Steamboat Springs
Steamboat Springs is one of the most genuinely Western ski towns in Colorado: There are outstanding restaurants, but none smack of snootiness. There are luxury properties, but they butt up against working cattle ranches and rental homes full of lifties. Weekend events tend to be ski-joring and rodeos rather than operas and intellectual summits. Fur coats are nonexistent. Cowboy hats are common. And the snow ... the snow! Steamboat has copyrighted the phrase "champagne powder," and the moniker is well deserved. There's nothing like floating through the trees on Closet after an i8-inch dump.
Unlike most other high-mountain towns in the state, Steamboat's foundations are in ranching rather than mining-although gold was discovered near Hahns Peak, 3o miles north of town, in 1865, drawing some 2,ooo speculators into the Yampa Valley. James Harvey Crawford became Steamboat Springs proper's first homesteader in 1874, after taking a train trip to Denver and falling hard for the mountains: He struck out with his wife, Maggie, and three young kids, went up and over the Continental Divide, and used the Homestead Act to claim 160 acres where the Bear River (now the Yampa) bent through the valley. He became the town's first mayor, county judge, and school superintendent, and Maggie started the first school, church, and library.
Many of Steamboat's first visitors came for the supposed healing properties of the sulfur springs on the west side of town-which, early trappers observed, made a "chug- chug" sound (hence the town's name). By the turn of the 20th century, close to 600 people had joined the Crawfords. By 1909, the railroad had arrived; by 1918, more cattle were transported from Steamboat than from any other point in the United States; by 1914, the first road over Rabbit Ears Pass was completed. And though it took another 50 years for the ski resort to be established, doctors and mail carriers were using skis all along.
In fact, one of the first ski jumps in the United States was built in Steamboat Springs in 1915, kicking off a winter sports legacy that has no match. Steamboat is home to more past and present Olympians than any other town in America, including freestylers Ann Battelle and Nelson Carmichael; snowboarder Shannon Dunn; downhiller Buddy Werner; and four-discipline wonder Gordy Wren. We have Norwegian Carl Howelsen to thank for the legacy: He started Howelsen Hill, a 440-vertical-foot area in the middle of town that's still used for training today.
But it was when Jim Temple-with the help of Werner-decided to build a ski area on Storm Mountain (now called Mount Werner) that Steamboat really came into its own: Ground-breaking took place in the summer of 1958, and a Poma went up three years later. In 1964, Werner died in an avalanche while filming a ski movie in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and the hill's name was changed to Mount Werner Ski Area. In 1970, another Olympian-Billy Kidd-became the face of newly named Steamboat, and still is (you won't go far without seeing a photo of his cowboy hat and bandana, or a bronze sculpture of him, or sometimes even the man himself). In the 1980's, ad campaigns went something like this: "More mountain than Aspen. More powder than Vail. More lifts than Snowmass. More sun than Sun Valley. More bars than Utah. And less skiers."
And while some of that has undoubtedly changed (the Snowmass lifts, for one, not to mention those Utah bars), the character of Steamboat hasn't: It's far enough from the Front Range to keep away day-tripping traffic; it sometimes gets slathered by 4o-inch storms; its residents are cowboys and former hippies and professors and outdoorsy families; and its vibe remains mellow and full of hometown pride.
Unlike most other high-mountain towns in the state, Steamboat's foundations are in ranching rather than mining-although gold was discovered near Hahns Peak, 3o miles north of town, in 1865, drawing some 2,ooo speculators into the Yampa Valley. James Harvey Crawford became Steamboat Springs proper's first homesteader in 1874, after taking a train trip to Denver and falling hard for the mountains: He struck out with his wife, Maggie, and three young kids, went up and over the Continental Divide, and used the Homestead Act to claim 160 acres where the Bear River (now the Yampa) bent through the valley. He became the town's first mayor, county judge, and school superintendent, and Maggie started the first school, church, and library.
Many of Steamboat's first visitors came for the supposed healing properties of the sulfur springs on the west side of town-which, early trappers observed, made a "chug- chug" sound (hence the town's name). By the turn of the 20th century, close to 600 people had joined the Crawfords. By 1909, the railroad had arrived; by 1918, more cattle were transported from Steamboat than from any other point in the United States; by 1914, the first road over Rabbit Ears Pass was completed. And though it took another 50 years for the ski resort to be established, doctors and mail carriers were using skis all along.
In fact, one of the first ski jumps in the United States was built in Steamboat Springs in 1915, kicking off a winter sports legacy that has no match. Steamboat is home to more past and present Olympians than any other town in America, including freestylers Ann Battelle and Nelson Carmichael; snowboarder Shannon Dunn; downhiller Buddy Werner; and four-discipline wonder Gordy Wren. We have Norwegian Carl Howelsen to thank for the legacy: He started Howelsen Hill, a 440-vertical-foot area in the middle of town that's still used for training today.
But it was when Jim Temple-with the help of Werner-decided to build a ski area on Storm Mountain (now called Mount Werner) that Steamboat really came into its own: Ground-breaking took place in the summer of 1958, and a Poma went up three years later. In 1964, Werner died in an avalanche while filming a ski movie in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and the hill's name was changed to Mount Werner Ski Area. In 1970, another Olympian-Billy Kidd-became the face of newly named Steamboat, and still is (you won't go far without seeing a photo of his cowboy hat and bandana, or a bronze sculpture of him, or sometimes even the man himself). In the 1980's, ad campaigns went something like this: "More mountain than Aspen. More powder than Vail. More lifts than Snowmass. More sun than Sun Valley. More bars than Utah. And less skiers."
And while some of that has undoubtedly changed (the Snowmass lifts, for one, not to mention those Utah bars), the character of Steamboat hasn't: It's far enough from the Front Range to keep away day-tripping traffic; it sometimes gets slathered by 4o-inch storms; its residents are cowboys and former hippies and professors and outdoorsy families; and its vibe remains mellow and full of hometown pride.
Ski Areas
