Ski Town USA, The Boat, Champagne Pow, home of the most Olympians, all synonymous with Steamboat in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The lore of this place has drawn my attention for years, and each year another buddy would go there and come back with raving reviews. This past ski season, I had the opportunity to visit the famed town and resort myself and come to my own conclusions.

Steamboat, unlike the majority of other Colorado ski resorts, is off the traditional beaten path of I-70. As you peel off north from Silverthorne, the crowds of Denver and vacationers seem to disappear and be replaced with cattle ranchers and gentler rolling hills. You drive for a little more than an hour, up and over a pass, and down into one of the coolest mountain towns in the United States. Originally a place for travelers to recover in the therapeutic hot springs, is now anchored in the ski resort. There are unlimited dining and nightlife options in the town of Steamboat Springs, about a 10-minute drive from the resort. Steamboat Springs has done a good job at keeping the resort development away from affecting the authenticity of the town. It is a truly lived in town with much of the cowboy culture still intact.

While Steamboat does not have the alpine steeps and extreme terrain, it has trees and snow. While you may ask, "So what? Every resort has trees and snow", you will be remiss to know these may be the best trees and snow in the entire world. The locals coined the term "Champagne Powder", to appropriately describe its light and fluffy consistency, and the resort gets plenty of it, averaging 300 inches a year. The tree skiing is in a class of its own, with variety of evergreens and aspens, tight and open, north facing and south facing, steep and flat, and so expansive it takes days to be tracked out. I don't think I am spoiling any local secrets when I say the best tree skiing on the mountain would be off Pony Express and Mahogany Express. There are some really good chutes to trees off the backside of Morningside lift, in Christmas Tree Bowl. Really, all the best runs will be the top half of the mountain. There are some good moguls going down from Thunderbird Lodge, but as a consequence, you will be spit back to the bottom gondolas. All in all, if you love moguls and tree skiing, Steamboat is crafted for you.

Despite its strengths, Steamboat is far from perfect and the most glaring weakness that Steamboat possess is its lack of alpine steeps that you find in the majority of other major Western NA ski resort. In addition, there is a lack of extreme rugged terrain that experts prefer to hurl themselves off of. Expect to spend most of your time gliding on the ground with limited airtime. Beyond ski difficulty, the terrain also affects the layout of lifts. The mountain can best be described as layered, creating funnels where all runs eventually lead into. As a result, lift lines can pile up on the main lifts. You can avoid these lines by choosing the slower moving, smaller lifts that take you to an adjacent area of the mountain, but it is less than ideal, making it hard to lap the runs you want to lap. Lastly, this is not a budget friendly resort. Lift tickets can run ~$250 a day and the lodging options offer you no more relief. Not to mention the requirement to either fly into Steamboat Springs airport or rent a car from Denver and make the 3.5hr drive. In my opinion, there are better value resorts in Colorado that do will not cost you an arm and a leg to visit.

All in all, if you are willing to spend the extra dough to get the opportunity to score a powder day at Steamboat, you will not be disappointed. Bonus points, you have no desire for high alpine, cliff jumping, steep skiing, and would rather run moguls, groomers, or tree runs all day. The lifts are modern and comfortable, but the layout leads to many inefficiencies with lines and lap-ability. Limited crowds and a calming atmosphere made it one of the most relaxing ski vacations I have ever had. I can't wait to come back again someday and hopefully score a "Champagne Powder" day.
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This season Fish Creek Canyon included in the resort. Tripple black cliff lines, boulderfields that have been the locals gated preserve is now in bounds. Steamboat now second largest Colorado ski destination.

Crouding now reduced with second gondola to the top of Sundown and Mahogany ridge chair installed. This combined with limited days for Ikon Base pass have made huge changes to the better.
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Nice lodging, somewhat expensive. Breakfast selections limited. Still haven’t found a good steakhouse. A lot of businesses were closed due to staffing, and still paying minimum wage. Poor traffic flow planning. Watch for speed traps, it appears this is a major source of revenue, as speed limits make no sense.
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Steamboat has become an every year resort for me in Colorado. If you love skiing powder through the trees, you will love Steamboat. The resort doesn't have the vertical that many other resorts have in Colorado but makes up for it with more consistent snowfall and very light and dry powder. I may have just gotten lucky but for 3 years in a row, Steamboat has delivered a massive snowstorm while I was there. All of steamboat is below treeline so you can stay sheltered in even the worst conditions while you rip through powder that seems to last days after a storm. The best areas on the mountain were the shadows and closets area, pony express lift, and the Morningside lift. At the top of the morningside lift, there is short hike to terrain which is amazing. There are steep chutes, tight trees, cliffs, and other features combined with deep powder that is lap-able all day. Steamboat has a ton of groomed trails as well that are great for all ages. Steamboat does lack some of the big mountain terrain but you can always make a pit stop at A-basin on your way back to Denver.

