Steamboat Springs — Routt County’s snowfall late Monday and early Tuesday has the Steamboat Ski Area teetering at the brink of a 400-inch season and made for record-breaking measurements.

For the first time on record, the Steamboat Ski Area has seen three straight months — December, January and February — with at least 100 inches of snow. Ski Corp. spokeswoman Heidi Thomsen said the resort’s current records go back to the winter of 1979-80. The resort’s current total snowfall is 399 inches at mid-mountain.

“This is a really big winter,” Thomsen said. “I actually don’t remember skiing through this much snow, ever.”

Riding up the Morningside lift Tuesday afternoon, Jane Watson of Sacramento, Calif., wasn’t surprised to hear the numbers associated with Steam­boat’s memorable season.

“It shows,” Watson said. “You’re still finding little spots of fresh powder in there. I don’t think anybody’s having a bad day.”

With 40 days left before the resort’s April 6 closing, this season already is Steamboat’s sixth-snowiest. The resort needs just less than 50 inches of snow for the snowiest winter on record at Mount Werner. Thomsen said the chances are good.

“That’s a lot of days left,” she said. “In the past few years, we’ve gotten a fair amount of snow in March. Not 100 inches, but 50 to 60 inches.”

Steamboat’s season of big snow wasn’t expected and didn’t start early. Citing warm and dry conditions, Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. delayed its Nov. 21 opening nine days to allow more time for snowmaking. And for months, federal climate experts have predicted a milder and drier winter due to a moderate La Niña effect in the Pacific. Those predictions finally took hold in recent weeks, as Steamboat saw little snow, many sunny days and several daily high temperatures above freezing. Similar conditions returned Tuesday afternoon and are expected to continue until this weekend, when another snowstorm is expected to hit the area.

“It looks like a decent storm this weekend,” said Mike Chamberlain, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction. “And it looks like it’s going to favor the northern mountains.”

But looking ahead, local skiers and snowboarders can expect more conditions similar to the past two weeks. Chamberlain said the forecast for the rest of the season shows a 40 to 50 percent chance of above-normal temperatures and a 33 percent chance of below-normal precipitation.

While waiting for a friend on the Flying Z Gulch run Tuesday afternoon, Sam Adkins of Washington, D.C., and Scott Zarecor of Iowa said they originally had planned a trip to Summit County but were more than happy with their diversion to Steamboat.

“We had three powder days in Jackson Hole last month,” Zarecor said. “Today, we’re pretty stoked.”

Adkins was making his first trip to Steamboat since graduating from The Lowell Whiteman School in 1993.

Steamboat is not alone in enjoying a record-breaking season. On Tuesday, Colorado Ski Country USA reported the season’s 60th powder day, on which at least one resort received five or more inches of snow. Southwest Colorado has been particularly blanketed in powder this winter. While Steamboat sits at the precipice of 400 inches, resorts such as the Wolf Creek Ski Area are flirting with the 500-inch mark.

 By Joel Berliner
February 16, 2008

Washington Post

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Just west of the Continental Divide, high in the Colorado Rockies, tucked away but known and acknowledged as a paragon of skiing, lies Steamboat Springs. It is a perfect retreat for the ski and travel enthusiast who yearns for an amazing mountain journey and a destination with character, charm and heritage.
As we land at nearby Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden, Colo., it is snowing furiously, 8 inches in the past 24 hours, another 6 the day we arrive, all boding well for the week ahead. We ride through the town of Steamboat Springs, a quaint outpost of 9,000 people filled with restaurants and shops a mere three miles from the ski resort.
Steamboat Springs has a Western tradition, a cowboy tradition, rooted in the ranching lifestyle of its origins. The town is full of old buildings from the beginning of the last century.
We are staying at the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel, a beautiful modern building at the base of the ski mountain. We have a one-bedroom suite with vaulted ceilings, a large sitting area, fireplace, dining area, full kitchen and fabulous bedroom with a balcony overlooking the steaming outdoor pool and the valley below. The Steamboat Grand has a fitness center; health spa; large, beautiful lobby; and live entertainment nightly in the lounge and lobby. With 327 luxuriously appointed rooms and suites, it is the center for activities at the resort.
Dinner our first night is in Harwigs-L’Apogee, a terrific restaurant in the middle of town. Owner Jamie Jenny has created a masterpiece in fine dining for the past 28 years in a small, cozy and beautifully appointed space with just 14 tables. Pheasant with beets and goat cheese is fabulous, and medallions of venison is phenomenal. Most amazing is the wine list, with a depth to rival that at the best restaurants on both coasts. The restaurant is a revelation in the Colorado Rockies.
Another half-foot of snow has fallen as the sun rises. There’s a knock at my door, and Black Tie Ski Rentals has arrived to fit my boots and skis in my room. This innovative service takes the pain out of the ski-rental process, fitting you with the best, most up-to-date equipment, in this case a set of K2 Apache parabolic all-condition skis, and then letting you pick up equipment and drop it off slopeside each day with no hassles. Black Tie Ski Rentals, operating at 11 resorts in the Rockies, is an idea whose time has come.
We ride the gondola to midmountain. Steamboat Springs is one of America’s premier ski mountains; its registered nickname is Ski Town USA. More Olympic alpine athletes are claimed to live in or train in Steamboat Springs than in any other location. Its ski tradition goes back to 1913, when Carl Howelsen, a Norwegian immigrant, introduced alpine ski jumping. Those ski jumps are still in use in the middle of town on Howelsen Hill. Billy Kidd, a gold medalist in the 1964 Winter Olympics, hailed from Steamboat and still gives free ski clinics daily on the mountain.
The Steamboat Ski Resort mountain is massive, with breathtaking runs spread out across thousands of acres. We plunge in, taking diamond runs down the front of the mountain, and then ride back up in the gondola. We take some intermediate runs from Thunderhead Lodge into the center of the mountain and then go up into the clouds in a blizzard to Storm Peak at 10,372 feet. The diamond runs from the top are exhilarating, with fresh powder flying in our wake. We come back to the top and traverse to Sunshine Peak on the far south of the mountain to test the intermediate runs there.

