Steamboat: Best of the West

Teepee fort along a ski trail at Steamboat resort

Steamboat Springs, CO  After living in Colorado five years, we discovered what very well could be our new favorite ski town. A horseshoe’s throw from the Wyoming border, rich in Western history is Steamboat Springs. We spent ten action-packed days trying a little of what Spring ski season offers, which includes a lot more than just skiing. Read the full story that published today on johnnyjet.com.

Ames and his buddies: Cade, Alex, Nick and Cecelia (R-L) 

The Madeline-like dorm room at Moving Mountains’ Trail’s Edge Lodge sets the stage for a slumber party. Few lodging spots we’ve stayed in our Mommy n’ me adventures have included such a treat as this room (one of just 7 in this epic-sized lodge). Perfect for large families or your family of friends. This slumber party room sleeps 5 and is equipped with its very own X-box. Kiddo comfort at its best. Read the full story here.

 

 

‘Tis the season to check out a new season pass.

As fairly recent transplants to Colorado, it feels like we’ve only begun to scratch the surface on local ski resorts. Prior to parenthood, my Colorado ski experience included Purgatory once and Vail a few times. My son and I skied Beaver Creek our first ski season here, just before I bought our first house. (The rest of the ski season was spent unpacking and learning what the term, “house poor” would come to mean. The following year’s ski season was spent on the sidelines, after a truck hit us, resulting in surgery and a lengthy physical rehab. Just as soon as I got the green light from my doctor the following ski season to ease back into exercise, I went with Winter Park ski passes as it was the closest destination resort to us.

We certainly got our money’s worth out of our season passes at Winter Park, putting in a whopping 27 days. This year, the lucky roll of dice is Keystone/A-basin. A friend said Keystone is great for families (and A-basin is the bonus add-on ski hill that comes with our passes.) There are epic passes which include an epic-long list of resorts (at an equally epic price tag) but picking one resort and getting to know it inside and out seemed the smarter approach.

So Keystone is where we’ll launch the 2015 ski season. It’s exciting to discover a new ski spot and doubly so with my son alongside me. He’s comfortable on blues now with the occasional bragging rights to an easy black. What motivates my son is knowing his ability is just about to surpass mine.

Ames is 8 now. I learned to ski at age 10 when my family moved to Germany. In the four years we were stationed at Patch Barracks, we were fortunate to get to ski all over Europe, from Germany and Austria to France and Switzerland. Some of my fondest childhood memories include going to Swiss Ski School with my dad and countless other destinations with our ski club, the Sitzmarkers. (A sitzmarker is the German name for that wipe out mark you see on an otherwise pristine hill beneath two perfectly woven ski tracks.)

And so this ski season, Ames and I will carve out fresh tracks at a new ski resort, Keystone. Oh, and A-basin.   The Christmas decorations have been put away and we await the blackout dates to pass so we can make our first fresh tracks of the season.