Good morning from a beautiful bluebird day in Steamboat!  It’s a mellow morning on the mountain with comfortable temperatures, no wind and very few people out early carving up the corduroy.  Once again, the skiing today exceeded my expectations, and I was very glad I made it out early for some turns.  Although the calendar reads February, the air resembles spring, but the snow still says winter.

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Before I stepped on the gondola this morning, I have to admit that I had assumed the snow would be firm and resemble the spring feeling in the weather right now.  The warm sun peeking over the top of Storm Peak greeted my face as I clicked into my skis at the top of Thunderhead wondering about what part of the mountain would hold the best snow.  I thought heading straight to Sunshine lift would be the right call as those runs get the first rays of sun for the day and often warm up first.  I decided to just head over to Storm Peak and chance it with the snow to see how things were skiing on that side of the mountain.  In my first few turns down Rudi’s Run, I was impressed by how soft the snow was and that there was no problem laying down an edge into the manicured corduroy.  The snow is holding up great and resembles a winter consistency more so than anything we would expect in the spring.
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Riding up Storm Peak was very peaceful this morning with the mild weather and great views in every direction being lit up by the morning sun.  I took a moment to really admire the landscape of the Yampa Valley and think about how lucky we are to play in this wonderful place.

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I was very surprised by the snow quality on all of the groomers Storm Peak had to offer today: Buddy’s, Cyclone, Storm Face and Lower Rainbow were all skiing great with predictable turns on nice, carvable conditions and seemingly much softer than previous days this week.  With so few people on every run, wide and fast turns were the way to go on the corduroy today.  Where is everyone on such an amazing morning?

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Pony Express had a number of groomers to choose from today and was a perfect way to finish up the morning.  The snow was smooth, though not quite as good as the runs from Storm Peak.  The rarely groomed Royal Flush was a great option today as very few other skiers had been down it possibly because it wasn’t noted on today’s grooming report.  It can be a wild run when it is groomed and worth doing a lap on.  There was still plenty of corduroy left at 10am, so get out there and make your mark on those runs!

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Pick of the mountain today is Buddy’s Run: Great snow quality on an empty run under perfectly blue Colorado sky made for some exceptional turns this morning.

The weather promises a great couple of days in front of us, so grab your gear and join us for some fun!

 

Kevin Olsen, Alpine skier

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