We stop for lunch at the center of the mountain at the legendary Hazie’s in the Thunderhead Lodge. The snow has stopped, and the sun is emerging from the clouds, brilliant blue skies behind them. Hazie’s has an amazing view of the resort and the valley below, and in its upscale accommodations a succulent lamb T-bone is a ski lunch like no other.
 

We finish off the day with a series of heart-pounding runs down Storm Peak and test myriad trails on the interior center of the mountain in brilliant sunshine before calling it a day. Besides, we are scheduled for a massage at the Grand Spa at the Steamboat Grand Resort. Dinner is in the Cabin, the hotel’s main restaurant, a charming room with excellent service and a fabulous venison fillet.
 

The evening brings snow and more snow, another 10 inches or more of the champagne powder for which Steamboat is famous. We rise with the dawn and are on the gondola as it opens to break in the fresh snow. It is transcendent. We head straight to the far north end of Werner Mountain, down Buddy’s Run, named for Olympic athlete and Steamboat legend Buddy Werner, and then Longhorn, an isolated trail at the top of the mountain where the powder is knee-deep.
 

It is still snowing, and half the time we are skiing in the clouds, but the powder flies as we cut fresh lines in the snow. It’s a skier’s dream as we tackle runs well above our pay grade, flying down diamond slopes before the fresh powder is gone. By 1 p.m., we are done and head back to the hotel. This has been a Steamboat classic, a powder morning par excellence.
 

In the afternoon, we take an excursion with Sweet Pea Tours to Strawberry Park Hot Springs, an iconic Steamboat destination where ancient natural hot springs are channeled into rustic pools. We soak in splendid isolation at 105 degrees. Mineral rich and soothing, Strawberry Park Hot Springs more than lives up to its reputation for an idealized nature soak amid the snow and the open air.
 

A number of natural hot springs are in the area, hence the name Steamboat Springs, although the namesake spring, which made a sound like a steam engine, is long-gone. Strawberry Park Hot Springs carries on the tradition.
 

In a converted stable in the middle of town, chef and co-owner Rocky LeBrun has brought his Boston-Irish charm and impeccable cooking to Antares. Crimini mushroom puree is excellent, prawns with a Bengali rub and tomato chutney are amazing, and elk medallions on wild rice is a terrific finale to a delicious meal.
 

We start the next morning with a massage at the Sol Day Spa in the neighboring Sheraton Steamboat Springs, where the masseuse takes the kinks out of ski-ravaged muscles. It is a necessary indulgence and leaves me ready for another day of mountain challenge.
 

The day is crystal clear, the sun brilliant and the slopes fantastic. Each day has been different, a get-acquainted day, a powder day, and now groomed runs giving new meaning to the mountain. We focus on the slopes off Sunshine Peak — fabulous long, steep, groomed excursions that enable us to fly down the mountain, working our technique, plunging ahead with gleeful abandon.
 

Lunch at Ragnar’s, the other signature upscale mountain dining experience, is fantastic, with thick, hot mushroom soup with wild rice, and a yellowtail sandwich with cream sauce, washed down with a couple of Stella Artois beers. Then it’s back to the slopes, down the Sunshine Peak runs a couple more times, across the mountain to Buddy’s Run on the far side before ending the day with thunderous treks down Storm Peak. Finally, we go back to the front of the mountain to take the tightly groomed diamond racing run of See Ya before calling it a day.
 

Dinner at Cafe Diva is a culinary experience from chef Kate Rench and her co-owners. The cafe is located in a small space in a shopping area near the slopes, but there is nothing small about its aspirations and quality. A watercress-and-fig salad with locally produced goat cheese is fabulous. Diver scallops are wonderful, and an elk fillet with foie gras is nothing short of a revelation.
 

After dinner, we walk across the street to the Tugboat, a Steamboat Springs institution where live music is always first and foremost. The Chris LeBlanc Band from Baton Rouge, La., is pounding out high-wattage blues with a power and intensity that is infectious.
 

Mr. LeBlanc is a guitar wizard, carrying on the long tradition of the blues and reinforcing the Tugboat’s deserved reputation as the place to hang at night in Steamboat Springs.
 

On our last day to ski, we are on the mountain early. It is snowing again, and the top is shrouded in clouds. We ply the lower mountain and then make our way to Sunshine Peak for a series of exquisite top-to-bottom runs down the High Noon and Two O’Clock trails — yes, there are One O’Clock and Three O’Clock runs, too. It is blind skiing at the top, where the clouds and snow are destroying visibility, before we come into the clear and speed down the tightly groomed slopes again and again for some of the best runs of the ski trip.
 

