Snow on Storm Mountain this morning

It rained all day yesterday and I awoke to this beautiful sight. As you can see they are making progress in restoring the barn before winter. According to CBS News in Denver Eisenhower Tunnel was closed last night due to a brief but intense snowstorm. Let it snow^3 ... Back to the Steamboat Springs blog main page for more.
250pm update: It looks like it has snowed more during the day and there is now some coverage where the grass is shorter.

Aging of the skier population

Justin over at Ski Blog posted on an article about how the average age of skiers is going up and more people people are wearing helmets. I for one am glad that the average age of skiers is going up for at least one key reason. People seem to be skiing longer and better with age now that I think about it. One of my favorite ski moments is getting dusted on the slopes by someone 20 or more years older than me. It is not an uncommon event here in Steamboat. I am no Olympian but I can get down the hill at a respectable speed and there are a large group of "older" skiers that can drop me without even looking like they are trying. I've even seen some slow down a bit for me and a I quickly tell them to stop that and show me how I need to ski. My new neighbor Pete Wither is a perfect example of this. He don't even break a sweat when he puts me in my place on skis or on a bike.

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Tradeoffs of living in the Mountains

The Mountain jobs blog has an interesting article about the tradeoffs of living in the mountains. Nearly every single one is a positive for me and my family. I miss great Asian food a little and my wife misses shopping a little but there isn't much else. We don't have to drive out of town for that nearly as often as we did to get our Steamboat fix. In fact many or most tradeoffs are actually pluses for me like being more rural and the lack of some things that would otherwise distract me from being outdoors.

It can be daunting to look at housing prices but you also have to consider how much cheaper it is to hop on your mountain bike to a great trail 1 minute away or taking a hike instead of recreational shopping that can add hundreds to your monthly spending without much real satisfaction. It is all a matter of understanding what is important to you, setting goals, picturing living in the mountains and letting your mind figure out how to make it real. I used to say I would retire here but fortunately I realized well before then that it would be a whole lot better to move here when we could spend our best years here raising family. I wish you the best in your quest to spend more time in Steamboat. Whether it is an all out career change, shift, location neutral work or retirement if the need is there spend some time to put together a plan an you may be surprised what you can do.

Give me a call if you ever want to brainstorm or put a plan together to get here. 970-819-6930. I know I am safe to say that you would like to be here more if you are reading this blog :)

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Snow On Sand Mountain above Steamboat Lake

Tom Ross of the Steamboat Pilot has a great article that mentions his weather prediction prowess and gives a little history as he is so adept at doing. The reason I think it is great is that he always seems to come up with some obscure bit of history that reminds you what a special place Steamboat Springs is. Most of the time it is because of how great the people are that made Steamboat what it is.

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Fall has come to Steamboat

There were a couple of hints over the last 2 weeks, colder nights with 3 frosts, more rain and a few turning leaves if you looked but this morning fall hit Steamboat. Entire slopes show signs of changing leaves making fall official at least in my book.

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Steamboat Base Area public improvements are on track

I can't tell you how many times I get asked if there is any way the base area will be ready for ski season. Fortunately there is little question that the Urban Renewal Authority projects at the base of the Steamboat Ski area are on track for a timely completion and under budget to boot. This isn't a big surprise given how much preparation went into this project and the team that is managing it. There have been quite a few surprises where they have had to look for pipes and utilities that were not where they were supposed to be and plenty more they found that no one had any record of. Given that we are lucky to have a very experienced team lead by Joe Kracum who has done the same sort of thing in Vail. See the story in the Steamboat Pilot here
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