Steamboat Ski Resort Review

Intrawest has thrown a good deal of money into Steamboat--more than $27 million. As owners of Whistler/Blackcomb, Copper Mountain, Winter Park, Mont Tremblant and a number of other major North American resorts, they can afford to do this. For avid skiers who like to ski at different locations throughout the year, this is excellent news. In the past few years, the company has offered a number of superb deals, which might include lift tickets for Copper, Whistler or any of their other resorts. Other improvements include advanced snowmaking and grooming equipment, and new, more modern additions to the ski and snowboard rental fleet.

The resort boasts 3,668 feet of vertical, with 2,965 acres of skiable terrain. Although snowmaking is available on 375 acres of the resort, due to the 343 inches of annual snowfall, it is rarely needed. The terrain is served by one gondola, which is a great advantage during the colder days, one high-speed six-seater chairlift, five high-speed detachable quads, one fixed-grip quad, six triples, two doubles and two surface lifts. Of the 165 trails, 14 percent are suitable for beginners, 42 percent are for intermediates and 44 percent are for experts.

If you want to improve your ski technique, the ski school operates under the supervision of Olympic Gold Medalist Deb Armstrong, who actually teaches some of the clinics. The mountain layout is another reason to visit. Many of the trails wind around the mountain, as opposed to going straight down. This means that you have more time on the mountain, and less time on the lift lines. If you need an above-average tune-up for your skis or snowboard, a visit to Edgewerks, located in Gondola Square, is almost worth the visit. Their state-of-the-art Swiss-made Montana tuning system uses a synthetic grinding stone for tuning the base, along with custom-tensioned emery cloth wheels for the side edges of your skis or board. This results in a sweet tune-up.

That said, in contrast to other Intrawest Resorts, the lift operators are a bit unfriendly. Case in point: Every year, Copper and Winter Park lift operators have a competition based on the feedback received by the skier satisfaction surveyors, and the lift workers of the winning resort receive $500 toward a year-end party; when the Steamboat lift ops were invited to join this competition, they declined. However, although they are less than friendly, they are competent, so this should not stop you from visiting the resort.

A visit to Steamboat can be expensive if you decide to stay at the mountain resort. Additionally, individual lift tickets are pricey, to the tune of $90 a day. However, there are a number of deals to be found. With free, frequent bus service to the resort there is no reason whatsoever to stay on mountain, especially when there are so many dirt-cheap motels in town. If you want to have a true ski-bum experience, stay at the famous Rabbit Ears Motel. As far as lift tickets go, almost nobody pays ticket window prices. Intrawest recently offered the Pow Pow Platter, which featured one day at Copper, one day at Winter Park and one day at Steamboat for something in the ballpark of $145.

Given its distance from the Denver International Airport, it's a bit hard to get to Steamboat. However, if you don't mind small airports, try the local airport in Steamboat Springs.