We cross the mountain to take on Buddy’s Run in the clouds again and then a final, exhilarating high-speed run down Storm Peak. The day is slipping away. We finish strong down the front slopes; take a final trip down the diamond racing run, See Ya; and we are done. Our legs are rubber, our hearts are pounding, our joy is absolute.
 

Dinner our last evening is at Riggio’s in the middle of town, a comfortable Italian stalwart where owners Rich and Stacy Most have grown from their Buddha’s Burrito fame of the ’90s to a new level. Pasta e fagioli is great, steamed mussels are in a lovely fra diavolo sauce, and the portobello ravioli with shrimp and lobster is fabulous. A large space that is popular with the locals, Riggio’s is a restaurant that feels like home.
 

As we pack to leave in the morning, the sky is a crystal-clear blue. Our entire experience at Steamboat has exceeded all expectations. The mountain shimmers as I follow its line from peak to peak and re-create from the ground our adventures in the sky.
 

It’s a wistful moment, proof of a week well spent flying down the slopes of an intense, snow-covered track of land on a mountain worthy of the task. Steamboat Springs is truly such a place. From fine dining to ridiculously excellent skiing, fabulous snow and a setting of heritage and character, this is a skier’s destination well worth the trek to this far corner of the Rockies, beyond the Continental Divide.

It is hard to imagine any time in history when such rampant pessimism about the economy has existed with so little evidence of serious trouble.

True, retail sales fell 0.4% in December and fourth quarter real GDP probably grew at only 1.5% annual rate. It is also true that in the past six months manufacturing production has been flat, new orders for durable goods have fallen at a 0.8% annual rate, and unemployment blipped up to 5%. Soft data for sure, but nowhere near the end of the world.

It is most likely that this recent weakness is a payback for previous strength. Real GDP surged at a 4.9% annual rate in the third quarter, while retail sales jumped 1.1% in November. A one month drop in retail sales is not unusual. In each of the past five years, retail sales have reported at least three negative months. These declines are part of the normal volatility of the data, caused by wild swings in oil prices, seasonal adjustments, or weather. Over-reacting is a mistake.

A year ago, most economic data looked much worse than they do today. Industrial production fell 1.1% during the six months ending February 2007, while new orders for durable goods fell 3.9% at an annual rate during the six months ending in November 2006. Real GDP grew just 0.6% in the first quarter of 2007 and retail sales fell in January and again in April. But the economy came back and roared in the middle of the year - real GDP expanded 4.4% at an annual rate between April and September.

With housing so weak, the recent softness in production and durable goods orders is understandable. But housing is now a small share of GDP (4.5%). And it has fallen so much already that it is highly unlikely to drive the economy into recession all by itself. Exports are 12% of the economy and are growing at a 13.6% rate. The boom in exports is overwhelming the loss from housing.

Personal income is up 6.1% during the year ending in November, while small-business income accelerated in October and November, during the height of the credit crisis. In fact, after subtracting income taxes, rent, mortgages, car leases and loans, debt service on credit cards and property taxes, incomes rose 3.9% faster than inflation in the year through September. Commercial paper issuance is rising again, as are mortgage applications.

Some large companies outside of finance and home building are reporting lower profits, but the over-reaction to very spotty negative news is astounding. For example, Intel’s earnings disappointed, creating a great deal of fear about technology. Lost in the pessimism is the fact that 20 out of 24 S&P 500 technology companies that have reported earnings so far have beaten Wall Street estimates.

Models based on recent monetary and tax policy suggest real GDP will grow at a 3% to 3.5% rate in 2008, while the probablility of recession this year is 10%. This was true before recent rate cuts and stimulus packages. Now that the Fed has cut interest rates by 175 basis points, the odds of a huge surge in growth later in 2008 have grown. The biggest threat to the economy is still inflation, not recession.

Yet many believe that a recession has already begun because credit markets have seized up. This pessimistic view argues that losses from the subprime arena are the tip of the iceberg. An economic downturn, combined with a weakened financial system, will result in a perfect ftorm for the multi-trillion dollar derivatives market. It is feared that cascading problems with inter-connected counterparty risk, swaps and excessive leverage will cause the entire “house of cards,” otherwise known as the U.S. financial system, to collapse. At a minimum, they fear credit will contract, causing a major economic slowdown.

For many, this catastrophic outlook brings back memories of the Great Depression, when bank failures begot more bank failures, money was scarce, credit was impossible to obtain, and economic problem spread like wildfire.

This outlook is both perplexing and worrisome. Perplexing , because it is hard to see how a campfire of a problem can spread to burn down the entire forest. What Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recentl estimated as $100 billion loss on subprime loans would represent only 0.1% of the $100 trillion in combined assets of all U.S. households and U.S. non-farm, non-financial corporations. Even if losses ballooned to $300 billion, it would represent less than 0.3% of the total U.S. assets.

Beneath every dollar of counterparty risk, and every swap, derivative, or leveraged loan, is a real economic asset. The only way credit troubles could spread to take down the entire system is if the economy completely fell apart. And that only happens when government policy goes wildly off track.

