 Poster: A snowHead
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After years skiing all over Europe and the last 3 years spent training and racing I would really like to treat Mrs briand to a trip to the good 'ol US of A as she has been really brilliant in putting up with me over the past few years. Colorado, and Steamboat in particular is looking good - Utah, very difficult to get to from Ireland and a lot more expensive, Wyoming - good value but wife wouldn't like the gnarl. Planning a March visit to beat the real cold , BA flights from Dublin,LHR,Denver then either transfer by bus or extra flight to Yampa. Moneywise I can do 10 days for e1300 each for flights, transfers, hotel b+b in Steamboat Springs and lift passes ( from American Ski Classics). Skiing wise, mrs b is comfortable on easier reds but is "adventurous", however has never done any off piste stuff. I want to get better in powder but am not really interested in on piste stuff on this trip apart from pootling with mrs b ( its her holiday ) so Steamboat looks like it will sort us both out and give us the American ski experience we're looking for.So are there any cons to my plan and also does anyone have any experience of the free mountain guiding mornings with the resort ambassadors as I think we'd both really enjoy this.
Thanks for any info.
Cheers,
Briand6868 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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briand6868, haven't been to Steamboat for years, kids made trips there tricky! To note is that Steamboat has 'downtown' and a ski area. Majority of shops and eating places are downtown, but is a 10-min ride on free bus to ski area.
Take a trip to hotsprings at Strawberry Park
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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My lasting memory of Steamboat is being asked for ID to buy a bottle of wine at age 40!! Other than that the skiing was good - but don't go late season as they have a habit of closing large chunks of the resort
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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chocksaway, I bought a bottle of gin in the liquor store with huge signs everywhere saying "everyone will be ID'd" - they didn't ask me 
Oh yeah - if you have a day off, trip to Silverthorne for the Factory Outlets
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Thanks for the tips chocksaway, and Boris, Planning to go first 10 days in March so hopefully it'll all be open. Do you know if there are many problems with the flight from Denver into Yampa weatherwise ( the way there seems to be into Aspen). The van transfer is 360$ return for the 2 of us and the flight, when booked as a leg of our other flights is about 70e return each so looks like a no brainer. I don't want to hire a car as we'll only use it for Denver/Sboat/Denver and I don't fancy driving after a long flight.
Boris, At last my brood are old enough for us to have a ( reasonably) worry free trip 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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briand6868, I chose Steamboat a few years ago for my first trip with Mrs L but without the (now grown up) kids, for very similar reasons to you. There are lots of groomed and non-groomed (i.e. inbounds off-piste) runs parallel to each other, so we just went our separate paths and met at the bottom. We stayed in the town - we prefer strolling out in the evening for a choice of restaurants and a few shops for the sake of a 10-minute bus ride to the lifts. The warm spring experience is definitely worth an evening jaunt.
Enjoy!
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laundryman, Exactly what I'm planning - would like to stay in town also, if you have any recommendations re hotels in town to stay in or avoid I would be grateful if you could post/pm, I'm looking at the Nordic Lodge, Bristol type places. Did you do any of the " free mountain guiding" with the resort ambassadors while you were there ? Really like the idea of being able to try different conditions but meeting up at the end
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| Planning to go first 10 days in March |
Mardi Gras time (the fat tuesday for 2014 is the 4th March) so should be fun. briand6868, better explain to your wife how to earn beads.
Definitely do the hot springs.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Boris wrote: |
chocksaway
Oh yeah - if you have a day off, trip to Silverthorne for the Factory Outlets |
We went there earlier this year, was pretty poor imho. I went there in 2009 and it was alright, but now it wasn't really that great.
Might just be me not into shopping that much, but the wife didn't reckon to much to it either!
Only spent a few days in Steamboat in 2009 but was a very nice place, but not sure if it would be too small for longer than a week?
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I've never been to Steamboat so this is all by reputation. It is a place I've wanted to visit. The terrain should be very good match; lots of intermediate terrain, lots of tree skiing, and a good place to start venturing off piste. The town also has a good reputation and there are natural hot springs where lots of folks like to go to soak up the heat. By Colorado standards it's quite low, the town is about 6800 feet so altitude sickness is less likely a problem. Vail and Aspen are 8000+ feet, the town of Breckenridge is about 9500 feet, by comparison. That also means it's more likely to go into the spring like conditions earlier. You should have very good coverage through March (SB gets a lot of snow most years) but if you can you might want to shoot for early March rather than later March. I'd say late February might be about optimal. Colleges have spring breaks in March so prices are generally no better until you get into very late March or early April. You might post some questions on Epicski.com where many folks who have much more knowledge than I could help you. Hope you have a great time.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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was in steamboat christmas 2011 for 10 days and stayed in a condo about 3min walk from the main lift area. great ski area although the snow conditions were not as good as we would have hoped for. never used mountain guides as we were with a larger group who new the area well. the hot springs are an experience for the evening - clothing optional!! there is a great wings bar in the town and was really cheap as well as some great bars serving food in the evenings around the main lift area.
we did hire a car and found it an easy drive from denver and the flexibility of having our own wheels when we were there.
one thing i would say about altitude sickness is that about 4 days into the trip my wife felt unwell on the slopes and we realised we needed to get her off the mountain she ended up sitting in starbucks on oxygen with 3 medics.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I was at Steamboat just last week! condition were brilliant!!
I drove from Denver to Steamboat only because I was also going to other mountains as well. Otherwise, I'd say flying straight into Hyeden will be much more civilized, not having to worry about mountain passes and snow chains needed etc. My car sat at the hotel parking all day because it's actually more convenient to take the bus than to drive up in my own car. The closer the bus stop to the hotel, the better.
There're 2 company that will take you to the hotspring and back. So car is not needed.
I did't take the mountain tour only because my first day was an epic powder day so I was too busy going off-piste. I usually take the tour in every mountain new to me. Do check to confirm what standard of skiing is expected in the tour though.
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A couple of mates went a few years ago lured by the ' Champagne Powder' - they said it rained nearly every day 
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You know it makes sense.
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Great tips and info people, it was a bit of a toss up between Aspen and Steamboat as flights/lift passes were similar costs, its when we got to hotel costs that there was a huge difference. Steamboat it is, can't wait
Guernseyfreerider, That is the ultimate nightmare !!
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