Steamboat Springs Ski suggestions

Old Aug 25th, 2009, 07:02 AM
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Steamboat Springs Ski suggestions

We are thinking about trying Steamboat Springs the week before X-mas this year and would appreciate lodging suggestions and information about getting to Steamboat.
More specifically, we will be two extended families (possibly) traveling from the Southeast, with 4 children between the ages of 6 and 16. In addition, a grandmother may come who is in her mid-70's and is in good shape but won't ski. We have skied for many years in Telluride and would like to find a condo type place with units that we can get near each other, that is within a short walk to the main gondola. Most likely, the younger kids will be put in ski school and older ones will ski with the adults.
As for traveling, is it better to fly to Denver and rent a car or fly into Hayden? I assume with smaller airports, there are frequent issues with the weather and if this is the case, there, I would assume flying into Denver might be our best bet? How long would the drive be and once we get to Steamboat, would we need to use our car a lot or is their a good condo close to the major lifts and grocery stores/restaurant areas? I know very, very little about Steamboat, so any advice would be appreciated! Thanks so much.
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Old Aug 25th, 2009, 08:33 AM
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Can't specifically help with condo info. We (family of 5 including grandparent) stayed at the Inn at Steamboat and liked it fine. 10 - 15 min to major points. Great breakfast buffet. Private free regular shuttle to several points including main lift area. Not plugging it, but just mentioning where we stayed. Understand your preference for main ski area.

We flew into/out of Hayden and wouldn't do it any other way. Saved LOTS of time and quick trip into Steamboat. Getting rental car very easy. While your point about the weather is good, the irony is that when we were last there 2 yrs ago, we had relatives that were supposed to come in from east coast through Denver - they never made it. DEN was shut down a couple of days in a snowstorm and Hayden didn't even suffer any delays - except for those connecting in DEN. So I wouldn't let that issue deter me from considering Hayden at all.

BTW - the sking is incredible. Some of the best powder we've seen anywhere. And the town is very nice with some great restaurants, shops etc. Highly recommended.
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Old Aug 25th, 2009, 08:46 AM
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PS - our last trip was the week before Christmas - great time to go. Lots of holiday activities, concerts, etc and not nearly as crowded as the week after. Also, try the hot air balloon rides if you go. Great views in winter.
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Old Aug 25th, 2009, 09:14 AM
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This year will be my 4th trip to Steamboat, but my situation is completely different than yours in that I travel by myself. Anyway, I always fly into Hayden (connect in Denver)--I believe the drive from Denver is approx 3.5-4 hrs and there is a pass (Rabbit Ears) that gets closed in bad weather, so there is just as much chance being delayed driving as there is flying in it seems. Depending on where you are flying from you may even be able to fly nonstop into Hayden (you mentioned the southeast and Atlanta has nonstop service on Delta). If you can't do nonstop service, it may be cheaper to fly into Denver and drive, but personally I think it's more convenient to fly into Hayden (but like I said before-- I travel alone and not with lots of other people, so your situation is different). If airfares into Hayden look expensive booking direct with the airlines, contact the Steamboat Central reservations line or website and see if they can book it cheaper-- I've seen great deals with them but have not personally used their services.
Most of the condos have shuttle services to take you around town and there is a free public bus/transit system between town, grocery stores, the mountain as well.
Another really helpful resource if you have not found it already is the Steamboat forum http://my.steamboat.com/
It is not as active this time of year, but perhaps past questions have been asked that you may find helpful to browse and find answers etc.
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Old Aug 25th, 2009, 09:34 AM
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Miramar brings up a good point that I didn't make clear. We prefer to fly nonstop into Hayden and avoid DEN altogether. I also recall that DL had nonstops from ATL - other nonstops that you might be able to connect from where you are would be CO from IAH and AA from DFW.
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Old Aug 25th, 2009, 12:42 PM
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Thanks for the all the interesting info. and advice..... esp. about the airport situation. I did find out that I could actually pay almost the same price to fly directly into Hayden, so I am sure that is what we would do.

