joking daily about old people- being old, creaking bones, social security checks, and waiting for the old men to catch up to us on the hill.Ward Doyle however is NOT an old man. I'm officially declaring that right here.Uncle Waddy ripped this mountain wide open today and it was US trying to keep up with him! Brilliant! Not often do we meet...
The infamous Jeffrey Krauthamer, man of many nicknames, and his lovely family are in town this week with something close to 25 years of visiting Steamboat under their belts, traveling all the way from my neck of the woods in Maryland. As usual, Craig got in many days of turns with Jeffrey but unfortunately due to being gone for part of the week, I only got to ride today with his troop. Luckily it was the best one it seems!I got a late...
The glorious day we've been awaiting has arrived. Starting out with an empty Gondy maze and 8 inches new or more to play in, we made our way to Four Points for first chair. It was blowing sideways at the top though, visibility was nil, and the temp felt surprisingly colder than 14° to all of us.The snow was a little heavy, but buttery, up to my knees in spots where the fierce overnight winds had blown in drifts, and still shin deep everywhere...
This one can't POSSIBLY miss us...
The girls have dubbed the boys The Bombers for their turnless technique and maching speed. This camp is aggressive this year, maybe it's the conditions, maybe it's a sign of the times; but either way, everyone is going after it like its DerbyDay in the 'Boat, and the ladies are declaring an official Morning with the Maidens tomorrow...The troop got another 9am start on the hill and although we took a long lunch doing our group photo and...
In its fifth year, we're excited to bring back this wonderful camp; and for such beautiful weather. About 75 participants, coaches, on and off-snow volunteers and all the local supporting staff have made this Zero Waste event kick off with a winner. Skiing for over six hours in several groups, the first day of the Steamboat All Mountain Ski Camp enjoyed soft groomers under bright blue skies. If the temps didn't freeze your skin on impact,...
It's been snowing since sometime last night, although the overnight fruition only amounted to about 5", it's piled on that again during the day, and will likely do so overnight. The 5" were nice, but more will be better. It's been dark and blistery up at the top all day, "the wind was a howlin', and the snow was outrageous!"But what we're getting really excited about is that big mother off the coast that should bring the staple blessings...