When John Denver sang about ‘Rocky Mountain high,’ he wasn’t singing about snow skiing in the state of Colorado. But he should have! Steamboat Springs is a power paradise for skiers. It boasts of 2,965 acres of snow, snow, snow. With its 165 trails, you’re guaranteed never to get bored with the trails or the scenery! It would take you several weeks to enjoy every single one of them.
Steamboat gets boatfuls of snow. The average snowfall is 349 inches. That translates into almost 30 feet of snow a year. That’s a lot of powder – powder that they call Champagne Powder, a term that was created to describe the pure and delightful snow.
The terrain offers a wide variety of trails for all levels of ability. Fourteen percent of the trails are for beginners. Over 40 percent are for intermediate skiers and over 40 are for advances ones. For those that are up to it, Steamboat has a run that is 3 miles long! You can tell the level of difficulty by the trail’s name: Flat Out and Giggle Gulch (beginners), Bear Claw and Lower Concentration (intermediate), and Typhon and Vortex (advanced).
There are many types of chairlifts to get you on the hill for you hours in the powder. There are double chairlifts, triple ones, surface lifts, high-speed quads, a gondola, and even a six-passenger high speed that can move 3,200 people per hour. They are serious about getting you up those mountains!
Do you have youngsters that want to learn how to ski? Steamboat has injected fun into its ski schools for them. For the all-day weeklong ski school, participants get first-rate ski instruction. On Wednesday, they participate in a treasure hunt. Friday, they have a barbeque (if there is good weather) and races.
Steamboat is a 3-hour drive northwest of Denver. There are nonstop flights from seven major airports on five major airlines. Steamboat Springs is considered the most conveniently accessed ski resort in Colorado.