I would assume Hayden has shuttle services like most airports and if this is the case, would we even need a car if we found a condo that is centrally located? (By that I mean, are there any condos that are right near the main gondolas that are also near grocery stores and restaurants?)
We've been going to Telluride for many years since we've had kids and have found it to be so easy (you don't need a car at all and can walk to everything you need within 5 minutes almost if you get a condo near the main gondola), that it's hard to try new places but thought we'd give it a shot this year since we have to go during the X-mas holidays (instead of our usual spring break trip).
Again, any suggestions would be appreciated. In the meantime, I'll look at the websites suggested.
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Old Aug 25th, 2009, 01:36 PM
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The only problem with flying into Hayden is that if weather is bad, you'll be diverted to Denver. It is a pretty drive from Denver up to Steamboat.

You need a car in Steamboat because grocery stores, most restaurants, and the actual town of Steamboat are not within walking distance of the gondola area. There are some restaurants around the gondola area but it's not Telluride.

I have some friends who tried to do Steamboat without a car lasst year, and spent much of their time off the slopes waiting to catch buses to go to the grocery, restaurants, etc.

Steamboat is a good choice for the Christmas holiday as it is too far from Denver to get the day skiers and it almost always has good snow coverage early in the season.

For condos, go to the Steamboat site and look at the lodging and trail maps. There are quite a few "ski in/ski out condos".

My other Steamboat advice is to be on the slopes when the lifts open if you plan to take the gondola. After about 9:30, take the high speed lift near the gondola and work your way up the mountain. The gondola suffers from major gridlock between about 9:30 and 11:00, as the ski schoolers and all the skiers who are late risers head up the slopes. Also, at the end of the day, be careful because the main run down under the gondola gets quite crowded and can be very icy (what snow they have and can make will be skied off by the masses each afternoon).
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Old Aug 25th, 2009, 02:09 PM
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We have been to Steamboat both with and without a car. If you stay in the Ski Time Square area, it's an easy walk to the slopes and restaurants; you'd only need to take the bus to go into town or to the grocery store.

When we stayed at the Scandinavian Lodge, we took full advantage of their private shuttle to take us every place we wanted to go. You can ski down to the gondola or take their shuttle to the lift. The price of their condos is very reasonable.
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Old Aug 25th, 2009, 04:24 PM
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There are shuttle services from the airport that will take you to your condo-- Alpine Taxi and Storm Mountain Express, if you decide not to rent a car.
I can't really help with specific condo suggestions for you since I always stay at the Sheraton so have no experience with other properties (there are quite a few in the gondola square area though where you'd be close to the gondola).
There are some restaurants around the base area, but you'll obviously have way more selection if you go into town (10 min drive approx). The grocery stores are on the way to town, but there are a couple convenience type markets near the base area-- Market on the Mountain comes to mind, that you could walk to. You don't really "need" a car in Steamboat but as someone else noted above, you will have to wait for the bus or condo shuttle if you don't have one. For your size group perhaps it might be easier to have a car.
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Old Aug 25th, 2009, 06:06 PM
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Again, thanks to all for the advice.
I just realized that I have been saying that we wanted to be close to the Gondola because I assumed that is the major way to get from the base up to the mountain village area but perhaps not and there are better places to stay??? My biggest concern is that we all won't want to come in from skiing at the same time and if we had to drive back (or wait for a bus) to our condo, that could be a big hassle and at least one adult would always have to leave early to accompany the kids that were worn out from a long day skiing. (I would stay on the mountain all day if I could but with kids that's not so easy now).
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Old Aug 26th, 2009, 05:02 AM
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The base area would be more convenient for what you want, which is also close to the gondola. I agree that you really don't "need" a car but as mentioned above the town (which existed long before skiing became popular) is a 10-15 drive away. So you'll just have to decide whether whether you want the convenience of a car versus waiting for buses (which are pretty frequent). Our group ranged in age from 19 - 87 so we wanted a car for those that didn't want to ski most of the day and for the convenience of getting into town when we wanted.

