These might be the toughest few weeks for our ski and snowboard athletes. Despite all our tricks and snow dances, Mother Nature will play her own tune, and inevitably we’ll be impatient for the trails to open. The more passionate we are about skiing and riding the more painful the wait can be. Just see the photo below of Howelsen on November 15 2015 (right side) and then November 15 the following year to realize why it stresses us so. We are fortunate to have great partners in the Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation and the City of Steamboat Springs that work with us to make on-snow training possible as early as possible.

You may have noticed the excavation at Howelsen Hill. This is to replace old snowmaking line. The new pipes will increase snowmaking efficiency and reliability. Next week we’ll be working with the city to strategically place snow guns so that when the temperatures cooperate, we’ll be prepared to get some training areas ready for skiing, riding and jumping as soon as possible. We can usually get the bump jump ready early for the young kids and we’ll look to spread some snow for a few rails well before the public opening on November 24. It takes a bit more time and snow to prepare the face and the run off the magic carpet, as well as the bigger jumps and nordic trails, but every day we look at the weather and strategize with the city to come up with the best way to get all our users something to slide on. If we have a jump or slope ready before the public opening, we’ll use it.

At Steamboat Ski Resort, SSWSC recently purchased a pump that the resort uses increase its snowmaking capacity. The goal was to enable the ski area to make snow on our training venues without sacrificing production on the public trails it needs to get ready for opening day and for holiday crowds later in December. While not every weather situation is conducive for this simultaneous snowmaking, the pump does help get All Out, Voodoo and terrain features open for our groups to train earlier than would otherwise be possible. So long as we get cold temperatures, we expect to be able to train locally earlier, eliminating some travel to Summit County. In addition to getting our venues ready earlier, the additional pump capacity benefits all skiers and riders at the mountain with better snowmaking coverage. This is an example of where we find win-win propositions working closely with our partners.

We are looking forward to opening day at Steamboat Ski Resort (November 22) and Howelsen Hill (November 24). The mid-October cross country skiing on Bruce’s Trail was fun, and hopefully next week’s storms get that trail back in shape. We have groups training at Loveland, Copper and A-Basin already. It’s almost here. We’re ready!

Each week Athletic Director Jon Nolting will share his insight about happenings inside the club and around youth sport through the View From the Summit blog post.