Powder Days

The following is a report on the amount of snow we have recieved recently here in Steamboat Springs. I can tell you with no hesitation that it has been much better than the snow report would imply. In Steamboat when the wind blowseven just a little during a storm the snowfall nearly always multiplies 2-5 times in the trees. Looking at the snow totals in a table within the following article I see that there wwas never more than 15 inches reported. I got out for several of the best days (but not nearly as many as I should have). Even on days when they reported 6 inches or so it was knee to thigh deep. On one Monday the reported 15 inches in 24 hours and 7 overnight. There was over 15 inches on the groomed runs and most of the time when I stopped on my fat boards in Closets it was chest deep. I am 6'3". The day before was epic too.

I hope that you and I get a chance to get up soon. This is the best kind of Christmas present I can imagine.

If you feel the need for some virtual powder therapy check out some of my posts from Powder days so far this season:

Powder Skiing in Steamboat Powder skiing pictures
Steamboat Snow and powder skiing
Steamboat Powder Skiing Powder skiing pictures
Sunday Powder Skiing in Steamboat
Powder Skiing today

Quoted from the Steamboat Pilot & Today:
String of powder days goes by in a white blur
By Tom Ross, Staff Reporter Sunday, December 11, 2005

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — It came so fast -- it was a white blur, literally, and when powder piggies finally came up for air Thursday, they needed the calculators on their cell phones to total the snow they'd tracked up in late November and early December.

Steamboat Ski Area reports that Mount Werner has totaled 134 inches of snowfall in the 30 days between Nov. 4 and Dec. 9. However, a more revealing statistic might be the 92 inches that fell at mid-mountain during just 11 days, from Nov. 27 to Dec. 7.

"It seems like the days of old," skier Nelson Carmichael said. "It's nice it kept coming for a while there. Yes, in places it was bottomless. It was always soft and kept building up. It's a lot better than getting 30 inches of light snow overnight on a firm base."

Carmichael won an Olympic bronze medal in mogul skiing at the Albertville (France) Olympics in 1992. He didn't ski many moguls at Steamboat last week.

Steamboat Ski advice

The following is my response to a question asking where I recommend skiing in a comment to a previous post. I thought it might be useful for more people so I'm posting it here as a post of its own my main Steamboat Blog for your reference.

Dave,

Here is my Steamboat Ski advice It would help to know what kind of runs you like to ski but I’ll provide a top level overview for a start.

Groomed runs: Steamboat has excellent groomed terrain. If you want raw speed go for Heavenly Daze right under the Gondola to See-Me towards the bottom. I love ending the day on these runs or catching the fresh cord in the morning to get my heart rate up a little. On the upper mountain I like Strom Peak Face to Cyclone for speed if Cyclone is groomed. It pays to grab the grooming report, they don’t groom Cyclone often but when they do it is sweeet and un-crowded early. If you are smarter and prefer a more measured pace I love High Noon off of the Sundown Express lift to one of the groomed O’clock runs. High Noon is wide and you can go as fast or slow as you like with plenty of room to carve big arcs. If Rolex is rolled (groomed) below Rendevous it is always worth cutting over to that side but it is very fast. The rest of the runs over there are great for a less gripping pace. The Sunshine side around to the right from Sundown is sweet for hero carves right under the Sunshine lift. It would be absolutely perfect with a little faster lift but it is sweet as is. I go there when I need to dial things in.

Bumps: Go for Rolex if it is open or most any run under the Storm Peak or Four Points lift. There are tons of other good runs on the upper mountain. Sneak into Nelson’s Run on the lower mountain if no one is training.

Trees: Steamboat has fantastic tree skiing. I can stay happy in one section of Closets or Shadows all day on a powder day. Snow accumulation tends to multiply in there and it is not uncommon to see 2-5 times the reported totals in the trees. If it has been snowing recently a 5-10 inch day can be knee to thigh deep. It tends to snow hardest after the 5 am report here so don’t be discouraged by a 3-6 inch in snow report (even 1-3 inches can be good) if it is still snowing and there is a bit of a breeze up top. If I tell you much more they will run me out of town but I would check out Morningside, Tomahawk and someone who rode west in wagons. If you have a nose for powder you can find it for days after a storm. One of the best things about spending time in special place like Steamboat is finding its treasures on your own by exploring on your own, following some promising locals or just listening on the lift as people recount their last run so I won't spoil it for you by saying too much.

Steeps: Steamboat is not known for steep skiing but if you ride the Morningside lift to the weather station. You will find plenty of goodness. It’s not Utah but it takes 2 lifts to get to and much of it is North facing so it holds good snow longer. Let me know if you have more specific questions.

Have a great trip!

Jon

Steamboat Olympic Sendoff Ceremony December 30th

The ceremony to send off Steamboat's Olympic Athletes has been pulled in until Dec 30th to coincide with the Olympic Free Style qualitfying trials. Steamboat Springs has a strong Olympic tradition so we want to send off our athletes is style. The event will include a cauldron lighting ceremony and a free concert by Hootie and the Blowfish. National TV coverage is planned for the Olympic Trials on Dec 30th and 31st on NBC and 9 News from Denver plans to cover the sendoff festivities with some likley overlap on the national coverage.

What a great event for our athletes and the town of Steamboat Springs. More details here.

