Welcome to
Steamboat Springs Sights!
The ski resort and town of Steamboat Springs is
sometimes referred to as “Ski Town USA.” The term
Champagne Powder, a reference to powder snow
conditions, is a Steamboat Springs Ski Resort claim
to fame. Steamboat Springs is the county seat and
biggest city in Routt County, Colorado. This resort
can be reached by car via U.S. Highway 40. The
Yampa River runs through the valley below the
mountains of the ski resort. It is located west of
the Continental Divide. Nearly 10,000 people make
the city of Steamboat Springs home. Through Sister
Cities International (SCI), the town of Steamboat
is a sister city to Saasfee, Switzerland and San
Martin De Los Andes, Argentina. The Winter Carnival
of ski jumping and races, dog sledding, and Main
Street events is an annual celebration. Steamboat
Springs Ski Resort includes Thunderhead Peak,
Christi Peak, Mount Werner, Storm Peak, and
Sunshine Peak. The highest peak elevation on Mount
Werner is 10,500 feet while the base elevation is
6,900 feet. Steamboat Springs runs over twenty
chairlifts with over 150 ski trails. There are
nearly 3,000 acres of skiable terrain. Over forty
percent of the ski runs are rated blue or
intermediate. About forty-five percent of the runs
are rated as difficult. Fifteen percent of the
trails are novice rated. The area has over 300
inches of snowfall each year. The resort first
opened for operation in 1963. General hours of
operation, during the winter season, at the
Steamboat Springs Ski Resort are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30
p.m. The Maverick Superpipe is a highly rated
snowboarding terrain park. This superpipe has a
dedicated ski lift, its own snowmaking ability, and
an outside music system. The Maverick Terrain Park
has over eleven acres. The superpipe is five
hundred feel long with eighteen-foot walls and is
fifty-six feet wide. The ski resort has purchased a
Zaugg Monster Superpipe Cutter to maintain the
eighteen-foot high walls. Over twenty million
dollars in resort improvements is being invested in
the ski resort. These improvements include a new
high-speed chairlift called the Christi Peak
Express, slope regrading, and the installation of
several miles of new snowmaking pipelines.
Intrawest, based in Vancoover, British Columbia,
purchased the Steamboat Springs Ski Resort from the
American Skiing Company for $265 million in March
2007. Intrawest also has interests in the Colorado
resorts of Copper Mountain Ski Resort and
Winter Park Ski Resort.
Intrawest owns the world-famous Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort
in British Columbia.
