Quote: We went to Steamboat for one thing and one thing alone—skiing, and we were not disappointed. I had spent some time researching resorts that had good early snow. After all, you don't want to spend 32 hours sitting on planes and in airports, travelling to the other side of the world, to get there and have no snow. Well snow isn't a problem in Steamboat, with snowfalls of 38cm in October, 210cm in November (snowiest November on record), and 264cm in December (5th snowiest December on record). We were welcomed with a base of 170cm when we arrived December 24th, 2005.

We were early to rise Christmas Day, thanks in part to the jet lag, and hit the slopes straight after breakfast. We enjoyed two perfectly fine, blue-sky days that we spent familiarising ourselves with the various runs. Lucky we did to, it snowed for the next 10 days straight!

We are both Intermediate skiers, although my wife is more comfortable on long green groomers than blues. We spent several hours on the first day cruising on the green run Headwall getting reacquainted with our skis. In the afternoon we headed up Christie III triple chair and explored Main Drag, Boulevard, Giggle Gulch, Bigfoot, Swinger, So What, Right-O-Way and Bee Line—all greens. The upper green runs off the lift are Main Drag and Boulevard, which whilst being fairly narrow are not that steep. The other greens, with the exception of Right-O-Way, are relatively steeper but are also wider. Having said that, we considered all of them within our ability level. It should be noted that before arriving in Steamboat we had spent a grand total of 12 days over the last 3 years skiing.

The great thing about Steamboat is that the mountain is divided into basically three areas; the lower levels, which are almost solely greens, are serviced by the Christie II & III lifts; the mid mountain is mostly blues and blacks, with some greens, serviced by the Silver Bullet Gondola; and the upper mountain is all blues and blacks, serviced by Sundown Express. So as we became more comfortable on our skis, and as our confidence increased, we were able to move further up the mountain into a wider range of terrain. It also meant we could individually ski different runs and meet back at the same lift.
From journals Christmas in Steamboat