The town of steamboat has a lot of good restaurants and bars. There is definitely a good nightlife scene and transportation around the town is easy. The village at the base of the gondola also has several bars, restaurants, and hotels. Steamboat also offers more ski in ski out accommodations than most resorts in Colorado.
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Been going to Steamboat for 15 yr. In the last two years prices have more than doubled. Ran into a bad snowstorm had to turn around for safety, called and Steamboat and they declined to refund or even transfer my tickets to another day. They just took the money. They lost a family of lifetime customer. We will go somewhere where there is more love and the customer is valued, there are other great Colorado resorts!
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Steamboat can't be beat on a good day. Lots of good zones to explore and find fresh tracks.
Closets and Shadows might be some of the best tree skiing in the US.
Only thing lacking is good steeps.
Christmas Tree, Bowl, No Names etc. are short and take a long time to access.
Also lower elevation than most Colorado resorts so spring melt hits hard and fast.
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Great ski resort, fantastic for beginers and intermidiates. Amazing ski school. Only thing I don't like is sometimes a little crowded and people who don't know what they are doing.
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Steamboat is a fantastic resort with a great town to go along with it. So it is not just a resort, but a great town too with history to add to their character.

The resort is geared towards intermediate and beginner skiers and riders. Their sunshine bowl is one of the best aspects of the mountains. Locally known as Wally World, Sunshine Bowl is an upper mountain area with intermediate terrain. The advantages of this means that lower level skiers can experience more terrain and vertical feet with quality natural snow without having to stretch their abilities.

Intrawest taking over the resort has marred the natural beauty of the base area with the addition of several condos and hotels but the improvements they have made on mountain have been tremendous. The additions of several new high speed detachable lifts like the Christie and Sunshine lifts and most recently for the 2016-2017 season, Elkhead (This will a Godsend for those who had to ride the old lift), have transformed the flow of traffic and has drastically reduced lift line times. Also, new snow making systems have kept Steamboats base area in much better shape. These improvements have come with cost though and Steamboat's prices have increase quite a bit. But even you don't mind the extra distance from I-70, their pricing is still comparable to more competitive than most Summit County resorts and those resorts on I-70

On piste skiing is great! They have several great runs like Buddy's run (my personal favorite), See ya, Valley Views, Heavenly Daze (sometimes heavenly glaze in the afternoons and evenings when it can get a bit icy sometimes), and almost all of Sunshine Bowl.

Their off-piste runs are not as impressive and their expert/extreme area around the peak of Mt. Werner is limited compared to the other terrain available. But their tree skiing is legendary off of Sundown lift and for specifics, you'll just have to fine the great Champagne powder stashes yourself!

In short, Steamboat is an amazing family resort where intermediate and beginner skiers will never get board, with great snow, a great town, and while not as easy to get to and increasing prices, still a good value for the high class resort that it has now become.
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I visited Steamboat in March of 2015.

The sun was out and the days were beautiful. There was no fresh snow during my visit but the mountain received a lot of snow in February. A built-up base endured the higher temps quite well. The base would freeze overnight so the slopes were a bit icy in the morning. As the day wore on the runs would loosen up.

I visited Steamboat during spring break with my two children. The slopes were slightly crowded during this time. There were times when we would wait in lift lines. The wait was around five minutes - just long enough to catch our breath before the next run.

This was the first ski trip ever for the kids. They attended ski school and the experience could not have been better. The instructors were extremely friendly and the kids learned the skills necessary to enjoy the sport.

The overall value was average. The lift tickets were a bit expensive. Food at the foot of the lifts was a bit inflated as well. However, a free city bus service that ran from the hotels into town would reliably whisk you away to more reasonably priced eating establishments. This more than made up for the cost endured on the mountain.
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I have bin skiing steamboat my whole lifeand i am not planning on leaving for another resort annytime soon. I have bin to breckendvrige and still steamboat is mutch better and it isnt 5* out when skiing.
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