I booked our trip back in August which qualified us for a 30% off lodging and lift and qualified us for the "sVIP Perks" program (more on that later). Initially the trip was for me, my son, and my niece. In November, my daughter decided to join us, and we were able to add her, including the sVIP perks at a 25% discount at that point. So for folks reading this in the future, there may be little need to book super early from a discount perspective, although lodging availability dwindles the longer you wait. There was a small up-front deposit of ~$300 at time of booking with the balance due 45 days prior to arrival.
We selected a 2-bed/2-bath condo in the Scandinavian Lodge near the Thunderhead lift. I picked this location as a way to avoid the base area crowds, walking through the village, and the parking/shuttle struggle. A smaller consideration was also that with COVID still a concern, this kept us in wide-open air, less crowds, and open-air lifts. The condo listing said it was 100yds from the lift, but that was a typo and should have been 1,000 yds (or about 2 city blocks). Still not a terrible walk, but it is uphill a bit from the condo to the lift. I opted to drive the kids and gear up to the lift, drop them and our gear off, then drive the car back, and walk up solo. It was a much easier walk without gear, but doable either way. One of the days with considerable fresh snow, we skied back to the condo, being careful to stay to the very edge of the road. The Scandinavian Lodge has an outside pool and hot tub, which was nice. We enjoyed the hot tub a few times during our stay. We also saw a pair of moose near the pool upon returning after skiing one day and a solo moose on the road one morning.
My thoughts on the sVIP Perks program: this benefit of booking through Steamboat Central Reservations includes the following (per person) "free" benefits: one night skiing ticket, one Outlaw Mountain Coaster ticket, one day of Demo Skis, and one First Tracks ticket. We used all of these benefits, except for the First Tracks ticket, due to the trouble of getting down to the base to board the gondola combined with the upper-mountain lifts being delayed/closed the morning we had booked due to icing. While they are advertised as "free" perks, I'm sure it's bundled into the package somewhere. Even so, I'd consider it a $100-$200 value per person. Granted some items we probably wouldn't have bothered with otherwise, but we found them enjoyable and worthwhile.
Night Skiing - we used this on our arrival day as a "warm up" of sorts. All four of us had yet to get on snow this season, so having a couple of hours on the limited terrain was a nice fit to get our legs under us and make some turns. We started with two runs on the lower green from mid-station down, then went to the "top" for a couple of runs, and finished with a couple of faster runs on the black "See Me?", and made a trip through the terrain park and half-pipe on the last run for fun. It seems like they groom that portion of the mountain just prior to night skiing, so it was nice and soft, with fresh cordouroy, and wasn't very busy at all. I enjoyed it as a warm-up to start the trip. If we had booked later in the week, we probably would have skipped it.
Outlaw Mountain Coaster - not sure what this costs normally, but we enjoyed it for "free". We had initially planned to use it on Wed. (our planned off day) while in the village looking through the shops for souvenirs, etc. However, it was dumping that day and we spent more time downtown than in the village. So we ended up using the tickets our last night, on Friday evening. The coaster is open evening Fri-Sun vs. day-only hours Mon-Thurs. We walked right up, no line to speak of, and were seated. The staff does a short 1-2 minute operation and safety talk and then our ride started. It's about a 5-min ride total, with half or more of that time being pulled up hill. On the downhill section, you control your speed and can go as fast/slow as you want as long as you maintain a safe distance from anyone in front of you who may be going slower. I was the first one in our group, so with noone in front of me, I let her rip without braking the entire way down which was exilerating.
Demo Days - this was a much better perk that I expected. I was concerned it may have been just basic rental gear, but we had full choice of anything they sold. We booked our fitting appointment at the Steamboat Sports Sheraton. Only I and my daughter opted to take advantage, which was nice as it gave the two of us two days of demo gear. I opted for skis only and selected a pair of Head Kore 105s (my first time on powder skis) and my daughter got a nice pair of Rossi boots and (Elan?) skis that were 98mm underfoot. We both enjoyed the gear with 21" of fresh on Thursday when we hit the slopes again. The Kore 105's were great on Thurs. in the powder. On Fri. there were still nice in the trees with packed powder, but less fun on the groomed or hard pack sections than my Head iTitans would have been.
First Tracks - this perk gets you on the slopes 30-45 mins. early, but only via the Gondola up to the Sundown/Sunshine area. For anyone staying near the base that probably works well. You have to book a specific day in advance and we had selected Thursday to take advantage of our demo gear. Unfortunately due to the 21" of heavier/wetter than normal snow, all of the upper mountain lifts were closed/delayed that morning. That combined with the hassle of getting to the base area, we decided to skip it. We heard later that First Tracks that day was constrained to the lower mountain and possible Thunderhead... so we may have been able to get a few runs, but we weren't overly worried about it.