In the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve allowed the money supply to collapse by 25%, which caused a dangerous deflation. In turn, this deflation caused massive bank failures. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, Herbert Hoover’s tax hike pased in 1932, and then FDR’s alphabet soup of new agencies, regulations and anticapitalist government activity provided the coup of grace. No wonder thousands of banks failed and unemployment ballooned to 20%.

But in the U.S. today, the Federal Reserve is extremely accommodative. Not only is the federal funds rate well below the trend in nominal GDP growth, but real interest rates are low and getting lower. In addition, gold prices have almost quadrupled during the past six years, while the consumer price index rose more than 4% last year.

These monetary conditions are not conducive to a collapse of credit markets and financial intitutions. Any financial institution that goes under does so because of its own mistakes, not because money was too tight. Trade protectionism has not become a reality, and while tax hikes have been proposed, Congress has been unable to push one through.

Which brings up an intersting thought: If the U.S. financial system is really as fragile as many people say, why should we go to such lengths to save it? If a $100 billion, or even $300 billion, loss in the subprime loan world can cause the entire system to collapse, maybe we should be working hard to buld a better system that is stronger and more reliable.

Pumping massive amounts of liquidity into the economy and pumping up government speding by giving money away through rebates may create more problems than it helps to solve. Kicking the can down the road is not a positive policy.

The irony is almost too much to take. Yesterday everyone was worried about excessive consumer spending, a lack of saving, exploding debt levels, and federal budget deficits. Today, our government is doing just about everything in its power to help consumers borrow more at low rates, while it is running up the budget deficit to get people to spend more. This is the tyranny of the urgent in an election year and it’s the development that ivestors should really worry about. It reads just like the 1970’s.

The good news is that the U.S. financial system is not as fragile as many pundits suggest. Nor is the economy showing anything other than normal signs of stress. Assuming a 1.5% annualized growth rate in the fourth quarter, real GDP will have grown by 2.8% in the year ending December 2007 and 3.2% in the second half during the height of the so-called credit crunch. Initial unemployment claims, a very consisten canary in the coal mine for recessions, are nowhere near a level of concern.

Because all debt rests on a foundation of real economic activity, and the real economy is still resilient, the current red alert about a crashing house of cards looks like another false alarm. Warren Buffett, Wilbur Ross and Bank of America are buying , and there is still $1.1 trillion in corporate cash on the books. The bench of potential buyers on the sidelines is deep and strong. DOW 15,000 looks much more likely than DOW 10,000. Keep the faith and stay invested. It’s a wonderful buying opportunity.

Steamboat Springs — Tim Kitching and Bruce Hill were so taken by the Cowboy Downhill last year that they went out of their way to see it again.

“We’re in Breckenridge (on vacation) this year, so we hired a car and came up for the 34th Cowboy Downhill,” said Kitching, of London. “Seven thousand miles for the Champagne Powder and the Cowboy Downhill — and the Fat Tire.”

Hill, of Inverness, Scotland, also fancies the curious Steam­boat staple.

“I love the way they have no fear — either no fear or no brains,” Hill said of the cowboys. “Every single one of them collapses at the first jump.”

As one of few cowboys who wasn’t strapping on a pair of skis or a snowboard for the first time Tuesday, Ray Thurston might take issue with Hill’s comment. Thurston, a bull rider from Tabernash, is a former J3 Junior Olympic Alpine racer and champion of the 2007 Cowboy Downhill. He stayed upright throughout a swift run in the dual slalom race and became a two-time champion with a time of 25.63 seconds.

But shortly before that performance, two of Thurston’s friends said that when it comes to the Cowboy Downhill, people like him are the exception, not the rule.

“We’re the crowd pleasers,” Dusty Shipp said of himself and Jeremy Sparks, who are both from Wyoming. “We crash a lot.”

“Me and Dusty, we’re the epitome of this thing,” added Sparks, who guessed about 5 percent of the event’s 70 cowboys were capable skiers or snowboarders. “They need to have two sections: one for pros and one for bros.”

The dual slalom race won by Thurston was followed by the Cowboy Downhill’s most crowd-pleasing event: a mass-start stampede pitting all the cowboys against each other in a chaotic race down Stampede. Shawn Hogg, a bull rider from Odessa, Texas, won that event.

The course for both events is accentuated by a large jump in the middle that claimed more than a few rookie skiers and riders, including Miss Rodeo Arizona, Katie Hill, who won the title for best wreck. It was only her second time in a pair of skis.

It also was Texan Jerod John­ston’s second time on skis. His first time was Monday. After a less-than-graceful showing in the dual slalom race, Johnston was happy with his performance considering how new he is to the sport.

“I wiped out pretty good,” Johnston said. “I was nervous as hell, but I impressed myself.”

With all the crashes that took place Tuesday, numbing influences were welcome. Bud Light sponsored the event, and it didn’t take much effort to get plenty of frosty beers into the hands of competitors.

The Cowboy Downhill is scheduled to coincide with the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver each year. In addition to being a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association or the Professional Bull Riders Association, participants must be entered at the stock show.

In addition to these requirements, participants must wear chaps and cowboy hats. Some additional cowboy flair was thrown into the dual slalom race. Once through the course, racers had to lasso a Steamboat Ambassador and saddle a horse before crossing the finish line. Cowboys loosely followed those requirements, with most simply throwing a rope at the ambassador and a saddle at the horse in a mad dash for the finish.

