Steamboat Lake

[deepsnowseeker]

Heading out next Wednesday, NOAA looks like there may be some decent snow coming in, can anyone give me an update on conditions. Little spooked right now about making the drive if it is marginal?????? Looking for some help...........................

 

[PJ-Hunter]

Buddy, it's marginal all over the West right now, you want fresh, go ride DC. It's dumping everywhere it shouldn't be right now.

 

[densnwbdr]

Steamboat has decent base right now. It's not what it normally is this time of year but still pretty decent.

 

[CANNONMAN]

Not quite true, the Grand Mesa and also south of us has boatloads of snow. About 8' of base and we had about 14" of fresh on Sat. and Sun. and it has snowed a couple of inches each day this week. Conditions here are perfect. Everyone staying here right now is smiling large with all the snow we have.

Buddy, it's marginal all over the West right now, you want fresh, go ride DC. It's dumping everywhere it shouldn't be right now.

 

[Steamboat-RN]

Buddy, it's marginal all over the West right now, you want fresh, go ride DC. It's dumping everywhere it shouldn't be right now.

Thanks for that insightful and completely inaccurate snow report. Sheesh.....

Mark is more correct. The S.W. part of the state has had a decent year so far and the forecast is for more this weekend. The Mesa is close to the same distance from Denver as Steamboat Lake (about 4 hours)and far easier to drive to.

If it is not too late to change your plans, I would look into staying at Thunder Mountain lodge.

 

[mmaxcarver]

Guess you can go here, nothing marginal about the snow at the ears.... http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=205589

 

[fireman0977]

I was just up at Steamboat lake this weekend. It had about 1-2ft of fresh powder. Of course I wasn't on my sleds as I am trying to find a MPEM for my wifes sled. So we went cross country skiing of all things. I haven't been in 20 yrs. It kicked my butt trying to go thru knee deep powder.

 

[Skippyspad]

Played up at Steamboat Lake about three weeks ago. Pushed around about 1-2 ft of fresh powder all day, even on the trails. They are getting more in the next couple of days.

 

[Skippyspad]

BTW Current radar shows heavy snow moving in. Here's a link to the Steamboat Lake State Park webcam.

http://165.127.23.131/view/index.shtml

Mike

 

[Summit 800]

this pic was at the Ears on Saturday (2/13). Sunday had more snow and even some sunlight!

 

[psychoneurosis]

We just got back from a long weekend at SLO and well I have good news and bad news.....

I will give you the good news first....... They had 3-4 ft of fresh Friday into Saturday which compacted down to about 2ft on Sunday. AWESOME conditions!

Bad news..... we tracked the crap out of a lot of it..... but we left some for you

They were predicting more this week too

If we get them downloaded I will throw a few pics up from this weekend for motivation

 

[deepsnowseeker]

Thanks for all the good information! We love going to Steamboat Lake, staying at Dutch Creek. Look forward to a great time. When I posted this we were thinking of waiting for another week to let things develope, not the case here from what it looks like! Let us buy you a if you are up there this weekend. We will be on the Dragons from mn, mostly no graphics, except a smiley face for the good riding!

 

[PJ-Hunter]

Thanks for that insightful and completely inaccurate snow report. Sheesh.....

Mark is more correct. The S.W. part of the state has had a decent year so far and the forecast is for more this weekend. The Mesa is close to the same distance from Denver as Steamboat Lake (about 4 hours)and far easier to drive to.

If it is not too late to change your plans, I would look into staying at Thunder Mountain lodge.

One: my post was made BEFORE the snow hit Irwin, Rabbit Ears or any of the other areas.

Two: You are lying to yourself and others if you honestly can say that the conditions are even close to average and normal, especially you being from Steamboat. On a normal year they are already close to the 300" mark at this time and right now they aren't that close to 200".

Three: I'm not trying to keep people away, I'm just being honest.

