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Day 12 - Delicious!
Delicious! Both the sweet memories of last night’s meal (at Café Diva) and the skiing today!
Steamboat was very kind to us, again, today. Things started off VERY quietly on the mountain and we didn’t really experience much difference throughout the day: it got a little busier, but not much. The groomers were in fantastic shape – incredibly carvable. My knees, though a bit creaky, rose to the occasion and we carved down fabulous groomers all day. I think that it is a confidence thing: since I know that nothing is seriously wrong with my knees, I feel confident to place them under tension, so I ski well, so they twist and hurt less. The sun graced us with its presence most of the day: the light was good and the views were stunning.
We did laps of Four Points, Bar UE (Buddy’s was fantastic again today – had to do it twice again!) and Sunshine. We did mainly faultlessly smooth blue cruisers, but threw in a few very flat blacks (Cyclone, Drop Out, Storm Peak North and Westside). Carving big turns was just effortless.
Lunch was “Cheese, Fries and Chilli” from the Canteen at Rendezvous Saddle: we shared a portion between us because we were still quite full from dinner last night (is there anyone in Steamboat who can “let out” ski pants???).
Morning and afternoon breaks were at Four Points Hut: this is a great place to grab a drink, a snack and to warm-up. We even had some strange guy accost us there and ask if we wanted a masseuse… The view from Four Points Hut, this afternoon, was stunning: you could see for 100s of miles.
One feature of this week is that it has been “Adaptive Ski Week”. We have been absolutely amazed by the skill, courage and abilities of the adaptive skiers. I have been complaining about my knees the past few days, but the abilities of the adaptive skiers (and the ingenuity of the people who adapt the ski equipment and the people who assist them) really put things into perspective. It is really great to see a wide variety of people being able to get out and enjoy the mountain to its fullest.
Dinner was at 8th Street Steakhouse. I had wanted something “light”, so I am not sure how we got to the 8th Street Steakhouse! We skipped the appetisers and went straight to the salad bar - always a good start to a meal. Then we went to choose our entrée: there is a large cold counter of un-cooked steaks and fish – you just choose what you want. A couple of 12oz New York Strip Steaks later (I know, hardly light!) – and having ordered a portion of Sweet Potato Fries to share – we hit the indoor BBQ grill. Seasonings and bastings applied, we placed the steaks on the grill for the required time (if you don’t like how your steak is cooked, then blame the chef – yourself!). By the time we got back to the table, our server appears to bring the side order. All pretty good – top marks to the chef. We tried the “Smores” dessert, but I really wasn’t sold on it: if I have a dessert, then it has to be “worth it”. But we had a good steak, nice salad bar and a bit of fun (BBQing your own steak).
Back to the condo via City Market to stock up on essentials (breakfast) and painkillers. Aleve has been recommended to me, so I thought that I would give it a try.
Hopefully more of the same great skiing tomorrow and also the joy of meeting a few old friends and hopefully a few new friends as well.
View down Upper Rainbow and across to Thunderhead
View up to trees above Quickdraw
View from Quickdraw (on Sunshine)
View from Four Points Hut this afternoon
Another view from Four Points Hut this afternoon
8th Street Steakhouse - uncooked meat and fish counter
8th Street Steakhouse - men doing manly things and BBQing food on the indoor grill
Steamboat was very kind to us, again, today. Things started off VERY quietly on the mountain and we didn’t really experience much difference throughout the day: it got a little busier, but not much. The groomers were in fantastic shape – incredibly carvable. My knees, though a bit creaky, rose to the occasion and we carved down fabulous groomers all day. I think that it is a confidence thing: since I know that nothing is seriously wrong with my knees, I feel confident to place them under tension, so I ski well, so they twist and hurt less. The sun graced us with its presence most of the day: the light was good and the views were stunning.
We did laps of Four Points, Bar UE (Buddy’s was fantastic again today – had to do it twice again!) and Sunshine. We did mainly faultlessly smooth blue cruisers, but threw in a few very flat blacks (Cyclone, Drop Out, Storm Peak North and Westside). Carving big turns was just effortless.
