Today was our last day in Steamboat. Actually, we were supposed to leave yesterday. We took a few more runs down the mountain and spent a little time playing in the terrain park. Now we’re packing it up and trying to get out before it gets dark and the roads ice over. I’m watching Velzy pull the stuff out of the freezer now – coffee, Belvedere vodka, etc. I’m gonna miss this place. I hope the ride home is safe. We might stay the night in Denver – see if there’s a new years fireworks show or something. Have a happy new years.
We really dig the Sobe terrain park here… It’s easy to get a view across the park from the top and there’s a variety of stuff to play on. The best part is the lift dedicated to taking you up to the top of the park (or pipe).
Today Velzy and I also found a smaller park with the tiniest little rail I’ve ever seen… thing was no more than 2 feet long. It also had a nifty mini-pipe that we both tried out. I think the walls were somewhere in the range of 4 or 5 feet tall. It was just enough to get a feel for going up the walls and turning around.
Anyway, here’s a quick video showing a pan of the Sobe park:
Today is the day after Christmas, known by some as boxing day. Why is that important? Well, actually, it’s not important at all – but the attached photo shows some boxing day riders in their boxers (posing with Velzy).
Today also happens to be our third day of boarding in Steamboat. We haven’t seen any new snow fall since the first day here, but there’s still lots of fresh powder to be found. We worked our way to the back of the mountain this morning – just to check it out. We found big open areas with tons of powder left untouched. We ended up spending the entire day. Keep in mind, riding good powder like this is new for both Velzy and I. The soft falls really builds our confidence; but swimming out of the powder after you fall can really wear you out!
Steamboat is a great mountain. The only complaint we’ve had so far is some funky signs. They seem kinda poorly placed at times – or missing altogether. It’s really a minor complaint – who wants to spend all day reading signs anyway?
What better way to celebrate Christmas than snowboarding in epic powder with your best friend! Steamboat Springs has catered to our every dream about sweet, sweet powder! The rumors are true! It’s almost fun to fall in the fluffy, champagne powder! Getting out of the deep stuff is quite exhausting though! I need to research techniques for getting out of 3′ of powder! I fell in twice, and it wore my happy a$$ out trying to get out!
Time to open presents! (aka time to hit the slopes!!) Here is our Christmas breakfast picture for your enjoyment! Pura Vida baby!
Today was our first day on the slopes here in Steamboat, and today was also the best powder conditions I have ever experienced! (Velzy says, “me toooo!”)… We’re really enjoying the mountain. Gondolas rock! The people here have been really nice and it’s not too crowded right now at all. Most of the day was near whiteout conditions. At the end of the day, the storm started to break and the view was epic.
The best part of the day, hands down, was this “champagne powder” that people are always bragging about. The snow was so dry and fluffy that you couldn’t pack it into a snowball (lucky for Velzy). Falling down was like landing in pillows… most of the time. There were a few small patches of hard packed snow and ice – but they were few and far between. Simply wonderful.
We just woke up and Velzy shouts, “it’s snowing!” I feel wonderfully rested after about 15 hours of sleep. The only problem is that the slopes open in 30 minutes and we still haven’t eaten any breakfast. And here I am, wasting time on the Internet. It’s ok, really, she’s cooking! =D
It sure is nice having Internet access on the mountain. We arrived at our condo in Steamboat a few hours ago. After such a long drive, I had to go straight for the nap. First impressions are good. The mountain looks like fun and I dig the little town. We haven’t gone exploring so there’s not much to report. It was a fun drive up, aside from being rather long. We saw lots of vehicles that ran off the road during the storm. Denver was still a mess with snow plows running everywhere. We really ended up having great weather and driving conditions, all things considered. The only time I really needed to use 4×4 was getting into one of the gas stations in Denver and for the last little crawl into the condo. Attached is a snapshot of Velzy posing in my truck on one of the passes just before you get to Steamboat.
I just finished packing the last of my gear and I’m about to leave the apartment. The plants are watered, the trash cans are empty, the bed has fresh sheets, the kitchen sink is empty and I can’t think of anything I’ve forgotten. A few hours from now I’ll be swinging by my parents and then it’s 15 to 20 hours of hard driving. I hope my new Xterra shows me the same kind of love and reliability as the last one. I’ve shown off a few pictures of trucks in my last two entries – this time I actually took a moment to snap a picture of mine.
They’re calling it a Colorado blizzard. There are some nice pictures over on the BBC News. Tomorrow around 10pm, me and a friend are headed directly for it. I’ve been mulling over road closures this evening. As far as I know, the bulk of the snow has passed; thus I suspect that the roads will be fairly clear by the time we make it in. If my memory serves me correctly, most of Colorado is pretty quick on getting the roads scraped and sanded.
Word of the snow pushed me over the edge. I was talking myself into being happy with the BFG Long Trails that came standard on my Xterra. Upon hearing about the storm, I did what I wanted to do anyway, I traded them in on a new set of BFG ATs. I also intend to pick up a set of snow chains, probably in Colorado Springs. I hope we get a dump of snow like this while we are there.
If you read my journal, you know that I recently bought a new snow tripping vehicle that I keep intending to post pictures of. While on my search for this vehicle, I found a Texas Nissan dealership that likes to sell big trucks. Let me show you them.
The first one to catch my eye was a modified Armada that actually looked pretty sweet. I guesstimated the gas mileage to be around 12mpg. They really struck the right height on the lift and I actually like the chrome (rare for me). If I was the type of self absorbed wealthy fool it took to purchase an H2, I think I would rather waste my money on this thing.
There were actually many modified Armadas on this lot. The Armada is based on the Titan pick up truck frame. They are Nissan’s huge SUV. They normally run upwards of $50k before you start adding mods. I thought this tan one looked kinda crappy. The rear seems to sit kinda low, I don’t like it.
One of the Armadas, you could just live in. Along with all of the standard ‘make it look tough and tall’ mods, they also put a satellite dish on top. Now you can watch pay per view or browse the web while you’re burning enough gas to power a small country.
Finally, one of my favorite mammoth Texas trucks on this lot just happened to be a Ford. It was the first F550 I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if this thing comes stock at this unreasonable height, or if it was lifted. The tires on this rig look like they rolled right off of a semi. There are two steps for climbing up into this creature. It’s nuts. I forgot to look at the price.
