Resort Review from an intermediate Snowboarder’s perspective, I like blue and black groomers and tree runs, skip the terrain park and love aprés-ski food and drinks:
Overall:
Steamboat is home to Champagne Powder and the most Olympians of any US resort. It has a great mix of terrain to entertain all types of riders. If you can get a direct flight in and out of the Hayden airport its a great resort for a quick trip.
Pros:
Medium ski-able area
Varied terrain (groomers, glades and bowls)
Close to airport (about 45 mins)
More affordable than other Colorado resorts
Cons:
Small village with minimal on resort nightlife
Direct flights can be limited
Getting there:
Flying into Hayden airport is the easiest way to get to Steamboat. If you can’t get a flight into Hayden you could fly into Denver but be warned the shuttle is well over 3 hours.
When you board or deplane the airplane at Hayden Airport, you will do so via an outdoor ramp so be prepared for the cold weather.
If you are flying a small regional airplane you might have had to gate check your carry-on bag, if you did, you will need to wait outside to get your bag.
Checked luggage will be brought inside on 1 of 2 baggage carousels. The oversize ski bags will also be brought inside to the luggage area. Overall, when I was there, it was a very quick process to get our bags after we landed.
Shuttle service counters are right next to baggage claim so we were able to quickly get on our reserved shuttle, Storm Mountain Express. The car rental counters are also right there if you decide to rent a car.
The drive from Hayden airport to Steamboat Ski Resort is quick at around 45 minutes. The town of Steamboat Springs is about 10 minutes closer if you decide to stay in town.
When departing remember that Hayden is a small airport. There are only 7 gates and 1 security checkpoint. Leave yourself extra time to get through security and don’t expect many food options. The airport does have TSA Precheck, which was a nice surprise.
The process to check-in our snowboard bag took unexpectedly long. For United you have to go up to the desk to check-in as there aren't any United kiosks available for self check-in. We had to wait around 30 minutes to check-in through the premier access line, the regular line was much longer.
Mountain Terrain:
Steamboat has almost 3,000 ski-able acres and varied terrain. When I visited, the resort had just received over 30 inches of snow so the conditions were amazing.
The resort has a good mix of blues and blacks while also having some extreme terrain off the back side and in the Christmas Tree chute area.
Given the conditions we found a lot of ungroomed terrain off the Sundown lift by Two O'clock and One O’clock, which was . Unfortunately there was too much snow in the backside to really judge the terrain. The few runs we did we got stuck on flats in deep powder. It did look like there were steep deep tree runs in the backside.
The lifts were easy to navigate across the resort. There were a few catwalks between the areas there were a bit frustrating on a snowboard.
Steamboat even has night skiing on the weekends!
Village/Lodging:
The resort has a small village area with an ice rink and a handful of restaurants. Its not the type of village you can walk around to entertain yourself. On the positive, there is a bar right at the base of the village for a convenient end of the day drink.
The majority of restaurants and shops are in town, which is about a 10 minute drive from the resort. You can access the town from the free bus that runs throughout Steamboat Springs. If you are staying at a Vacasa property they offer guest a private on demand shuttle, which is super helpful for grocery shopping or getting around town (very helpful perk!). Doordash and Instacart are also available if you want to order groceries to your lodging.
There are all types of lodging from hotels, condos and villas. You should be able to find something within your budget. There are plenty of properties within walking distance to the lifts or you can utilize the shuttle system.
Restaurants in town and on the restaurant fill up on the weekends, so reservations are a must!
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