IN THE DEEP

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And Happy Opening Day!  We've got a great base building up already, and a storm on the way!

Took some turns with Miss Jennie from 9-11 today to warm up the legs and check out the conditions.

Surprise!  Four Points lift was open!  A patch of barely tracked soft snow beneath the top lift shack, soft groomer turns on Rainbow, and on the second lap, we wore ourselves out on Hurricane- mounded up piles of pow already.  A lap up BC took us to the Daze, minimal glazed patched there shoulda softened up for the pm crew who were loading their turkeys in the oven. 

Its a glorious thing when the season opens- 20 more weeks of love from ol' Steamboat!  Here's to a DEEP one!

While yesterday's northern section of the double-whammy winter storm system split and shafted Steamboat,  the southern system has laid her snowy eggs over Mt Werner all night long... and its still dumping.  We've had snow on our playhill for weeks, but it's finally piling on in the 'Boat!

Ten days until the mountain opens, and the natives are getting restless!

It's going to be another La Nina year people; wax your boards, book your tickets now, and see you In The Deep!

Craig and Keith at the top of Buddy's the sign was buried!

Steamboat closed its doors for winter business this past Sunday with a rockin' powder morning, totaling 433 inches for the year and peaking out at a 137" summit base, nearing some best-ever records.

The last is always a bittersweet day full of on-hill shenanigans, base-area parties, live music and games, and Mother Nature held off her fury just long enough for a comfortable day at the base with the icy blue pond skim with Katchafire and the Whalers blaring the tunes shortly after.  Smartwool gave out some free prizes for a little work with their 'perfect match' game (ironically appropriate for sock winning), and the Bear River set up 3 extra base area jockey-bars with shots and brews to fill the crowds with fizz.

But the most impressive part of closing day for us were the numbers... and we'll probably get a few more inches that won't even count. We'll miss you for a few months Mr. Werner, but we'll be back!

Bust of Buddy Werner nearly buried as well!

Snow totals

2010-11 season mid-mountain snow totals (inches):
October (pre-season): 21
November: 90*
December: 73
January: 68
February: 84
March: 79
April (through Sunday): 18
Total: 433
*61 inches fell in November before the ski area opened for Scholarship Day on Nov. 24

400-inch seasons - we've been blessed to rack in our vertical during six of these record years!

2007-08: 489
1996-97: 448
1983-84: 448
1995-96: 441
2010-11: 433
2005-06: 432
1992-93: 416
2008-09: 405

The calving glacier off our neighbor's house in mid March

If we thought yesterday was good, today was phenomenal. Best day I've had on the mountain perhaps all year- the temp was frigid, the snow was light, and it was up above my knees in spots. The fog was dense, and the place was deserted once again. Man, were we in for a treat.

We started out on the sunnyside, blindly finding our way through the fog by the trees from KeithsRidge to 1230 to AndysRidge- which has been newly named after only one day to AndysWetDream, then BlackPowder (holy crap we were buried!) to Ramrod (this is where we became verbal in excitement) and finished up that side with CraigsRidge to Wristband before taking Elkhead up to explore the middle peak terrain.

Over here we bombed through soft bumps on Norther, found untracked lines under the Four Points lift line, and continued to dip in and out of the nearly two feet in the trees.  Then back up Storm again to explore Morningside starting with Frying Pan which was the deepest snow of the day, and back up MS for one more down Kodak, which is where we got some footage, finally. Some days it's just too mint to make movies!  It was super windy over here, but well worth it.

We closed it out with a stellar run through the Crowtrack trees, just as the fog began to lift, and a top-to-bottom that included the left trees off Rainbow, some deep trees off Vag, a small deep section of Concentration, and some sneaky new stashes in Rough Rider.

One word: Glorious.

The storms continue through the end of the week, so we'll hopefully post a few more before the season wraps.

-See you in the Deep!

Patiently waiting for it to pile up today, we didn't load the Gondy until about noon - the report posted 0" at 5am, 4" at 9:30am, and 6" by 11, it was going to be a gorgeous powderday in the 'Boat! 

Blindly making our way through dense fog and styrofoam flakes, we headed over to Sunnyside first, hitting Storm Face - Meadow - Sunset - Moonlight Trees and down to Sundown through half a foot of surprisingly light piles.  The temp didn't drop until this morning, from 25 down to 14 by 1pm, making for winter conditions in April.

We explored untracked trees while it piled on, checking out Pumphouse, 12:30, a newly named Andy's Ridge (I discovered a little known stash below Daybreak at about 2:30's line), the aspen grove below Westside's left ridge, and then Hurricane before heading over to Pony for the lift's last day of service for the 2010-11 season.



In Pioneer Ridge we kept in the trees off the left side of Longhorn, and then did Flying Z to Vortex-Dropout Trees.  While it was about an inch or two shallower over on that side, we still found fresh lines everywhere we went.  With the spring break crowds vacating today, the afternoon skiing was a peaceful, quiet change on the hill.

Depending on which report you check, it's supposed to keep snowing throughout the last week here, and probably beyond, for some last, lovely, powder days of the season!


Thank you Steamboat, as usual, it's been a good one!


-See you in the Deep!