Sometimes it just works out, the stars align, things fall into place, the snow Gods are in a good mood and the next thing you know youre waking up at a ski resort hotel to 14 inches of fresh snow and your kids are at home having fun with their Grammy and Grandpa.Such was the case when we visited Steamboat not too long ago.
We had a hunch we were going to hit a powder day while we were there based on the forecast but also the drive. The top of Rabbit Ears Pass was icy and snow packed, not great for driving but great for skiing.
In the morning the snow report read 14 in 24 hours, which was on top of 9 a couple days ago, which was on top of 30 within the week. Hot diggity dog, we Denver weekend warriors had hit the jackpot.
We grabbed a quick complimentary breakfast at the hotel, always a plus when booking a room, that and complimentary parking and wi-fi, if a hotel has those three things Im sold. Then we jumped on the complimentary shuttle to the mountain.
The mountain glowed like a snowy winter fantasy land. Everything looked like it was dipped in frosting.
All the trees were holding a thick coating of snow, every little branch on the aspens was outlined with a white highlight and the evergreens were like white statues. It was just beautiful.
Steamboat is known for several things, warm friendly atmosphere, western heritage, light fluffy almost bubbly snow and fantastic tree skiing. The latter two were of particular interest to us on this day. We headed straight to Two-Thirty Trees on Sunshine Peak. Our first run was such a treat, bouncing through the pillows of snow, gently floating on top of the cushioned bumps, weaving around the trees and taking in the quiet. It was so great that we did that run again, and again, and again, lapping it for most of the day.
The next day the sun gently shone through the light cloud covering and illuminated everything making it even whiter and brighter. I met up with my friend Loryn who works at the resort and we skied the same terrain as the day before, and it was still terrific.
And we even saw evidence that we were still in favor with the snow gods as we were lucky enough to load a chair right behind the decorated 50th Anniversary chair.