As one participant told a Cowboy Downhill announcer after his race, “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.”

Construction crews continue the work of installing the new Christie Peak Express high-speed, six-passenger chairlift at the base of the Steamboat Ski Area last week. Enlarge photo Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp./courtesy

Steamboat Springs — With the start of the 2007-08 ski season 16 days away, work on the new Christie Peak Express six-passenger chairlift is accelerating at Steamboat Ski Area.

“It’s coming along quite nicely,” ski area spokesman Mike Lane said Friday.

Lane said the mid-station, which gives skiers and snowboarders the option of disembarking at the top of the Headwall trail or continuing on to Christie Summit, was installed early last week.

The drive shaft motor for the chairlift was scheduled to be installed Friday, he added. The lower lift terminal is scheduled to be installed as early as Tuesday.

The new Leitner-Poma of America chairlift will replace three lifts — Preview, Headwall and Christie II — at the ski base. The new lift’s lower terminal is approximately where the lower Headwall terminal sat, with an angle station, for unloading only, just above the top of Southface. Its upper terminus is where Christie II formerly unloaded.

Christie Peak Express will have a length of roughly 4,700 feet and a capacity to move 3,200 people per hour, which would be 400 people more per hour than the ski area’s gondola. The new express lift will cut the ride time to the summit of Christie Peak by more than two-thirds, from 15 minutes to less than five minutes.

In addition, five magic carpets — Tenderfoot, Colt, Filly, Tumbleweed and Sidewinder — located throughout the base area will be upgraded, realigned and lengthened. The new Preview lift, using the repositioned Southface lift, will be realigned to conform to the re-grading of the beginner terrain, extend further up Headwall and increase capacity from a double to a triple chairlift.

To powder partisans, these measure up to Warren Miller-like conditions. Two feet of fresh flakes have fallen overnight and the Colorado Rockies around Steamboat Springs lie blanketed under a duvet of deep, unrumpled white.

A wide-tracked snowcat grinds up a hillside, stopping near the top. Ten skiers and riders pile out the back door and gaze down the slope of flawless fluff. For several, it will be their first opportunity to make first tracks.

The participants on this back-of-beyond adventure are not the tail-wagging powder-hounds one normally associates with snowcat operations. Instead, most are blue-trail, recreational skiers. Yesterday, they carved turns down the groomed runs of the Steamboat Ski Resort. Today, they’re going to tackle the back country on a trip specifically designed to provide intermediate skiers with Warren Miller moments.

“If you are a strong intermediate who can ski groomers with nice parallel turns, you’re ready to at least come and try it out here with us,” claims Steamboat Powdercats guide Kevin Owens. “We’ll help you learn to ski the powder, which is not as hard as many people think.”

Many snowcat operations open their trips to intermediates, but few actually tailor trips specifically for less-than-expert skiers and riders. Steamboat Powdercats is an exception. Its 10,000 acres of Forest Service land around Buffalo Pass northeast of town includes slopes varying from steep and deep to more shallow and open. That variety of terrain allows them to run trips for a variety of capacities.

“We separate by ability so we’re not placing intermediate skiers with those of higher ability levels,” says manager Kent Vertrees. “Intermediates don’t have to feel stressed because experts are there, and they don’t have to feel like they’re holding people up.”

Today’s group comes from both ends of the country and points in between. Ages range from middle school to middle aged. Eight have skis and two ride snowboards. At least one of the participants claims a fair amount of previous powder experience.

Steamboat Powdercats provides fat skis or snowboards as part of the package, so everyone has appropriate gear. Avalanche beacons are also distributed, even though the intermediate-level slopes are considered safe from sliding.

After advising skiers to make sure they get a good solid click when stepping into bindings, Vertrees goes over the rules of the day.

Never ski below the lead guide. Always ski with a buddy. Be aware of unmarked hazards. If it looks like a rock covered with snow, it probably is a rock covered with snow. Don’t use wrist straps. It’s better to drop a pole than have a shoulder ripped from the socket. Always stay close together.

“We try to conserve powder out here in cat operations,” he says. “Have a fresh turn every turn, but keep them close together.”

Vertrees leads the first run down. The slope is short, open and no steeper than a typical blue run at a resort. Skis zing effortlessly through the powder, leaving a rooster tail of fluff flying behind. The wider snowboarders plow down trailed by a wake of white.

The group does well. No one falls and at the bottom, everyone sports a wide grin. It looks like a goggle-eyed toothpaste ad.

Skis, boards and poles are loaded into the rack on the back of the cat and the machine again heads up the hill. In the heated passenger compartment behind the cab, participants sip water and munch Snickers bars. XM satellite radio provides tunes, which the guides keep toned down. The ride is surprisingly comfortable considering the cat is clawing its way up a snow-covered summer road. Today, there are so many new drifts that driver/guide Allison McMillan occasionally loses the route.

“Buff Pass gets the most snow in Colorado on a yearly basis,” claims Vertrees. “It averages somewhere between 500 and 530 inches per year.”

The next run lies at an equally shallow angle, but it’s a longer, two-pitch descent. The skiers quickly learn that the deep, ankle-grabbing snow turns blue-angled slopes into the powder equivalent of green bunny runs. By the time they reach the bottom, most decide they want steeper terrain. The guides comply.

