Surf to Snow....the 20 year cycle

It was 1990; I was an avid surfer chomping at the bit every time the swell came up, However, depending on the conditions, uprising swell meant also snow fall in the mountains where I could ride in Tahoe on white walls of frozen water on my snowboard. It was always a tough choice!

As I was graduating from my culinary program in California I was offered an opportunity to move to Hawaii. This decision was easy – why the heck not! I packed my bags, surfboards, shorts and sun lotion and headed west to Maui with few regrets about the dust soon to be gathering on my winter gear. It was a great decision, being on the water riding a fast moving wall of water or sticking my feet in the sand watching perfect waves curl over a reef will be forever part of my soul. But life is a journey and the story did not end there.

I made the break from Hawaii to continue my culinary journey in Italy this past year to finish my graduate certification in Advanced Culinary and Pastry. The spell of the waves was not broken (I can still go back to play!) but along the way life presented a new opportunity to come to the mountains of Steamboat. Confronted with a fork in the road that 20 years ago would have otherwise just as easily taken me to the life of a ski bum I decided to cross over to the other side captivated by the lure of the legendary powder in this corner of the Rockies.

Today as I sit here at the beginning of a winter season that will span the next 5 months I am contemplating a new kind of surf session. This time I'll be riding a frozen wave of powder that is as mouthwatering as the perfect barrels of Maui. My passion for the perfect ride lives on in a new dimension.

My passion for food lives on with me in this new dimension. I am just taking it to another level and I hope to share the moment with you.

"Pura Vida"

Anthony Kresge
Executive Chef
Moving Mountains Catering Company

A Record Ski Season !!

With just two weeks to go Steamboat has accumulated 452" of snow, passing the record snowfall total of the 1996/97 season (447.75"). Perhaps the only question that remains is whether we will see 500".

After a slow start to the season with opening day postponed for a week Steamboat just never got out of the storm cycle. Since November 21st, snow has fallen 78 out of 103 days (75.7%) with 45 of those days recording four or more inches. This season at mid-mountain, the resort has seen 17 inches in October; 23 inches in November; 126 inches in December (3rd snowiest); 129 inches in January (2nd snowiest) and 104 inches in February (2nd snowiest); and 9 inches in March for a combined total of over 37 feet.

In addition to registering another four-wire winter, the resort hit three key milestones within just a month of each other: surpassed 300-inch mark on 2/1/08; six days later surpassed 350-inch mark on 2/7/08; and on March 2nd surpassed the 400-inch mark. Furthermore, Steamboat-Ski Town, U.S.A.® received more than 100 inches of snow for three consecutive months (December, January & February) for the first time in resort history.

Click Here to see some awesome video

By the numbers...

8,400,000
Pounds of scoria spread on local roadways by city snowplows

$106,000
Money spent on truck rentals for hauling snow

1,300
Overtime hours logged by city snowplow drivers

75,000
Cubic yards of snow hauled out of town

450
Inches of snow to fall on Mount Werner since October, a new record

23
Snow removals, by dump truck, in Ski Time Square and along Lincoln Avenue

16
Number of luxury homes offered this winter by Moving Mountains

13
Record number of staff in the Moving Mountains Team

0
Days of school cancelled because of snow by the Steamboat Springs School District

Powder points

It snowed more than 6 feet in the first ten days of February 2008

It snowed 7 feet in seven days at the summit from Jan. 8 to 14

The ski area hit the 100-inch mark for summit-base depth March 6

Streaks of consecutive snow days

Longest Streak: 26 days (Jan. 16 to Feb. 10) with 137.5 inches (11.5 feet) at mid-mountain

2nd Longest Streak: 14 days (Dec. 19 to Jan. 1) with 66 inches (5.5 feet) at mid-mountain

3rd Longest Streak: 11 days (Dec. 6 to Dec. 16) with 75 inches (6.25 feet) at mid-mountain

Top Steamboat winters

2007-08: 450 inches and counting

1996-97: 447.75 inches

1983-84: 447.5 inches

1995-96: 441.25 inches

2005-06: 432 inches

1992-93: 423.5 inches

The ski area surpassed the 300-inch mark for the season Feb. 1; six days later, it surpassed the 350-inch mark on Feb. 7; and on March 2, it surpassed the 400-inch mark. These three key milestones were reached within a month’s time.