Steamboat Feb 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th & 21st....

[Tonyr]

Resort or Ski Area

Steamboat

Date

Feb 17, 2023

Snow Conditions

1. Packed Powder

Skied Steamboat today for the first time in around 25 years. My first impression all these years later is that it feels very similar to Winter Park. The village area and terrain at both places are comparable. The traffic this Friday morning was so bad that it took nearly 4 hours to get to Steamboat from Denver so my son and I only skied a couple of hours this afternoon. We hit a few runs off of the Storm Peak & Morningside Express lifts then went right over to the Christmas Tree Bowl which terrified my brother and I as teenagers. The top part of Christmas Tree Bowl has a very steep pitch but the worst part of this run is short. It was much easier getting down this time, and my son who is 11, skied it like a champ. It was much worse 25 years ago on long thin skis! In any event here are a couple of my better photos from the day. Steamboat skied like a quintessential, bluebird, packed powder, east coast day. It's supposed to dump here later in the week.....

 

[Tonyr]

Today was very similar to yesterday as far as conditions go, another sunny packed powder day. Skied a number of tree runs off of the Pony and Storm Express lifts. I could tell that the tree skiing here must be awesome with fresh snow. After my family went in I skied one last run and did the short hike up to the No Names trail. It was a little mellower than the Christmas Tree Bowl yesterday but still a lot of fun. Here are my photos from the day......

 

[Tonyr]

Got my first powder day at Steamboat, it snowed about 6 to 8 inches while I was out I would guess. The tree skiing with fresh snow was outstanding and lives up to its billing. Skied for about 4 hours, the lines were non-existent which was a little surprising but I'm certainly not complaining. My first run of the day was a short hike up to the East Face which was a big bowl of untouched powder. Then I skied Chute 2, the Christmas Tree Gully, the Triangle 3 Glades, Fletcher Glades, the Closets, Biscuits, Diamond Hatch, and a number of unmarked glades. It was an amazing day, my legs are shot! Here are some photos, it was a top 5 day of this season. A foot of snow is supposed to come down tomorrow....

 

[Edd]

Had a 7”-ish day there myself on top of a good base. Steamboat is a blast, tough not to have a good time there.

 

[WWF-VT]

Nice report from Steamboat. I was there two weeks ago with 18" and 9" snow days and agree it's an awesome place on a powder day.

 

[Tonyr]

Nice report from Steamboat. I was there two weeks ago with 18" and 9" snow days and agree it's an awesome place on a powder day.

The first two days we were here I was wondering to myself if it was worth the extra drive time from Denver. Snow changes everything!

 

[Tonyr]

Had a 7”-ish day there myself on top of a good base. Steamboat is a blast, tough not to have a good time there.

If I had one critique it would be that they upgrade the Morningside Lift to high speed. It would make getting to Steamboat's expert terrain so much easier, right now it's kind of a pain. The terrain on Mt Werner reminds me so much of the Stone Creek Chutes at Beaver Creek. Both have short and steep verticals, a number of chutes to choose from, then long runouts, although I look forward to the runout at Steamboat as it's through awesome low angle glades.

 

[Scottyskis2]

Looking fantastic nice picture s I little jealous

 

[Tonyr]

Looking fantastic nice picture s I little jealous

Thanks!

 

[Bumpsis]

Great pictures - thank you for sharing.

 

[Tonyr]

Skied with the family today, the conditions were not quite as good but similar to yesterday. I'd estimate that 4 to 6 itches came down while we were skiing if I had to guess. My wife and son did their first "hike" to ski terrain working their way up to the East Face on Mt Werner. The way down was one of the most amazing powder bowls that we have all ever skied. Afterwards we did the Triangle 3 glades, which are my favorite glades at Steamboat, then a handful of runs off of the Pony Express chair before we called it a day. Our last day here is tomorrow then we head off to Vail......

 

[Tonyr]

On a interesting side note, I remember being here the first time in 97 or 98 and doing a short hike up to the Christmas Tree Bowl when we skied it. Now when you get off of the Morningside Lift the gate to that trail is right in front of you. I had originally thought the lift must have been at a different placement back then but looking at the trail map from 1998 it looks like Christmas Tree Bowl when we skied it is now called No Names. Everything past Chute 3 was roped off until you got up to where No Names is now at back then. The map from 98 is also more accurate in the way the North St Pat's and East Face kind of veer off and are a little more mellow whereas the current map shows all the runs at the top just kind of blended together....

 

[Tonyr]

Skied our last day at Steamboat, the lines were in full force today at the Sundown and Morningside lifts. Skied Biscuits from the top of Sundown which is the best way down to the Morningside lift. If you go down from the Storm Peak Express chair the terrain is pretty flat and uninteresting, I wish I would have realized that earlier! We then did the hike up to No Names which was the run of the day. While it didn't snow here during the day there was still a ton of left over powder up there. We hit a couple of runs off the Pony Express then called it a day. Loved the experience here but don't think I'd come out of the way to get here again for atleast a couple of years. Here were my photos of the day.....