ColoradoSkiHistory.com

[DonaldMReif]

Normally, this would have been a weekend that my dad and I would spend in Breckenridge. But thanks to some timeshare trade-ins, we traded President's Day Weekend to go to Steamboat.

I will post each day as it goes.

Day 1:
This day started rather roughly, since we made the decision to trudge through some deep snow to get to the Right 'O Way ski trail and Christie Peak Express lift. I realized in the afternoon that there is a route avoiding the ski in route. This walking exhausted us quickly.

Much of the day was spent shrouded in whiteout conditions with rough trails, a visit from the White Witch of Narnia , and very poor visibility , (we took a picture during a ride up the Storm Peak Express lift, looking straight up the lift. Look how low the visibility is.)

For a good idea of the visibility conditions we encountered, it happens that we skied Vail twice in whiteout conditions during the 2008-2009 ski season.

This picture we took riding up the Avanti Express lift in a blizzard will give you a good idea of the conditions we encountered:


Day 2: Valentines Day

On my determining of runs, we did about 30 runs! A number of these were actually just one long run split up into several segments, each the length of one trail.

We started by walking out towards the lifts. The route we took was different from yesterday's route. Instead of trudging up a very deep snowpacked track, we took a route cutting across a road between a few buildings into Christie Base (the Christie III lift wasn't operating, so we hiked up to the Right 'O Way trail). Then we traveled into Gondola Base, and traveled up the Christie Peak Express lift.

After skiing Main Drag, we took the Thunderhead Express lift, and while in this area, skied Vagabond and Heavenly Daze. Both runs were still a little bit moguled, but better than yesterday thanks to clearer visibility. On Vagabond, we actually started ABOVE a cloud , went through a cloud, and below the cloud . After these two runs, we did a bathroom break at Thunderhead.

From Thunderhead, we skied down through Burgess Creek on Blizzard, and went into Pioneer Ridge. While off the Pony Express lift, we did Longhorn. On the second lap, we traveled around on the difficult trail Cinch, and then skied down Longhorn to Wapiti, exiting back to Storm Peak, and skiing down Drop Out to the Storm Peak Express lift.

Our first run off the Storm Peak Express was Buddy's Run, which although rough was better than yesterday (yesterday, we couldn't see a thing as we traveled down the trail, with only the trees and BAR-UE lift as landmarks). After that, we did Storm Peak South to Dusk to Rainbow. On the third Storm Peak Express ride, we took the Singles line, and I watched a significant amount of snow fall off the communications cables near the top of the lift, while in a chair. The com cables bounced rather high from the snow falling off.

We then headed into Morningside Park on Cowboy Coffee. After a ride on the Morningside lift, we traveled down the powdery and steep noises of Alarm Clock, before pushing the Snooze Bar and returning to Morningside Lift.

Then we returned to the main mountain by way of Over Easy and Buddy's Run and Tornado Lane. We then took the Burgess Creek lift up and skied Tower back to Thunderhead. At Thunderhead, we took in (a little bit of a late) lunch. We both had hot dogs.

After lunch, we were going to head to Sunshine Peak, the only section we still had yet to ski. However, we took a little bit of a longer route, by traveling down to the Storm Peak Express lift, riding it up, and skiing Storm Peak South to Dusk to Rainbow to Moonlight to the Sundown Express lift. After riding the Sundown Express lift, we skied down High Noon and rode the Sunshine Express lift. Dad took a rest at the top, so I skied down Tomahawk on my own. Tomahawk was actually in the best condition of any run I skied today. After riding back up the Sunshine Express, we both skied down Sunshine Lift Line to Rendezvous Way and Lower High Noon before riding back up the Elkhead lift.

From the top of Elkhead, we skied back along Tower and down Vagabond to the Right 'O Way trail and then back to the Storm Meadows Condos.

Conditions were a whole lot better (in the visibility sense of things), although there were some low visibility periods at the top of Storm Peak and some snow throughout the day.

Today might as well be the calm before the storm (two to three inches expected to fall here in Steamboat tomorrow).

We're going to be watching the Steamboat Valentine's Day Torchlight Parade tonight. I don't know if the photos will turn out that good.

Day 3:

The real set back here was that Dad fractured his fibula.

What happened was this: we had entered Morningside Park after doing a number of runs on Sunshine Peak. After entering on Cowboy Coffee, we went up Morningside and took a lap on Alarm Clock and Snooze Bar.

