Last year today we closed our doors for the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What a year it has been. This isn't happening this year as more snow fell today on top of yesterday's crazy storm. Life is deep and fresh and the weather and virus gods are being kind to us here at the moment.

Since we last wrote, we had just lived through one of the driest January's that we have dealt with. Not only was COVID stressing our system but the lack of snow was painful, to say the least. We were forced to close operations for two and a half weeks in mid-January and the dream of skiing powder was just that, a dream.

We are back in the game! Hallelujah, it snowed again!  After being stuck in a spring-like void and not getting snow over the past few weeks, Mother Nature has once again supplied [...]

Yesterday we kicked off our 38th season of operation with lots of excitement, gratitude, and Colorado's classic blue bird skies! After continuous planning and adjusting of our day-to-day to match Covid-19 guidelines so our guests and guides can feel safe while skiing powder, it has finally paid off and we couldn't be happier to be floatin' on the freshies once again! 

After much review, we at Steamboat Powdercats are postponing our snowcat skiing opening day to January 1.   In December, we will still be offering our non-motorized backcountry ski tours and avalanche course's on select dates, pending more snow.

For all you heli-skiers who may be freaking out that you might not be going to Canada for your annual powder pilgrimage, don't worry, we are here for you. This winter with our private cat only, 6-guest maximum in the snowcat operations plan, we feel we are a great pivot if in fact travel plans for US citizens do get put on hold due to COVID-19.

Our first snow has come and gone for the season, falling on September 9th, 2020. We have now finalized our COVID-19 Operations and Mitigation plan for this upcoming winter season, and are taking reservations for private cats only currently. Full details of our pricing, mitigations, and shifts in our operations...

There is a lot of time between now and mid-December in which time pandemic measures will certainly evolve.  We are currently evaluating and refining how we can adjust our operations in order to do our part to mitigate the associated risks of COVID-19. Given a large amount of uncertainty associated with the pandemic, we have not yet finalized these plans, but we do know that we will be abiding by any federal, state, or county mandated precautions. 

With great pleasure, behold the Best of 2020 image gallery. Of the 127,464 images we took this winter, we have whittled down the mass to a manageable gallery of 500+ images for you to peruse. It took some time but for whatever reason, be it the epic face shot, the beautiful landscape, the smiling faces or the perfect crash sequence, we have created the gallery for us all to relish in one of our greatest wintery seasons ever.  

As of today, Steamboat Powdercats is closing our doors on the 19/20 season due to the obvious reasons.  Last night the Governor of Colorado issued an executive order requiring the closure of downhill ski resorts due to the presence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in mountain communities with limited care capacity.  We feel it prudent that we do our part and also shut down our operations.  

After a week of hot pow and bluebird melting, we are back in the snow cycle again.  We prefer it this way as the uncertainty of snow quality freaks us out as we have become accustomed to fresh snow, clean lines and iconic Steamboat powder.  With 7" of snow over the last 2 days and a forecast for snow for the next week, sort of, we are blessed to be on Mother Nature's good side.  Not that sunshine, t-shirts and blue skies aren't nice, it's just that we know what we get when it is snowing. 

Multiple times today and yesterday we heard from our guests that the experience with us was their best day of powder skiing or snowboarding EVER. Several of these rippers are powder snobs who have chased this liquid gold all over the globe.  Be it Japan, Canada, Utah, Europe or other powder snow mecca's, it was this experience here with us that tipped them over the edge and convinced them to profess to us and their team that this was their BEST DAY EVER. 

Multiple times today and yesterday we heard from our guests that the experience with us was their best day of powder skiing or snowboarding EVER. Several of these rippers are powder snobs who have chased this liquid gold all over the globe.  Be it Japan, Canada, Utah, Europe or other powder snow mecca's, it was this experience here with us that tipped them over the edge and convinced them to profess to us and their team that this was their BEST DAY EVER. 

After yesterday's 26" in 24-hr snowfall and a 38" in the past 36-hours pounding, we have been reflecting on the significance of this powder filled season and the historic reality that we are living in.  As powder junkies we live for the moment and relish in the now.  When we get fresh snow, even a few inches, life is good.  But when we get snow like we have this season, we are all smiles and perfectly happy to know that we are living our dream. To put what is happening into a historical perspective, sit and spin on some of these statistics: