IN THE DEEP

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, we'd have thought it was March out there.



We're on the mountain tomorrow and Wednesday, starting with breakfast at the Bear River from 8 to 9; volunteers welcome, ski buddies needed. Video to come!




A dear thanks to all our camp sponsors and lead coordinators:
Adaptive Adventures, Access Anything, STARS, Steamboat Ski Area, Steamboat Powdercats

This video was taken Monday... when we got about 6 new inches to play on, and a foot in spots. It was my first day up, but Craig's 3rd... it's been a slow December, reminiscent of 2004 perhaps (32" total for the month); but we hope it only means whatever's missing from 2009 will plummet down from the skies in 2010 for an epic January as usual, hopefully a la 1996 style. (216" total for the month! Please note THAT 95-96 season they also only got 34" in December... watch out!)

Not much open until today- Buddys Cyclone Tornado were our only options Monday- but they opened up more terrain with the arrival of all the holiday travelers; we've got some visitors as well so we'll see you up there ~





Stats til 07/08:

This afternoon we spent some time at the Christy Sixpack under still-snowing skies with eight Lift Operations and Maintenance Supervisors in an adaptive equipment training session. After a twenty minute discussion on equipment types, disability awareness, maze and loading preferences, and legalities for adaptive riders, the crew took turns back-loading (pull-back) Craig and his Revolution Pro Comp onto the sixpack, giving Craig several turns down Preview after two weeks off the slopes.

This training is the final stage of an all-department awareness and update training on handling customers with disabilities. We are very proud of to have this opportunity with Steamboat's employees to make our ski area the best it can be for all our visitors and their special needs. Other ski areas go through similar training for their lift operators, and our goal as always is to make Steamboat #1.

Future plans are to have a repeat training session with more staff as well as today's staff who was eager to try the equipment themselves. Due to lack of outriggers, we were not able to put today's participants in the monoski and biski, but many expressed interest to do so, and we'll keep you posted on that when it happens!
It's still snowing, so we'll see you again tomorrow!

Since last I wrote, and despite the all-clear from Dr Sisk, Craig's foot turned a multitude of black and blues while in Myrtle Beach for the holidays, and he finally got the doc to take a second look today... the toe is broken. Unfortunately that meant he had to miss today's foot of freshies, while I made a few turns, broke my toe strap (what's it with TOES?) and tossed myself upside down on 1230's entrance roller. Other than that, it was a glorious day. Although Craig was sincerely missed, I took his favorite turns in his honor with fellow snowboarder Joey Rind. Craig DID get the go-ahead to ski tomorrow despite the toe... yessss!

I met Joey in the Christy line, the Gondy line was around the maze and out to ski school so it was a no brainer to take the lifts up, despite being stopped thrice on Christy. At the top of T-head we made our way to Four Points and started out with fresh tracks down Sunset and into the trees above Moonlight. Easily knee deep in those trees, and glorious on Sunset as well. We made our way up Sundown and did Keith's Ridge to High Noon to One Oclock, all of which virtually untracked. Literally there were 3 tracks on 1:00, so the howling ensued. Despite the line in the Gondy, those 200 peeps spread out far and wide and I saw two people on High Noon and maybe 50 in the Sundown line. EMPTY. That was one of those runs that sparks a "that was so nice, we have to do it twice!"

At the top of Sundown I went to strap in and noticed I'd be missing one... the back toe strap was just simply GONE. Granted, I'd ducktaped it first day this season, but it looked like a good hold. Must have been that tumbler I took off 1:00 to get into those trees... I'm still feeling some vertebrae compression going on, and will prescribe myself a much needed soak later today.

So onward to the repeat run... and beyond that a lap down Storm Peak (FYI, severely windblown) to what Joey calls MiddleBurns and what we call Storm Meadow, into the trees and again up to our knees in untracked goodness. Without a strap and some tired 2-weeks-off legs I made a run for it down Rainbow and got some last tasty pow left side of Rainbow, seemingly up to my thighs but surely I'm mistaken.