Lunch was “Cheese, Fries and Chilli” from the Canteen at Rendezvous Saddle: we shared a portion between us because we were still quite full from dinner last night (is there anyone in Steamboat who can “let out” ski pants???).
Morning and afternoon breaks were at Four Points Hut: this is a great place to grab a drink, a snack and to warm-up. We even had some strange guy accost us there and ask if we wanted a masseuse… The view from Four Points Hut, this afternoon, was stunning: you could see for 100s of miles.
One feature of this week is that it has been “Adaptive Ski Week”. We have been absolutely amazed by the skill, courage and abilities of the adaptive skiers. I have been complaining about my knees the past few days, but the abilities of the adaptive skiers (and the ingenuity of the people who adapt the ski equipment and the people who assist them) really put things into perspective. It is really great to see a wide variety of people being able to get out and enjoy the mountain to its fullest.
Dinner was at 8th Street Steakhouse. I had wanted something “light”, so I am not sure how we got to the 8th Street Steakhouse! We skipped the appetisers and went straight to the salad bar - always a good start to a meal. Then we went to choose our entrée: there is a large cold counter of un-cooked steaks and fish – you just choose what you want. A couple of 12oz New York Strip Steaks later (I know, hardly light!) – and having ordered a portion of Sweet Potato Fries to share – we hit the indoor BBQ grill. Seasonings and bastings applied, we placed the steaks on the grill for the required time (if you don’t like how your steak is cooked, then blame the chef – yourself!). By the time we got back to the table, our server appears to bring the side order. All pretty good – top marks to the chef. We tried the “Smores” dessert, but I really wasn’t sold on it: if I have a dessert, then it has to be “worth it”. But we had a good steak, nice salad bar and a bit of fun (BBQing your own steak).
Back to the condo via City Market to stock up on essentials (breakfast) and painkillers. Aleve has been recommended to me, so I thought that I would give it a try.
Hopefully more of the same great skiing tomorrow and also the joy of meeting a few old friends and hopefully a few new friends as well.
View down Upper Rainbow and across to Thunderhead
View up to trees above Quickdraw
View from Quickdraw (on Sunshine)
View from Four Points Hut this afternoon
Another view from Four Points Hut this afternoon
8th Street Steakhouse - uncooked meat and fish counter
8th Street Steakhouse - men doing manly things and BBQing food on the indoor grill
Comment
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Comment by skisteamboat on January 16, 2009 at 5:25pm -
All of the Express lifts have bars and some of the others as well, for example, Burgess Creek.
Bars, no bars, just hold on to the chair and enjoy the ride. If you must have bars, just ride the Express chairs like Sunshine, Sundown and Storm Peak.
Cheers
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Comment by Boo Boo on January 16, 2009 at 4:05pm -
There are no bars on a number of lifts (including Morningside, Four Points, Bashor, Bar UE, Elkhead, South Peak, possibly Pony Express) do NOT have bars... About half of them do not have bars.
Apparently about as many accidents are caused BY BARS as are caused by not having bars. For example, someone may put a bar down when the other people on the lift are not ready, knocking someone off.
I think that you need to start "managaing expectations"... She will be perfectly safe on lifts without bars, but a bar is a good psychological comfort.
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Comment by Mike (skipompey) on January 16, 2009 at 11:53am - Yep no bars
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Comment by Kup on January 16, 2009 at 10:43am -
Being that morningside is primarily black runs, I dont see her or I riding that one..... and that is a good point from your husband about the frequency of falling off a chair at home. Having said that, WHAT DO U MEAN THOSE NO BARS ON THE CHAIRS?!?!??!. Seems there would be some legal mumbo-jumbo that the insurance companies would mandate that. Now I dont have a warm fuzzy feeling. The bars do give a sense of security. - especially if the lift is stuck for a while and things start a swaying!
ugggggg
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Comment by Boo Boo on January 16, 2009 at 7:08am
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Hi Allen, when did you get home? Making those first tracks can be a lot of fun: the mountain has been very quiet this week :-)
It can be ridiculously beautiful when the sun shines: the contrast between the white snow and the blue ski makes the snow whiter and the sky bluer.
