Steamboat Ranked 8th Overall (No.1 Family Resort) by SKI Magazine Readers

Steamboat climbs one position in SKI Magazine's annual readers survey with the expectation that with developments that are now underway a top 5 position in the future is within reach.

This idea is reinforced by the readers who expressed frustration with the resort’s “aging base area” which is now being comprehensively addressed by a unprecedented amount of tear-down and redevelopment.

“If it were a day resort or a throwback mountain, Steamboat’s aging base area — which one reader describes as being ‘stuck in a 1970s time warp’ — might be tolerated,” SKI’s October issue reads, citing feedback from its annual Reader Resort Survey. “But the resort’s relative isolation in northern Colorado, while keeping it crowd-free, makes it dependent on destination travelers, who want more than great snow and small-town character.

Steamboat’s No. 8 ranking is a slight improvement compared with the previous two years, when it ranked ninth. This is the third year in a row Steamboat has garnered a top-10 ranking. It was ranked 11th by SKI readers in 2005. Steamboat was sandwiched between Aspen Mountain in seventh and Breckenridge in ninth. Longstanding programs such as “Kids Ski Free” and “Kids Fly Free” made Steamboat SKI’s No. 1 family resort in the West.

With the demolition of Ski Time Square and Thunderhead Lodge, Steamboat doesn’t look to gain any ground in the upcoming ski season with those annoyed either by the lack of nightlife or the high level of construction. Moving Mountains has a great solution to this dilemma as most of it's exclusive rental properties are away from the base area and avoid the construction impacts completely, while still providing great access to the skiing.

Access to Steamboat has improved significantly in recent years and the resort will look to gain ground in this area of future surveys because this year’s nonstop flight program will be Steamboat’s largest ever, with the recently announced addition of Frontier Airlines flights from Denver.

Night life is also improving this winter with the opening of the Ghost Ranch Saloon at Seventh and Yampa streets which could play a major role if it opens on schedule this winter. Co-owner Amy Garris told the Steamboat Pilot & Today last week that she plans to have live music seven nights a week during the winter and summer tourism seasons.

SKI typically polls about 6,000 readers each year to get their perceptions of ski areas in 18 categories. They include overall satisfaction, access, après ski, dining, family programs, grooming, lifts, lodging, off-hill activities, on-mountain food, scenery, service, snow terrain/challenge, terrain variety, terrain parks, value and weather.

Ski area spokesmen could not point to one specific area of improvement that may have explained Steamboat’s move from No. 9 to No. 8, but they did cite the multimillion-dollar capital improvements that have accompanied Intrawest’s purchase of Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. from American Skiing Co. in 2007.

“I think it’s kind of the overall appeal of Steamboat that people keep discovering and enjoying, and the overall level of service they receive throughout the community,” Lane said.

We could not agree more as we know that our services are what sets us apart from the competition both in Steamboat and across the Rocky Mountains.

Frontier Lands in Steamboat this Winter

Frontier Airlines has added ski season flights from Denver to Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden, the airline announced last week. The service will run from December 18th to April 22nd on Bombardier Q400 aircraft.

Frontier will operate three flights a day to and from Denver International Airport, the news release stated. The turboprop Q400s contain 74 seats, four of which will be removed to add space for luggage and ski gear.

For skiers hoping the visit Steamboat this winter this is very good news as flyers are once again about to discover that the price of your flight has more to do with competition in the marketplace than the price of a barrel of oil. Not only does this provide more capacity to meet the ever increasing popularity of Steamboat, it also places every other airline flying into Steamboat/Hayden under pressure to price airfares more competitively to meet the challenge of Frontier - one of the top low-cost carriers in the US.


First indications are that this is exactly what is happening and some fares into Hayden on Orbitz.com have already dropped by over $100. We are watching airfares everyday and expect more discounted opportunities while availability still exists. if you are contemplating a trip to Steamboat this winter this is a great incentive to check your best travel dates and shop for airfare.

Package Airfare Deals

Airfare to Steamboat has become more expensive this year, but there are still some great deals to be had. Working with our wholesale partners we have been able to land some spectacular deals for package airfare when large groups, unable to meet their commitments, release available seats back onto the market at below retail rates.

Restrictions on these restricted airfares allow us to offer these great rates when combined with two other package elements. In our case this means lodging & a full-service catered package. So not only can you now have your cake - you can eat it too!