A wonderful first day back on the hill in the new year, oh, and it's STILL SNOWING!

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 feet on us is unfortunately sneaking out the back door. We're all a bit disappointed to say the least, but that hasn't been stopping Craig from making turns religiously (well, it is the holiday season!). He went up yesterday morning and mid-day today, both times reporting conditions were above average~ cold, good leftovers, and empty.

I'm a little more finicky myself and have immediate plans to mount the helmet/bike cam on Craig's foot cage so he can fill in with better details when I bag it (as I have the past few days). For clarification, I prefer fresh snow, early morning turns, am ok with minimal visibility and swirling snow, and don't care what temperature it is so long as there's new snow. But then again, I also snowshoe....

Craig's single option in the winter is skiing, and by golly, he's in-it-to-win-it right now. Gearing up for the 1st annual Legends of the Deep Powder Invitational in January, Craig's not only skiing daily, he's also working out at the gym and his skiing shows it. He's bombing bumps and piles of old snow like it's UPS's popcorn. He'd never race, says it's too much "waiting around," but a powder competition? You just wait.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring us some powder but frankly it doesn't look like it; that storm front is puking itself dry somewhere Ft Collins right now... I mean even VEGAS got some. COME ON.

For the record, weathermen of the US, please don't predict "several feet" of snow for us ever. Steamboat's Bermuda Triangle of weather seems to like it best when you say "1-3 inches" instead.

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 of cord? Oh my. It was a all-layers morning, 6° at the summit, giving the snow the lightness we love.

From Storm Peak we headed right over to the sunny side and caught first tracks down 2 O'Clock, almost over Craig's head in spots, we bombed through the bumps like butter all the way down Daybreak without a sound. Silent carving, deLIGHTful.

Up Sundown and down Sunshine Lift Line, through the trees to the right and over to Fawn, again first tracks, and almost too deep to surf with tacky wax and flatter momentum. Big GS turns down Fawn to South Peak, all to ourselves.

Up South Peak and down Westside, maybe 5th tracks or so, again bombing through buttery snow and loving every minute of it, despite the goggle steam and icing corners of the lenses... I made a pitstop into the shack to warm them up at the top of Sundown, and the boys did a lap without me, spending most of it chilling out (literally) on a stopped Sundown lift.

Then onward to our last runs, traversed to Storm Face, through the meadow and down Rainbow; tasty freshies to the left side, down to Storm Express for a top-to-bottom- which included Rainbow again it was so nice. These are the days we live here for.

What's new? They're blasting snow on Moonlight and Vagabond, and they opened Thunderhead lift around 9am... as we inch towards 100% and hopefully a 100" base...

See you in the Deep-

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 without argument that we would just have to ski that untouched face. A little "set-up" on the top (it was about 10° warmer today at 25°), it was just firm enough to float over the fresh for a turnless surf under the liftline down to Cyclone. One word: Wow.

Cyclone promised a glorious second; tucked in the trees away from the wind, this snow was softer and undeniably bottomless. Craig dug himself in pretty good twice; we watched this pristine dream get chewed up before our eyes as riders passed us while digging him out. A true powder run back down to Storm, it was like we had a 2-foot dump last night, only we didn't.

Back up for another few laps... 2nd lap: Sunset had been groomed, but Storm Peak South was just as good as the North side. 3rd lap: Storm North again to our favorite meadow, some exposed rocks kept us skiers left down to an untouched glade next to the Four Points lift shack, and down Rainbow. That one was so nice, we did it twice. Last we hit Buddys, the fresh snow lying in piles on the left but a nice groomer down the middle to BC, and down the Daze, a veritable race course covered in beige snow machine chunks, ice, and attempted cord. Not the best ride down we've seen, but after the rest of the morning's bliss, who cares?

Rubber legged and well fed at the Egg&I, we're off to the hotsprings to soak the kinks out of these early season muscles.

See you in the deep-


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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 the snow was super-loft soft!