The Sheraton which Miramar mentioned is a very nice property with a couple of very nice restaurants (I think Sevens is their "upscale" one and had very good food). Check their programs as we went to a Christmas concert there which was excellent.
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Old Aug 26th, 2009, 05:14 AM
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There are tons of ski in/ski out condo properties and others that are within walking distance to the gondola. Hopefully someone who has stayed at some can chime in. Besides the gondola, the other main lift that people use to make their way up the mountain from the base is the Christie Peak Express, but it starts in sort of the same area as the gondola. Also it would require you to disembark at the end, then ski down to another lift to take up to where the gondola would have left you off.
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Old Sep 19th, 2009, 05:10 AM
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The way Steamboat is laid out, there is a base area with a few hotels and condos (and the newish Steamboat Grand hotel) and then dozens of condo developments within a 5-10 minute walk, or a 1-2 minute free bus ride, of that base area. Any of those condos will do.

For your number of people, I'd try to get a couple condos in the same property. If you are anywhere in that "near-base" zone, the non-skiers in the group will have an easy walk to the base village where they can enjoy the people-watching.

Two that we could recommend are Timber Run and The Lodge, but there are many other good ones. The Lodge is a great location.

Informative family ski review on STeamboat at http://www.familyskihub.com.
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Old Sep 20th, 2009, 01:48 AM
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The picture on my profile was taken just below the top of the gondola at Steamboat. The mountain views at the top of the ski area at Steamboat are nothing like what you have at Telluride, but the snow at Steamboat can be awesome when other areas in Colorado are hurting.

From Denver International Airport, Steamboat Springs is about a 3 1/2 hour drive IN GOOD WEATHER. In bad weather, Rabbit Ears Pass just east of Steamboat can be closed and drivers will then have to take the alternate route (about a 45 minute longer drive) over Gore Pass. With your group, even if you fly into Hayden you may want to rent a car or two just to get around a little easier. The town and ski area do have an adequate bus system, but it can get darn cold at night (I've been there the week before Christmas and it's gotten down to below zero), and I hate waiting for buses in the cold and dark.

The base area of the ski hill (the gondola area) is about 4 - 5 miles from the town of Steamboat Springs itself. In between is what I refer to as "ski resort sprawl" - a proliferation of housing, lodging, dining, and other business that are neither part of the ski base area, nor the town itself. The base area has a number of hotels, some restaurants, and a plethora of condos (some ski-in, ski-out) surrounding it, but only a rare convenience food store. The nearest actual grocery store is about a mile and a half away from the gondola, and even further from most of the up-mountain condos.

Whereas Telluride is an old mining town converted into a ski resort, Steamboat Springs is still an active ranching town that only wears a ski resort overcoat. The town has a very nice main street along which you can shop or dine at some fine establishments and a nice, large, public hot springs pool at the eastern end.
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Old Sep 25th, 2009, 09:30 AM
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Fly directly into Hayden if you can. It is a beautiful drive from Denver to Steamboat, but it can be hairy that time of year. Agree with prior replies that the base area of the mountain is best for you. Here is a good site for condos:
http://www.condosinsteamboat.com/
The Sheraton has just done a major renovation and has gotten good reviews. They have hotel rooms and condos. The Steamboat Grand is well located across from the gondola and has condos of different sizes.

You do not have to have a car in Steamboat. Resorts have their own shuttles and there is a free citywide bus service. You can stock up at the big markets once and then use Market on the Mountain for the little things. Good restaurants on the mountain and in the town. There will be a kid's concert at the Sheraton on 12/21 or 12/23. http://www.stringsinthemountains.org/
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