General comments about the trip:
Three weeks before our arrival, I was very concerned. At that point Steamboat only had a handful of runs open (literally 5 runs on the lower mountain IIRC), but thankfully they received a ton of snow Christmas Week through New Years. They averaged 5" of snow for 8 days in a row, which got 75% or so of their terrain open. While we were there they got another 25" inches or so to open up most of the rest of the mountain. Our last day, Friday, 1/7 they were starting to spin the Bar UE while we were coming down the Triangle Trees, leaving only the Pony Express area yet to open I believe.
Our first day (Monday 1/3) was spent mostly on groomers in the Sunshine area. The Sunshine lift was closed (motor failure) but we did laps up Sundown to South Flats and then back to Sundown. Not as efficient as if Sunshine lift had been running, but still worked pretty well. Lines at South Flats were minimal while lines at Sunshine were around 8-10 minutes most of the week. The rest of the week we spent increasing amounts of time in the trees, some in the Sunshine area, we hit Shadows/Closets a few times, and finished the week out in the Triangle Trees to Cyclone Trees to Bar-UE lift line which was tremendously fun. Especially up top, the Triangle Trees had some huge drifts/wind whales that made it a natural terrain park to play in. We found it interesting that while Shadows was skied off very quickly, Closets and the Sunshine Trees (flatter) had a lot of untracked powder even a day later.
Food/Coffee:
We ate most meals in our condo and out of our backpack on the hill, but did eat a couple meals in town based on recommendations from Ron's Unofficial Guide.
We had an incredible meal at Fiesta Jalisco one evening. Great chips and salsa to start and a wide variety of your favorite mexican dishes. Three of us had leftovers to take back to the condo. Very happy with the food, service, quality, and portions for $100+tip for four of us.
Another evening we went to the Back Door Grill for the "best burgers in town", which we also enjoyed. Tons of burger options and a nearly endless list of things to top your burger with. You can also sub Bison, Chicken, and a couple other options for the standard burger. Again, we were very satisfied and full when we left. Cost was about $80+tip for four of us.
Both Ron and our waitress at the Back Door Grill recommended Big Iron Coffee. We ended up getting Mochas/Lattes/Smooties twice during the week while were wandering through the shops downtime in the evenings. My son enjoyed it so much, he bought a bag of coffee to take home.
On our way out of town on Sat. morning, we stopped at "Burlap & Berry", which turned out to be in the alley behind Big Iron Coffee for breakfast sandwiches and coffee. The sandwiches on an english muffin or biscuit were wonderful and filling and the Mochas/Lattes were awesome as well. My only disappointment was they were out of large cups, so I had to settle for a medium (first-world problems). Apparently, with all of the snow over the last 10 days, their shipments were behind and they had run out of large cups.
I just realized I haven't downloaded photos to my computer yet, so I'll edit this in a bit to add some photos.
We selected a 2-bed/2-bath condo in the Scandinavian Lodge near the Thunderhead lift. I picked this location as a way to avoid the base area crowds, walking through the village, and the parking/shuttle struggle. A smaller consideration was also that with COVID still a concern, this kept us in wide-open air, less crowds, and open-air lifts. The condo listing said it was 100yds from the lift, but that was a typo and should have been 1,000 yds (or about 2 city blocks). Still not a terrible walk, but it is uphill a bit from the condo to the lift. I opted to drive the kids and gear up to the lift, drop them and our gear off, then drive the car back, and walk up solo. It was a much easier walk without gear, but doable either way. One of the days with considerable fresh snow, we skied back to the condo, being careful to stay to the very edge of the road. The Scandinavian Lodge has an outside pool and hot tub, which was nice. We enjoyed the hot tub a few times during our stay. We also saw a pair of moose near the pool upon returning after skiing one day and a solo moose on the road one morning.
My thoughts on the sVIP Perks program: this benefit of booking through Steamboat Central Reservations includes the following (per person) "free" benefits: one night skiing ticket, one Outlaw Mountain Coaster ticket, one day of Demo Skis, and one First Tracks ticket. We used all of these benefits, except for the First Tracks ticket, due to the trouble of getting down to the base to board the gondola combined with the upper-mountain lifts being delayed/closed the morning we had booked due to icing. While they are advertised as "free" perks, I'm sure it's bundled into the package somewhere. Even so, I'd consider it a $100-$200 value per person. Granted some items we probably wouldn't have bothered with otherwise, but we found them enjoyable and worthwhile.
Night Skiing - we used this on our arrival day as a "warm up" of sorts. All four of us had yet to get on snow this season, so having a couple of hours on the limited terrain was a nice fit to get our legs under us and make some turns. We started with two runs on the lower green from mid-station down, then went to the "top" for a couple of runs, and finished with a couple of faster runs on the black "See Me?", and made a trip through the terrain park and half-pipe on the last run for fun. It seems like they groom that portion of the mountain just prior to night skiing, so it was nice and soft, with fresh cordouroy, and wasn't very busy at all. I enjoyed it as a warm-up to start the trip. If we had booked later in the week, we probably would have skipped it.