The third run descends relatively open slope that might be a black-diamond trail at a typical downhill resort. Instead of icy moguls, this run is covered with snow soft as baby powder. A few appreciate those cushy conditions when they take spills.

“We all fall, even the guides. It’s part of the fun,” encourages Owens. “Besides, in your entire skiing career, when are you going to get to take such soft crashes?”

Around noon, the cat heads to a remote cabin where lunch is served. Today, it’s taco soup, shrimp scampi and chocolate chip cookies, which have been delivered by snowmobile from a Steamboat Springs restaurant.

More descents follow in the afternoon. Intermediate groups on a typical day will ski between 10-15 runs, depending on weather and the participants’ ability. For skiers unfamiliar with skiing powder, fatigue can always be a factor. Fortunately, anyone who gets tired can always sit out a run and ride up front in the cab with the cat driver. In this group, nobody opts out.

Instead, everyone displays continued confidence as conditions increase in difficulty. Runs are longer, slopes a bit steeper and the guides even take the skiers through some open glades so they get a taste of tree skiing. Guides share helpful hints along the way.

“We’re from back East. We don’t have powder like this,” says New Jersey resident Andrew Lankler, who has come with his 12-year-old son Bradley. “We don’t know how to ski it. We figured they would teach us how to do it. We’re having a great time.”

“It’s fun,” echoes Bradley. “But it’s hard, and it takes more than one day to learn.”

By mid-afternoon, the cat begins wending its way back toward the main road, stopping for a few final runs along the way. Skiers and riders who were hesitant at first now take off at the first opportunity. The group bonds. Grins remain. Warren Miller moments have been had by all.

If you go

Steamboat Springs, Colo.

GO: Skiers and snowboarders who can comfortably negotiate blue- and black-diamond groomed trails

NO: If you’re not up for a challenge, stick to resort runs

Need to know: Steamboat Powdercats, (800) 288-0543, www.steamboatpowdercats.com

Getting there: United and United Express fly daily from Denver and to the Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden, 22 miles from Steamboat Springs. Delta Connection offers similar service from Salt Lake City, Utah. Motorists can reach Steamboat Springs by following U.S. Route 40 172 miles northwest from Denver.

Skill requirements: No previous powder experience is needed for intermediate-level trips. Participants should be able to make smooth parallel turns and confidently descend resort blue runs and the occasional groomed black. Steamboat Powdercats also offers trips for advanced- and expert-level skiers and snowboarders. In order for representatives to place participants into the correct-level groups, it’s important that folks be honest about their skiing and snowboarding ability. Participants who talk their way onto trips that exceed their ability might end up spending the day riding in the snowcat.

Cost: $299-$400 covers snowcat and guides, ski or snowboard rental, avalanche beacon, lodging pickup and drop off, continental breakfast, full lunch, apres-ski beer and wine plus a souvenir CD with images from the day. Gratuities, usually 15 percent to 20 percent, are extra. A minimum of five persons are required per cat.

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO - The Colorado Group Realty Charitable Foundation will award a total of $11,000 in grants to nine local organizations Monday, November 5, 4:30pm at a reception at the Tread of Pioneers Museum. This is the second distribution of grants totaling $21,000 by the Charitable Foundation and is part of a continuous effort to support community-based programs.

“Our community is extremely fortunate to have so many organizations that offer meaningful services and programs that enhance our way of life,” said Bart Kounovsky, president of the Charitable Foundation. “The aim of the Charitable Foundation is to support our community through these oustanding local groups.”

This fall’s recipients are: Born Free Wildlife Rehabilitation, Comunidad Integrada, Hospice Services of Northwest Colorado, Lift-Up of Routt County, Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, Routt County Search & Rescue, the Steamboat Art Museum and The Wyman Museum.

The Colorado Group Realty Charitable Foundation was established in 2006 in order to provide a means to give back to the community. Each time a Colorado Group Realty broker completes a transaction, a donation is made to the Charitable Foundation. Employees, managers and matching funds from client and public donations, can also contribute to the foundation. The goal is to support a wide range of cummunity based programs related to human services, the arts, education, western heritage, the environment and recreation.

The first seven recipients were: Colorado West Mental Health Inc., The Community Agriculture Alliance, Emerald City Opera, Historic Routt County, The Steamboat Springs Youth Orchestra, Yampa Valley Stream Improvement Charitable Trust and Yampakita.  $10,000 was distributed to the groups above in July 2007.

Fall 2007 Colorado Group Realty Charitable Foundation Recipients:

Born Free Wildlife Rehabilitation is a non-profit organization that began 13 years ago. Born Free is state and federally licensed to rehabilitate all wild animals including migratory birds and eagles.

The mission of Comunidad Integrada is to proactively promote and support the successful integration of immigrant and local community members in Routt and Moffat counties through education, intercultural exchange, and collaboration to build a more united community where its members can commuicate participate and contribute.

Hospice Services of Northwest Colorado is a not-for-profit heathcare organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life while respecting the patient and family’s right to make decisions that affect their life and death.

Lift-Up of Routt County provides charitable assistance for needs created by unemployment and poverty. It is their goal to work with other community organizations in response to human need, and to promote a sense of self-respect and responsibility.