Then we went up again, and the Morningside Lift Line looked (with the exception of the open mogul area at the top) like a good idea to me.

While I made it down without any problems, Dad took a while coming down. He was acting like he had sprained his ankle. He thought he couldn't make it down, so he had the lift attendant at the bottom arrange for ski patrol to meet him at the top. They arrived shortly after we got off.

I got one of our condo keys in case I went back to the condo, plus the camera, and Dad was hauled off in a toboggan to First Aid at the base.

While on my own, I went down to the bottom of Storm Peak, and went up the Storm Peak Express lift twice (first time to do Rainbow, second to do a repeat of Tornado), cutting time close. Then I traveled up Burgess Creek, then down to Thunderhead and down Vagabond to Right 'O Way to the base, then up the Christie Peak Express lift, and finally down Voodoo, where a ski patroller got me a ride from the ski-in to the First Aid clinic.

We discovered that Dad fractured his fibula, so he's going to be on crutches for at least four weeks.

The pictures I took while skiing by myself include pictures of the Storm Peak Express, Burgess Creek, and Christie Peak Express lifts, and several views from Voodoo and the top of Christie Peak, one of them of a freight train on the railroad line through Steamboat.

The plan is that I ski on my own for a few hours tomorrow morning.

Day 4:

I skied for about two hours this morning. I did Vagabond, Blizzard, Buddy's Run, Rainbow, Moonlight, Tomahawk, and Sunshine Lift Line.
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Fantasy time traveler

[trooper1556]

Visability was good in the trees... i found knee deep off pony & t-head all day

[wpmjskierdude]

Gotta love Steamboat weather. One time (I wish I had a picture of this) I remember looking out from the Thunderhead on a sunny day up there down the gondola line as it disappeared into the clouds. But anyway it sounds like there was some great snow this weekend. I hope you skied Shadows. Best place in the world for open trees and knee-deep powder.
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Matt

[caroth]

I got nothing to add except this picture from Sunday, 2-14-10.



We should have got together at the Slope Side since so many members were there.

I had no problems finding knee deep everywhere in the trees. Too many people and lift lines. Thanks to Chris for inviting me to the hill for the day.

[brad]

wow, everyone was in Steamboat over the weekend! We found powder all day, one of the better days i've had this year.

Here were a few pictures:

powder on morningside


skiing under the pony express


looking at the BC lift line


storm peak

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-Brad

ColoradoSkiHistory.com

[caroth]

Ok, so where did everyone stay? We were at the Celebrity Resorts - Hilltop. Great price for the room, but a little old.

[brad]

my dad and i stayed at the grand. we got a sweet deal though, 150 for 2 bed suite plus breakfast.
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-Brad

ColoradoSkiHistory.com

[DonaldMReif]

Storm Meadows Condos at Christie Base.

This was a time where the facilities of the ski resort were better than the lodging.

Our lodging was very rundown with problems.

Here's a short list of the condo problems:

1. The keys were not working. Either something was wrong with the tumblers, the door frames were ajar, or the keys were slightly bent. In any case, no amount of jiggling the key or jostling the doorknob would open the door.
2. One bathroom door couldn't close.
3. One bathroom light was out.
4. Some of the other elements like one ceiling light were not in condition.
5. The building was not handicap-accessible.
6. The elevator only went between the sixth and third floors. The floors below it were not handicap. Since we parked at Level 5, this meant having to take two flights of stairs after getting to the third floor, so when we checked out, we had a guy bring the car around to the road behind the condos.
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Fantasy time traveler

[DonaldMReif]

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Pictures of the repainted Thunderhead Express.



Storm Peak and Pioneer Ridge.

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Storm Peak Express pictures.

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Views at the top of Christie Peak.



Watch the freight train make its way up the Yampa Valley.



Top of Sunshine Express.



Riding up the Storm Peak Express in zero visibility.



White trees.











And more white trees.



I pose at the top of Storm Peak. Look at the amount of snow on the trail sign in the background .

Lastly:


























































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Fantasy time traveler

[DonaldMReif]

For the rest of the album:

http://s638.photobucket.com/albums/uu110/DonaldMReif/Steamboat%20Ski%20Resort%20-%20Presidents%20Day%20Weekend%202010/
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Fantasy time traveler