Steamboat Ski Resort - Steamboat Springs, CO

Steamboat is a large, family-friendly ski resort that gets over 350 inches of light, dry snow. The resort coined the phrase Champagne Powder to describe the snow they get because it’s dry like champagne.

Offering 3,741 skiable acres spread across 181 trails, Steamboat has terrain for everyone and two gondolas to access it, Steamboat Gondola and Wild Blue Gondola. And at 3 hours from Denver, Steamboat’s just far enough to keep the lift lines low.

Steamboat is known for its deep powder stashes and expansive tree skiing. Additionally, you’ll find easy learning trails, fast groomers, rollers, moguls, steeps, chutes, cliffs, and terrain parks. The only feature you won’t see at Steamboat is big open-bowl skiing.

Terrain

Steamboat Storm Peak — Heading down from the Gondola, view of Storm Peak.

With a summit elevation of 10,568 ft, Steamboat never reaches above the treeline. This generally means more hospitable temperatures than at higher altitude resorts.

Steamboat has 18 total lifts to navigate around the resort’s 165 trails. From the base, you can take a gondola to the mid-mountain. From here you’ll have three main choices: ski back down the front side of the mountain, go left to Storm Peak, or go right to Sunshine Peak.

Beginners will find a learning area near the base and plenty of greens from mid-mountain down. There are also some additional runs suitable on the Sunshine Mountainside.

Intermediates will have a blast on the whole mountain. From the top of all the chairlifts, you’ll always be able to find an intermediate (blue) trail back down. Steamboat grooms a lot of beginner/intermediate terrain every morning, smoothing out the bumps and providing fresh corduroy.

Steamboat Ski Resort South Peak — A snow dragon at Steamboat’s South Peak Lift.

Experts will find most of the advanced terrain above mid-mountain. From the top of either Sunshine or Storm Peak, you can head down the backside of the mountain to Morningside. Take this lift to access Steamboat’s legendary chutes, or hike 5 minutes further to the top of Mount Werner.

All the runs from the summit of Mount Werner require a five-minute traverse at the end, except for No Names, which leads you to the bottom of the chutes. After you come down you’ll arrive at the Storm Peak Express lift or you can explore further down at the Pony Express lift for some hidden stashes.

Tree skiing is notorious at Steamboat. Almost all of the trees between the trails are open to skiing and usually hold powder stashes for days. The mountain is a stunning blend of evergreens and aspen. The premiere skiing is Shadows and Closets. Often overlooked are trees off Sunshine Peak between High Noon and Three O’Clock.

Thanksgiving Day Skiing Steamboat Ski Resort — Thanksgiving skiing down Heavenly Daze.

There are three terrain parks, varying in size. Mavericks is the largest and features a Superpipe. There is a beginner park near the Gondola.

Village

Steamboat Resort Keller Williams — Keller William rocks the ‘Boat.

Steamboat has both a mountain village and a historic downtown. At the base of the mountain is Ski Time Square. This is the heart of Steamboat’s mountain village with lots of nice places to shop, eat and stay. Slopeside Grill and a few other restaurants host live music most afternoons.

On-mountain there are several places to eat, drink and relax. Rendezvous Saddle offers two levels of food courts and fine dining at Ragnar’s. The Thunderhead Station has a couple of restaurants. Grab a Bloody Mary at Stoker’s or get a nice lunch at Hazie’s Fine Dining. The Four Points Hut is usually cooking burgers under the Storm Lift chairlift.

Downtown Steamboat is located five minutes from the mountain. The main street is wide and lined with nice restaurants, bars, shops, spas, and lodging. There is a hot springs pool right downtown, the Old Town Hot Springs, and a ski area, Howelsen Hill. For a more primitive after-ski soak, visit Strawberry Park Hot Springs, fifteen minutes from town.

Need a place to stay? Read about the best hotels in Steamboat Springs.

Two other winter activities in Steamboat include snow tubing and dog sledding.