Outlaw Mountain Coaster - not sure what this costs normally, but we enjoyed it for "free". We had initially planned to use it on Wed. (our planned off day) while in the village looking through the shops for souvenirs, etc. However, it was dumping that day and we spent more time downtown than in the village. So we ended up using the tickets our last night, on Friday evening. The coaster is open evening Fri-Sun vs. day-only hours Mon-Thurs. We walked right up, no line to speak of, and were seated. The staff does a short 1-2 minute operation and safety talk and then our ride started. It's about a 5-min ride total, with half or more of that time being pulled up hill. On the downhill section, you control your speed and can go as fast/slow as you want as long as you maintain a safe distance from anyone in front of you who may be going slower. I was the first one in our group, so with noone in front of me, I let her rip without braking the entire way down which was exilerating.
Demo Days - this was a much better perk that I expected. I was concerned it may have been just basic rental gear, but we had full choice of anything they sold. We booked our fitting appointment at the Steamboat Sports Sheraton. Only I and my daughter opted to take advantage, which was nice as it gave the two of us two days of demo gear. I opted for skis only and selected a pair of Head Kore 105s (my first time on powder skis) and my daughter got a nice pair of Rossi boots and (Elan?) skis that were 98mm underfoot. We both enjoyed the gear with 21" of fresh on Thursday when we hit the slopes again. The Kore 105's were great on Thurs. in the powder. On Fri. there were still nice in the trees with packed powder, but less fun on the groomed or hard pack sections than my Head iTitans would have been.
First Tracks - this perk gets you on the slopes 30-45 mins. early, but only via the Gondola up to the Sundown/Sunshine area. For anyone staying near the base that probably works well. You have to book a specific day in advance and we had selected Thursday to take advantage of our demo gear. Unfortunately due to the 21" of heavier/wetter than normal snow, all of the upper mountain lifts were closed/delayed that morning. That combined with the hassle of getting to the base area, we decided to skip it. We heard later that First Tracks that day was constrained to the lower mountain and possible Thunderhead... so we may have been able to get a few runs, but we weren't overly worried about it.
General comments about the trip:
Three weeks before our arrival, I was very concerned. At that point Steamboat only had a handful of runs open (literally 5 runs on the lower mountain IIRC), but thankfully they received a ton of snow Christmas Week through New Years. They averaged 5" of snow for 8 days in a row, which got 75% or so of their terrain open. While we were there they got another 25" inches or so to open up most of the rest of the mountain. Our last day, Friday, 1/7 they were starting to spin the Bar UE while we were coming down the Triangle Trees, leaving only the Pony Express area yet to open I believe.
Our first day (Monday 1/3) was spent mostly on groomers in the Sunshine area. The Sunshine lift was closed (motor failure) but we did laps up Sundown to South Flats and then back to Sundown. Not as efficient as if Sunshine lift had been running, but still worked pretty well. Lines at South Flats were minimal while lines at Sunshine were around 8-10 minutes most of the week. The rest of the week we spent increasing amounts of time in the trees, some in the Sunshine area, we hit Shadows/Closets a few times, and finished the week out in the Triangle Trees to Cyclone Trees to Bar-UE lift line which was tremendously fun. Especially up top, the Triangle Trees had some huge drifts/wind whales that made it a natural terrain park to play in. We found it interesting that while Shadows was skied off very quickly, Closets and the Sunshine Trees (flatter) had a lot of untracked powder even a day later.
Food/Coffee:
We ate most meals in our condo and out of our backpack on the hill, but did eat a couple meals in town based on recommendations from Ron's Unofficial Guide.
We had an incredible meal at Fiesta Jalisco one evening. Great chips and salsa to start and a wide variety of your favorite mexican dishes. Three of us had leftovers to take back to the condo. Very happy with the food, service, quality, and portions for $100+tip for four of us.
Another evening we went to the Back Door Grill for the "best burgers in town", which we also enjoyed. Tons of burger options and a nearly endless list of things to top your burger with. You can also sub Bison, Chicken, and a couple other options for the standard burger. Again, we were very satisfied and full when we left. Cost was about $80+tip for four of us.
Both Ron and our waitress at the Back Door Grill recommended Big Iron Coffee. We ended up getting Mochas/Lattes/Smooties twice during the week while were wandering through the shops downtime in the evenings. My son enjoyed it so much, he bought a bag of coffee to take home.
On our way out of town on Sat. morning, we stopped at "Burlap & Berry", which turned out to be in the alley behind Big Iron Coffee for breakfast sandwiches and coffee. The sandwiches on an english muffin or biscuit were wonderful and filling and the Mochas/Lattes were awesome as well. My only disappointment was they were out of large cups, so I had to settle for a medium (first-world problems). Apparently, with all of the snow over the last 10 days, their shipments were behind and they had run out of large cups.
I just realized I haven't downloaded photos to my computer yet, so I'll edit this in a bit to add some photos.
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