Steamboat Springs offers glorious, consistent snowfall. There are reasons that so many Olympic athletes live in the area, and the consistency of the "champagne powder" would certainly be on the list. With that said, I am no elite athlete. I am from a warm climate, and I am lucky if I'm able to get out to the slopes once every couple of years. Still, I learned how to ski when I was a girl, so I
am fairly competent on most runs. In the end, while I've been on more difficult slopes, I think Steamboat Springs is a fabulous family ski resort that caters to a variety of levels.
How easy was it to get to the resort and park? Keep in mind that public bus transport in Steamboat Springs is
completley free. If you're there on a more crowded weekend, you might want to leave your car parked at the hotel and catch a bus. However, we had a car, so we drove each morning. There's a multi-deck car park right in front of the resort. It set us back $15 a day to leave our car there, and we never had a problem getting a space. (We are also early morning skiers, so we never got to the resort after 8:30 AM.) Keep in mind that Steamboat Springs is a compact town. Some of the nicer house rentals are less than two-three miles away. If you stay "downtown", it will still only take you ten minutes to get to the resort.
How much do the lift tickets cost? Well, the lift tickets aren't cheap, but skiing isn't exactly a cheap sport. At the height of the season, adults pay over $80/day, but there are some great deals to be had if you have kids with you. 12 and unders can ski FREE with an adult purchase. Teens get a discount as well. Colorado residents might want to look into season passess. For the rest of us not blessed with living in the state, multi-day tickets can garner small reductions. And, of course, the rates go down outside of the primest times.
Are the lift tickets worth it? Absolutely. The resort isn't huge, but I loved the fact that a lot of the lifts (and the gondola) took us up to sections of the mountain with different level runs going down again. This allowed my husband and I to take some steep, fast blacks while our less-skilled (at this point) son could opt for a blue or green and meet us at the bottom.
Perfect for family skiing. Each lift is well marked as well so that no one goes where he shouldn't. If you want bumps, they are there. If you want trees, you can find them. If you're a snowboarder, there are plenty of glades and a terrain park. Beginners will find tons of variety both near and away from the base. My favorite runs included "Rolex", which our instructor told us can grow big bumps. While we were there, it was groomed, straight, steep, and short enough that I could do it fast in one go without my legs giving out. Fabulous. "Valley View" was a great, long black to the base. My son liked "Vagabond", a fun intermediate that, by the end of an ungroomed day, bordered on blue/black and the gentle greens in the "Sunshine Area."
Any shortfalls? I am a strong intermediate skier who is comfortable on black runs. For the crazy advanced guy, I would think that Steamboat Springs doesn't offer quite as much variety or challenge as a resort like Jackson Hole in Wyoming. I loved all the tree runs that were accessed through the "Pony Express" lift. This is where I'd point a more advanced skier.
Restaurants? We ate at one of the restaurants on the mountain our first day. Everything you'd expect is there like hamburgers and fries and hot drinks. It's all comfortable enough and we were glad for the rest. Expect to pay $10 for a grilled cheese sandwich. The next two days, we packed lunch. I noticed some choices for food were cheaper at the base, i.e. a slice of pizza for less than $5.
Any extras worth checking out? We were impressed with the ski school.
From journal Stellar Steamboat Springs