Four: Having an 8-9' base in one section of the State (Wolf Creek) does not qualify as giving Colorado an epic snow year. You can look at all the websites you want but the truth is that precip is way below normal statewide and a 65" base with a 24" fresh powder dump on top doesn't safely cover a 85" boulder, it just hides it until you whack it and it ruins your season.

Things are slowly getting better but we still need 3 or 4 good 2+ foot dumps to make things really good. To fill in the holes and such.

We rode Crested Butte/Irwin this weekend and the snow was deep but peeps were still tagging stumps and rocks.

3 weeks ago the Mesa was hurting for snow and folks were complaining. I've never been there but Live2ride, Powderpatrol, Gyp and a few others had mentioned that it was getting thin again and needing a good storm.

 

[Kid Rock]

maps

where can i get a map of this area? i want to take the mobile man cave up there in early march

 

[psychoneurosis]

Unfortunately we can't get up there this weekend. Got a wedding.

Hope you guys have a great time

 

[Skippyspad]

where can i get a map of this area? i want to take the mobile man cave up there in early march

Below is the link to the CSA trails. Click on the Clark area then click on the map link in the grooming report. You can print the map.

Mike

http://www.coloradosledcity.com/content.aspx?page_id=1980&club_id=45117#search_results

 

[Steamboat-RN]

One: my post was made BEFORE the snow hit Irwin, Rabbit Ears or any of the other areas.

Two: You are lying to yourself and others if you honestly can say that the conditions are even close to average and normal, especially you being from Steamboat. On a normal year they are already close to the 300" mark at this time and right now they aren't that close to 200".

Three: I'm not trying to keep people away, I'm just being honest.

Four: Having an 8-9' base in one section of the State (Wolf Creek) does not qualify as giving Colorado an epic snow year. You can look at all the websites you want but the truth is that precip is way below normal statewide and a 65" base with a 24" fresh powder dump on top doesn't safely cover a 85" boulder, it just hides it until you whack it and it ruins your season.

Things are slowly getting better but we still need 3 or 4 good 2+ foot dumps to make things really good. To fill in the holes and such.

We rode Crested Butte/Irwin this weekend and the snow was deep but peeps were still tagging stumps and rocks.

3 weeks ago the Mesa was hurting for snow and folks were complaining. I've never been there but Live2ride, Powderpatrol, Gyp and a few others had mentioned that it was getting thin again and needing a good storm.

One; your post was made well after the mesa had at least a 6 foot base.

Two; nobody said anything about an "epic" year. The term was "decent".
and the boat is close to ave. now. The mesa and the rest of the SW corner of the state has good to excellent conditions.

Three: honesty and you are complete strangers.

Four; Much of the western slope has a decent ridable base. And we frequently are getting a foot or two of new snow. Not epic but still plenty of fun to ride.
An 85" boulder......sheesh. How about a 120" boulder or a 200 incher. You run the risk of hitting something even in the deepest years. Right now the Mesa has a hero base and a couple of feet of fluff on top. Even you could ride here and not get stuck. (well maybe not)
OK, so you don't need a snorkle but it is still a heck of a lot of fun.

When Ray said it was getting thin, he meant the fluff on top. We have had day after day of over the hood riding and a one foot day seems thin by comparison. We are all powder whores and looking for the next big storm. But that does not mean that the riding sucks.

Bottom line is that a forum member asked for a condition report and you blew him off with some contrite B.S. comment about riding in D.C.

 

[Skippyspad]

Not sure what folks are so sensitive about but, bottom line, all of the Colorado areas have enough to ride on. If you want powder, watch the weather and get up there while it's falling. Epic snowfall??? No but it's at least average accross western Colorado. No matter what the base, watch out for the hidden stuff.

Now go have some fun.

Mike

 

[idareyou]

You can by a map at Steamboat Lake Outfitters on your way by.

The snow was good up there this past weekend, but it is not even close to "average." It is starting to get deep enough to ride off trail without much worry. There were a few small natural slides on wind loaded slopes that we saw.