Well folks, after a wild ride of a season (and year), we enjoyed our last day of powdercattin' with some wintery weather and 9" inches of fresh with some more throughout the day for some free refills!! We had our fingers crossed for some soft landings on the last day and we were happily surprised when we took our first turns this morning.
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.
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 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.
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:
My, oh, my, what a wonderful day. Plenty of sunshine headin' our way. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay! Mister Bluebird's on our shoulder. It's the truth, it's amazing Everybody was fantastic Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay Wonderful feeling, wonderful day!
Powder days make our world spin round and round. Without it, out lives would be hard packed, bumped out and much less glorious. After yesterday and todays storm, the powders were fresh and deep and all up in our way. A 10" layer of snow laid wait for us and our people were once again blown away by the powder party we get to have.
With MLK Day being the most popular day of the year to ski and to avoid having any FOMO (fear of missing out), we did the same! Sunny skies, warm temps made for some mid-winter spring skiing. Feels pretty good to drop a couple layers, open up some vents, and feel the sun your face every once in a while but I'm sure ready to get back to business tomorrow when the flakes hopefully start flying again.
When life is good, it is real good. When things are turned on they are ON! The snow gods have certainly been good to us this past week with 5-feet of snow dumping in and around Buffalo Pass. Plus, since December 24th we have only seen the sun on 6 days. Say what? Now, with this said, we did get some wind yesterday which beat down some of our aspects, but rest assured life and powder skiing goes on as we have plenty of terrain to search it out and find the goods.