BC Lift was all we had from there, and the first lap up was frustrating with about six stops, but they got it smoothed out quick and the crowds made turn after turn after turn among happy shouts of ecstasy. We were some of the happy few to head down Lower Rainbow, its right side had some knee-deep Champagne and a blacktipped weasel sighting, complete with a mouse in his mouth (that's GOT to be some kind of sign). No clear shots of him, as he was bobbing in and out of a foot of fresh.

Fourth lap was down Norther, famous for bumps mid-season, this run was deLIGHTfully soft, fluffy, and bottomless, despite the only monoski-burial of the day. With help from Matt, Craig got dug out and back down the run in no time. Bottomless isn't always good.

Last and most epic of the day, they opened up the Daze at 10am (you literally had to download the Gondola if you wanted down before that- I know, right?? WHAT?), and it was like the freakin' Cowboy downhill- snowcross-like chaotic madness until clusters of powderhounds started filtering off down the right runs; Oops, Teds Ridge, Vertigo. We chose Teds and it was easily the nicest we've seen it in a long time, perfect pitch, perfect snow, face shots; eat your heart out... WE'RE BACK.

Tomorrow they open up Storm (if they don't screw us all and open it this afternoon) Peak and the madness truly begins. FA LA LA, Happy December.

See you in the deep-

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 Saturday.

They announced they plan to open the Gondola and Burgess Creek tomorrow and Storm Peak on Saturday (lifts) and we're excited for more terrain, to say the least. Tomorrow might even be our first powder-blue-bird day, folks; stay tuned. I've got to get some pictures of him for PMGear with his new skis, so expect some good shots over the next couple days-

I'm off to hike the hill behind our house for some cardio work to get me up to speed so I can keep up.

-See you in the deep (for REAL this time)

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 sunny skies are fading though, there's something storming over in Utah, and I noticed one of my Facebook friends in Oregon is "hunkering down, the storms have begun." So I have hope amidst my doubts of an opening in just one short week. Please do your snow dance with me... please.

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? Check. Smartwool layers? Check.

But what's left to do? Bring the Revolution Pro Comp and the old outriggers down from the rafters and throw on that new leg. Put up the bikes. Wax the boards. Pick up our passes. And Open Up The Lifts!

Pick up our passes?? That should be first! Yikes, we need to get on that early next week before the lines start forming and the locals start frothing at the bit...

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 makes the trails stand out better. What an amazing way to look at the mountain. Try it out. It's somewhere between simulated Wing-Suit sky diving and Google Earth. Now all I need is a joystick until the hill opens... 14 days, 18 hours remaining.

And yes, it's been snowing off and on all day.

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 Creek prediction of 30% more this year is off to a running start...

Craig got his fat PMGear Bro powder skis delivered via UPS today, and we popped in a Warren Miller flick from '03 to celebrate.

Hopefully there will be twice as much on the deck tomorrow- 20 days, 9 hours and counting... is that wind I hear?...

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, altostratus and nimbostratus (mostly the latter). The temperature dropped at about 1pm yesterday but the wind didn't pick up until early today, as it typically does about 8 hours before we get hit.

Yesterday Craig and I questioned the start date of snowmaking, remembering it was always one of these first two weeks of November, depending on temperature. It has to stay cold, we reminded each other... and subsequently I had a dream that we were looking at Concentration and saw the snow guns blasting...

I got a text from a friend in southern VA expressing his jealousy about an hour ago when he saw the warning and I couldn't help but smile. Tonight folks we will have officially entered WINTER.

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 a base, our impatience has finally begun.
Perhaps part of the anticipation... Craig and I have begun to organize ourselves and our fundraising efforts for our 4th Annual All Mountain Ski Camp with Adaptive Adventures, Steamboat Powdercats and Steamboat Ski Area. By writing press releases about deep fresh snow and reviewing photos from last year, it's no wonder we've finally started chomping at the bit. We are also adding a new event to follow this camp (teaser) as well as a kids camp, so our hands will be full for the next couple of months as we grow what is already a proudly successful event. Stay Tuned...

-See you in the Deep