Local's Opening Days

The Steamboat Ski Area "Offically opened on it's traditional day before Thanksgiving start date but it is never quite official for locals until the top of the mountain opens. This year it came on Friday for the Gondola and Saturday for the Storm Peak lift and Closets to Twilight. I was fortunate enough to be there for both an got some great powder as is almost always the case when they open the top. There was 11 inches on Thursday night along with the YTD snowfall especially on the runs with some shelter or northern aspects (those were SWEET).

The base up top in the trees was better than I expected at the small cost of not sinking in as much since it had consolidated before the last storm (but that makes for a better base). I don’t think I hit anything despite not really worrying about my skis and my overall where the powder leads me style of skiing. Storm Peak face was as nice as you ever see it and Heavenly Daze was great but some of the groomers could use more coverage. Most of that will be cured by some more snowmaking. Friday I was the 2^nd person down north facing Ted’s ridge on the lower mtn and got high calf to high thigh powder otherwise it was high calf to mid-thigh in the trees with a few upside surprises. Saturday I was able to outfox most of the other powder hounds to get 5 runs from Closets to Twilight where I crossed few tracks and found more than a few face shots.

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