The chairlift in that photo is Four Points. It does go quite high towards the end. As Mike says, Morningside Lift can get pretty high at the end (that one freaks me out a little bit - I hate heights). Neither of those two lifts have bars either: I know it is mad, but the bar gives me a bit of "psychological comfort". The only thing to do on chairlifts is to sit back and stay calm: as my husband says "how often to you fall off of a chair at home?"
Thanks for the compliments, Jeff. Sounds like a great job and I have heard that Hamilton Island is really fantastic (although I think that I would need to be a surfing, snorkling, scuba diver to write that blog... ) :-)
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Comment by Mike (skipompey) on January 16, 2009 at 6:18am
- The only chairlift that could give your wife a problem is the Morningside lift there is a bit of air under you as you get towards the last part of the lift.
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Comment by Beazer on January 16, 2009 at 6:15am - Boo...it has been great reading your blogs. Today marked the first day that the 15-day forecast extends into our trip timeframe! Can't wait to shred/drink some champagne. Anyway, I just thought I would let you know of a great opportunity out there. Check out foxnews.com for a story about the "Best Job in the World". Basically, Australia will pay someone 150,000 AUD to vacation in Hamilton Island off the coast and post weekly blogs, videos, photos, etc. Novel idea, and you definitely have the experience!
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Comment by Kup on January 16, 2009 at 6:10am
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great blog - hope the knee gets better. two comments on the photos; 1) that photo of the trees on quickdraw: Ive never seen that deep blue of a sky before. very pretty. 2) the photo of the chair lift from the 4 points hut looks amazingly high!!! my wife is gonna freak out! Are there certain chair lifts that are extremely high off the ground vs. others? If so, let me know so my wife can avoid them.
Kup
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Comment by Allen on January 15, 2009 at 8:49pm - I missed all of the sunny weather!!! But the snow was nice. My 8 year old actually made the first tracks on Velvet Tuesday morning. He was so excited.
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If you are 50+ you could join up with the free Over the Hill Gang ski along program. They ski blues and groomed blacks and if their are some who want to handle some bumps and trees, you can do that as well. The Gang meets near the Chuck Wagon in Gon…
any other suggestions?
Hey Andrew,
Thank you for the tip, in the right direction.Most of the time on family ski vacations, without my ski buddies on the scene I always end up skiing alone,which means I ski very lazy at times.....I have always loved skiing with a pack,so…
Hey Laura,
Thank you for the real world advice on kids with poles......The more i think about it, you are 100% correct about their stance being hard to fix,after picking up bad pole habits.The more I think about it,the only time I saw some kids the…
I sure had that one pegged wrong - but I'll take it!!
Thanks so much for your interest in our products. The mens club program was designed with the all conditions all terrain idea in mind and in my experience they tend to ski quite a bit off piste. I think a better way for you to go if you want to go o…
Thanks
What a great surprise the snow was today! Sure was good.
What a wonderful time in Steamboat: the conditions last week may not have been up to Steamboat standards, but they were awesome to me:
I haven't skied in at least 5 years, 7 years since I was last at the boat:
Day 1...nice groom runs to get my leg…
Matt does rock (and Dave does too). My 4 year old was doing bumps, blue blacks, and glades after these 2 great instructors ran him and a couple of other rowdy boys all over the mountain. Thank you!!!!!!!!!
You might try posting at: http://steamboatforums.com/index.php
It is more for locals, but the site is pretty quiet.
??
Not many people realize that very often March can be one of our biggest snow months of the season. I believe that today's conditions were no exception! As I approached the Gondola to make my way up the mountain, the first thing I noticed was the lay…
Not many people realize that very often March can be one of our biggest snow months of the season. I believe that today's conditions were no exception! As I approached the Gondola to make my way up the mountain, the first thing I noticed was the lay…
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