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Tom Ross

Tom Ross' column appears Tuesdays and Sundays in Steamboat Today. Contact him at 970-871-4205 or tross@SteamboatToday.com.

Steamboat Springs — I don't know how you spent Saturday afternoon, but I was pretty busy shedding my skins. And then putting them right back on again.

We couldn't get enough of the untracked powder, and I had to hustle taking my climbing skins off my skis in order to keep up with my buddy, who was relying on kick wax to climb the hill. I guess if you want to get right down to it, he was the manly man on Saturday, and I was the pretender.

However, the skiing was so good that nothing else really mattered.

Steamboat's backyard backcountry on Rabbit Ears Pass makes for ideal skiing with 9 inches of fresh fluff. With the temperature hovering around 14 degrees at midday, an apropos term to describe the quality of the snow Jan. 3 might have been powdered sugar.

We broke trail into our favorite run, a necessity that proved to be a mixed blessing. The good news is that we knew no one had been there to track up the snow ahead of us. On the other hand, we had to lay down our own switchbacks to get back up the hill.

Turning a pair of mid-fat telemark skis was almost effortless on the gentle slope. The two of us worked it over with no one for company but one other skier and his powder dog. The well-trained mutt stuck to his owner's tracks, and among the three of us, no one ever had to ski across another's path.

The relative solitude of Rabbit Ears reminded me of a very different experience I had climbing up Howelsen Hill on Dec. 27.

I don't know when I've seen more recreational skiers of all descriptions on the little ski hill in downtown Steamboat.

On the Saturday after Christmas, I skinned up Howelsen a couple of times just to focus on my sketchy tele technique.

The Poma lift was buzzing with Alpine skiers and snowboarders. And to my surprise, more than half of them appeared to be holiday visitors from out of town.

I actually met a woman from New York at the top of Howelsen Hill who informed me that she does most of her skiing in Norway.

She observed that most of the runs at Howelsen are unusually narrow. I tried to explain the long history of Howelsen and that by coincidence it is named after a legendary Norwegian skier. She gave me a vague look and poled away.

It hadn't occurred to me that vacationers on a budget this winter might opt to spend a day at Howelsen with their families.

Ski Area Supervisor Jeff Nelson said he hasn't had time to tally up daily skier visits at Howelsen this winter, but he noticed the trend during the holidays, as well.

"The secret's out," Nelson said. "We've definitely seen an increase in the number of skiers. There are a lot of people who are in an economic crunch but get an itch to go skiing."

It might make me guilty of stereotyping to say that I could differentiate between locals and visitors at Howelsen Hill just by observing them. I know that it felt good seeing so many people enjoying the best little ski area in Colorado.

- To reach Tom Ross, call 871-4205 or e-mail tross@steamboatpilot.com