Steamboat Schools

It looks like the schools in Steamboat Springs have earned top grades again. It's nice to have such a convergence of quality of life and schools in a small town but not surprising given the dedication of the local teachers and parents to kids. While these ratings are based on standardized tests, I think if you consider Steamboat's many unique benefits in and out of school you will find this is a great town to raise your kids. As the lucky father of a 2 1/2 year old boy and 4 week old girl that makes me feel pretty good.

Read on below for more details. School Accountability Reports can be viewed online at the Colorado State Board of Education Web site: www.cde.state.co.us/index_sbe.htm Click on the "Accountability Reports" link.

Selected quotes from the Steamboat Pilot:
Steamboat earns top grades By Mike Lawrence Steamboat Pilot

Student academic performance continues to be strong in Steamboat Springs, is improving in South Routt and is declining slightly in Hayden, according to new educational data.

The Colorado Department of Education released its annual School Accountability Reports for schools across Colorado on Tuesday. The reports rate schools on academic performance and growth, based on standardized test results from the 2004-05 school year.

Strawberry Park Elementary School, Steamboat Springs Middle School and Steamboat Springs High School earned overall academic performance ratings of "excellent," the state's top rating. Soda Creek Elementary School earned a rating of "high," the same rating the school earned last year. Strawberry Park Elementary School and Steamboat Springs High School are the only elementary and high schools within a 75-mile radius to earn "excellent" ratings. Although Strawberry Park's performance rating is the same as last year, the school earned an "improvement" rating for academic student growth, meaning more students scored higher on Colorado Student Assessment Program, or CSAP, tests than a year ago.

For the fourth year in a row, Colorado's education department named Strawberry Park a "John Irwin School of Excellence" for ranking in the top 8 percent of state schools in overall academic performance. "We are really proud of our students, teachers and families," Principal Mark MacHale said. "We greatly appreciate the hard work of all involved."

North Routt Community Charter School received a "low" performance rating at the elementary level and a "high" rating at the middle school level.

Steamboat Springs School District Superintendent Donna Howell said that with the small number of students in the charter schools, SAR ratings can be misleading because low scores from one or two students can have a large effect on school averages.

the story here

Neve

Neve has been working very hard to bring us the record snowfall we have been getting here in Steamboat Springs. She gets very tired afterwards but you can tell by the look on her face that she gets a lot of satisfaction out of a job well done. Maybe not as much as her Daddy but it sure looks like a lot. Thanks to Neve the snow is un-believable right now up on the mountain and they are trying to find places to put it all around town. They reported 7 inches last night but it was knee to thigh deep in the trees today. Lem and Andrew came up last night to visit Neve and all of her friends that have come to stay for the season up on the mountain.

Powder Skiing in Steamboat

I thought you might to see Andrew and then Lem up enjoying the bounty of fresh powder Neve brought us last night and today. I hope that you can make it up soon.

Olympic Freestyle Skiing Trails in Steamboat

It looks like the Olympic FreeStyle Trials in Steamboat Springs will be televised starting at 12:30 Mountain time on New Years Eve. I plan to be on the mountain for it with my son Alden and a good camera to take in the action. It's pretty cool that we get these kind of events and I can't wait to share it with Alden. Too bad Neve won't be old enough to get out for long. She watches ski movies with me when we get a chance to stay in tune with current skiing trends and be ready to hang with the other local kids on the slopes. You have to be on your game to do that ;)

U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS IN FREESTYLE SKIING
SATURDAY, DEC. 31 AT 2:30 P.M. ET

U.S. Olympic hopefuls will bump, jump and flip their way through Steamboat, Colo., as the western town plays host to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in freestyle moguls and aerials on New Year's Eve. NBC's coverage will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET with Steve Podborski, Trace Worthington, Robbie Floyd and Alisa Camplin calling the action.

Bloom, along with 2005 World Cup aerials champion Jeret "Speedy" Peterson and 2005 world moguls champion Nate Roberts (Park City, UT) will highlight the action for the men, while the womens 2005 world moguls champion Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT) and U.S. champ Jillian Vogtli (Ellicotville, NY) will bring attention to the women's side as all athletes vie for a spot on the 2006 U.S. Olympic freestyle team.

Roberts and Kearney swept the moguls gold medals last March at the 2005 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships. Roberts became the first U.S. men's world champion while Kearney is the first U.S. woman champion since Ann Battelle won in 1999.

Warren Miller crew in Steamboat

It looks like Steamboat's snow is so good this year that even Warren Miller Entertainment is changing thier plans to be in Steamboat. Too bad we got to the best freshies first on Monday ;) I'm sure the ski area took them to plenty of sweet terrain that isn't open yet so we call all look forward to seeing a rockin' Steamboat session in next fall's installment.

Two of my friends from Boulder and Golden are coming up tonight so I am taking the day off Saturday to ski with them. I was very good this week and worked hard while most of town was up skiing, except for Monday of course. It was a top ten powder day for me and I have skied many of Utah's best storms for years.

Read the story about this and Steamboat's record snowfall here in the Steamboat Pilot. On Sunday and Monday I think that they seriously under reported the snow that was on most runs. Monday they gave a 24 hour snow total of 15 inches and there was 15 inches on the main groomed runs Monday morning first thing. It had snowed all day Sunday and we all know that wouldn't have stayed undisturbed on those runs.