Located in residence at the Lowell Whiteman School, Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory is a nationally recognized summer music school and festival. Students have the unique opportunity to study and perform with an outstanding faculty in a beautiful rocky mountain setting.

Rocky Mountain Youth Corps helps youth and young adults make a difference in themselves and their comunity through meaningful service opportunities and educational experiences supporting their mission, “Linking community, education and environment through service.”

Routt County Search & Rescue is a volunteer organization that has served Routt County since 1969. RCSAR provides emergency assistance for individuals requiring first aid, search and rescue in “backcountry” locations throughout the county and surrounding areas.

The mission of the Steamboat Art Museum is to collect, preserve, and present fine art to the public, with a primary focus on Northwestern Colorado.

The Wyman Museum offers museum guests an experience spanning one hundred years of American life, ingenuity, and advancement including old farm and ranch machinery, tools, toys, and many other artifacts unknown to most and forgotten by many.

By Kyle Wagner
Denver Post Travel Editor

When former Burton Snowboards sales rep David Helman and his wife, Laura Brewer, were looking to leave South Haven, Mich., for a ski town in Colorado last year, they asked Helman’s industry contacts for recommendations.

And then they moved to Steamboat Springs, sight unseen.

“We chose Steamboat on blind faith,” Brewer says. “Totally based on Steamboat’s reputation as a small town with a progressive attitude and, of course, the champagne powder snow conditions.”

So many of Helman’s buddies at Burton, as well as boarders he ran into at competitions and people Brewer talked with through her work as a professional photographer, mentioned Steamboat’s “laid-back lifestyle, ‘real town,’ as opposed to some of the faux ski towns you see, and killer powder days,” that they were sold.

“As snowboarders, we were seeking longer winters, better snow conditions and generally living the mountain lifestyle. And we love the scenery here,” says Brewer, who is trying to establish a photography business in town.

“Because we both work on the Internet now — David runs a surfing/eco-tour company in El Salvador — we can basically live anywhere. And now we’re really looking forward to checking out the mountain.”

With nearly 3,000 skiable acres and an average of 331 inches of snow, not to mention legendary tree skiing in sections such as Christmas Tree Bowl, smooth corduroy on runs such as Buddy’s and plenty of champagne powder pockets in the Chutes, there’s a lot to look forward to.

The champagne reference, trademarked by the ski area, points both to the way the snow drifts down, light and fluffy like bubbles in a glass, how it sparkles when it lands, and how, on a powder day, it makes skis and snowboards do magical things.

And it seems to make the people who live in Steamboat pretty happy to be there.

“Well, I can’t imagine living anywhere else,” says Kent Eriksen, who hitchhiked from Aspen to Steamboat on the last day of 1974 and never looked back. “I mean, where else can you ski to work?”

Eriksen’s office is in the back of Orange Peel Bicycle Service on Yampa Street, where the Mountain Bike Hall of Famer builds custom bikes. His wife, world champion mountain bike racer Katie Lindquist, handles the books. But in the winter, he skate- skis every time he can get a free moment.

That’s after he skis to work, of course. “I live about 7 miles north of town, right on the edge of full-on wilderness, and it’s about a 1,200-foot drop into town,” he says. “I can get a block away from the shop on my skis.”

When Eriksen first came to Steamboat, the Wisconsin native had planned to be a photographer, but then mountain biking came along, and he fell in love with the sport.

Steamboat “was a different town then,” he adds. “It’s really changing right now; you look at the corners downtown, there’s all these three-story to four-story buildings going up with retail on the bottom and luxury condos on top. But I think the people here will stay the same for a while.”

The word “unpretentious” is often applied to the town and its inhabitants.

Steamboat is at the center of some of Colorado’s most valuable ranch country, as much wrangled as wrangled-over in agricultural versus developmental disputes. This all infuses Steamboat with an authentic cowboy charm, and it influences the choices in the shops and restaurants. That means plenty of Western wear and top-notch local produce.

Improvements abound

Intrawest, which bought Steamboat Ski Resort in March, continues to pump money into the area, with $16 million invested this year and an unspecified commitment over the next five years, says Michael Lane, the resort’s public relations director.

New this year is the Christie Peak Express, a six-passenger high-speed detachable chairlift that was installed in response to complaints about Steamboat’s inability to handle early-morning, powder- day crowds.

Also look for the new Headwall redesign at the bottom of the mountain, scheduled to be done by opening day Nov. 22. “It had better be,” Lane says, laughing.

“It’s in the beginner area,” he adds. “Look for a couple of different fall lines, three new trails with consistent pitch from 9 to 20 percent. It will really be a great improvement in that area, especially when there are a lot of people coming down.”

The resort does expect a significant increase this season over the 1.02 million visits last year, in part because of the addition of Steamboat to the Rocky Mountain season-pass lineup. The Super Pass Plus to Winter Park/Mary Jane and Copper Mountain ($499) allows for six days of unrestricted skiing as well as free skiing after noon every Friday at Steamboat. The Rocky Mountain Ultimate Pass ($1,344) offers unrestricted skiing at all three resorts.

“We’ve had tremendous response to those passes,” Lane says. “No final numbers yet, of course, but definitely a noticeable amount of response.”

Not all of the locals applaud the influx of newcomers, but Eriksen says you have to take the increased traffic and construction noise in stride.

“It’s getting expensive, but luckily we got a home before it got out of our price range,” he says. “There are good people here, and if more come, well, I just hope it’s more good people.”

 By Alexis DeLaCruz

Steamboat Springs — Wednesday night’s storm could signal the beginning of a good ski season in Steamboat Springs.

Joe Ramey, a National Wea­ther Service meteorologist in Grand Junction, said Thursday that another storm is expected to dump more snow on the area this weekend. And although that snow will melt by early next week, Routt County residents should keep their shovels handy in the coming months.

Despite National Weather Service reports in September that predicted above-average temperatures and average precipitation for the Steamboat area through February, Ramey said Routt County could be in store for a winter similar to that of 2005-06.

“We are heading into a La Niña winter, which bodes well for Steamboat Springs. Our studies indicate that the area should get hit with lots of snow in December and early January like it did two years ago,” he said. “That’s what we’re hoping for.”

More than 400 inches of snow fell on the Steamboat Ski Area in the winter of 2005-06. It was the fourth snowiest winter on record for the ski area.

Winter could begin to settle in this weekend, Ramey said.

“The beginnings of the next system already is following on the storm’s heels,” Ramey said. “The clouds already are moving in.”

Ramey said a Pacific cold front should settle over the Yampa Valley on Saturday and drop temperatures into the low teens.

“This one packs a punch,” he said. “It looks like the first taste of winter.”

Steamboat Springs — Public construction projects at the base of Steamboat Ski Area are beginning to take their final form, relieving anxiety about what shape the ski base will be in by opening day Nov. 21.

“It’s starting to look like something,” said Joe Kracum, project coordinator for the multi-year, $23 million public redevelopment project at the base area. “We’re still planning on being out of here mid-November.”

On Ski Time Square Drive, which was very torn up just a few weeks ago, many improvements have become visible. A roundabout has been added to the road, sidewalks have been laid, curbside bus stops have been constructed and new lampposts line the street.

Kracum said crosswalks would be put in this week and an informational kiosk is on the way. Remaining asphalt work will be done the week of Oct. 22 and landscaping should be complete this season, Kracum said.

Construction crews spent weeks working underground during the summer, resulting in various inconveniences — including the periodic loss of utility service — for residents and businesses in the area. Kracum said he is thankful that part of the project is over.

“It was very frustrating for all of us to deal with all the problems underground,” he said.

In addition to being on schedule, Kracum said that “barring anything drastic,” this year’s work should also come in under budget.

Work being done by the developers of One Steamboat Place near the Gondola Transit Center also is expected to be complete come ski season. Jim Wells, project director for One Steamboat Place, said the work will result in an improved transit center, with longer islands for the buses, curbside bus stops and increased capacity for private, short-term drop-offs.

“We’re definitely planning on using it in its new configuration this winter,” said Jonathan Flint, operations manager for Steamboat Springs Transit. “It should be pretty similar to what was there last year.”

Snowmelt a hot topic

The city will likely abandon a plan to install a direct geothermal snowmelt system at the base area. The system would primarily have been used to melt snow on a promenade designed to span the bottom of the ski slope, roughly from One Steamboat Place to Slopeside Grill. Construction of the promenade is scheduled to begin in 2009.

Kracum said three 500-foot holes were drilled in locations around the base area in search of possible geothermal activity, such as hot water, that could have been used to melt snow. Kracum said only one of those holes showed any promise, with temperatures increasing more than usual at a depth of about 450 feet.

“If we wanted to keep investigating, we’d have to go down 3,000 feet,” Kracum said. “I don’t suspect we’re going to be recommending that direction.”

At $100 a foot, that project would cost the base area’s urban renewal authority $300,000, with no guarantee of success. The first three holes cost $110,000.

At a meeting of the authority’s advisory committee Friday, the committee voted unanimously to recommend to the Steamboat Springs City Council — which acts as the city’s redevelopment authority — that it abandon the search for a direct geothermal source of heating for a snowmelt system.

“We’ve chased this long enough,” committee member Bill Jameson said.

Kracum said another possibility would be to use ground-source heat pumps, which pump water through holes in the ground and absorb natural heat. But that prospect also has problems. Kracum said ground-source heat pumps would likely require about 1,000 holes at the base area, each 200-feet deep, again with no guarantee of success.

“The thing is you don’t get enough heat to melt snow,” Kracum said of ground-source methods.

As such, the system will likely have to be supplemented with a gas-fired boiler. Other options include a system totally powered by a gas boiler or abandoning the snowmelt system altogether in favor of traditional snow removal methods.

“It would tickle me not to see snowmelt here,” Dan Koelliker, a mechanical engineering consultant, told URAAC. “The carbon footprint is tremendous.”

Next year

Kracum said about $2.5 million will be available for public infrastructure projects in 2008. Those projects will likely include a roundabout — with an 80-foot radius — to replace the intersection at Mount Werner Circle and Après Ski Way, reconstruction of the intersection of Après Ski Way and Village Drive and pedestrian connections between Burgess Creek Road and Ski Time Square.

Brent Lloyd, a design consultant with Wenk Associates, said about 95 percent of the projects involve public right-of-ways.

Base area projects look to become even more intensive in two years, when as much as $14 million is expected to be available.