Here are some sample airfares* (including taxes & fees) that we have seen recently:

Sample Dates	February 21 - 28	March 7 - 14
Chicago (ORD)	$395	$445
Dallas (DFW)	$395	$445
Houston (IAH)	$495	$359
Newark (EWR)	$435	$435
Minneapolis (MSP)	$575	$550
Atlanta (ATL)	$786	$986

Please call (877-624-2538) or email us now for a full vacation quote with airfare.

*Fares are subject to availability and rates are likely to vary until reservations are confirmed due to the current fluid nature of the flights marketplace.

Our Favorite Recipes..

Just to tempt you further into considering a full-service catered package with your next ski vacation we are sharing some of the great recipes that we have served over the years in our catered chalets

Mediterranean Chicken

This delicious moist chicken recipe is easy to make, can be made well in advance and it can be cooked and served in the same amount of time as your vegetables of choice will take to prepare.

Serves: 12 Marinate chicken at least 1 day (max 3).
Prep: 20 min Cook: 30 min
12 Chicken Breasts, boneless & skinless ½ c Dark Brown Sugar 1 c Dry White Wine For the Marinade: 6 Cloves of Garlic, peeled 6 Bay leaves 1 c Prunes, quartered ½ c Capers, with a little juice 1 c Green Olives with pimento ½ c Oregano ½ c Red Wine Vinegar ½ c Olive Oil
How to do it... 1 - 3 Days before: 1. Place all the marinade ingredients into a ziploc bag along with the chicken. Toss to coat the chicken evenly. Refrigerate at least one day. One hour before dinner: preheat the oven to 350ºF. 1. Lay the chicken pieces out onto a roasting pan. Be sure to remove the 6 bay leaves and to set the 6 garlic cloves to the side of the chicken breasts. Top the chicken breasts with the rest of the marinade mixture, equally distributing the prunes, olives and capers. 2. Sprinkle the chicken with the brown sugar and white wine. Season with salt and pepper. 3. Bake for 25 minutes. Then, remove from the oven. Pour off the juices into a saucepan and bring to a boil. While boiling slowly drizzle in water and cornflour to thicken into a sauce. Simmer for 1 min. Then serve chicken with sauce poured on top. (Be careful not to serve the garlic, unless everyone gets a clove!).

What is your time worth?

A simple Question... "What value do I place on an hour of my time?"

This is a great question to hold in your mind when considering the value of a full-service catered lodging package. People often ask us "It sounds great, but how can I justify adding the cost of this full-service catered package to my vacation?"

Beyond the obvious ways that we can answer that question - "Because you deserve it!", "Because we all enjoy vacations where you don't have to work...", we are closer to finding the answer when we respond "Because it is not as expensive as you think."

Ski vacations frequently involve the exercise of trying to squeeze a number of items into the bulging vacation budget - lodging, airfare, airport transfers or vehicle rental, food, drinks, snacks, housekeeping and so on. Frequently missing from the spreadsheet (if that is how your group plans its ski vacation) is a value on the time that you expend in order to keep the vacation within the scripted budget. By our analysis you are not saving much money doing this yourselves and yet you are wasting a lot of precious vacation time.

We looked at a group of 14 guests staying at our 6 bedroom Moving Mountains Chalet in regular season (mid-February - end of March) working from known costs.

Comparison:	7 Nights lodging with full-service catered package	7 Nights Lodging without staff or meal service
Lodging	$12,593	$12,593
Full-service Catered Package for 14	$10,703	-
Rental of 2 Suburbans incl. airport fees	included	$2,200
Gas (1 tank per vehicle)	included	$200
Quality meals / snacks / soft drinks *	included	$2,450
Daily Housekeeping	included	$500
Gratuity (15%)	$1,605	-
Totals	$24,901	$17,943
Difference	-	$6,958

For a per person cost of $497 ($71/night) hundreds of guests have already decided that this is a great deal for meals prepared by your personal chef including all grocery shopping, private airport pickup and private local area shuttle service in a 4WD fully winterized Suburban driven by experienced staff, daily housekeeping and personal concierge services.

If you are still unconvinced, then here's the kicker. By our estimates the full-service catered package will save your group at least 310 hours of individual personal time.

Time Value	# Hours	# people	Total Hours
Airport Shuttle (both ways)	4	14	56
Shopping	3	3	9
Check-in	1	14	14
Daily private shuttle	6	14	14
Meal prep / clean up: brkfast	12	3	36
Meal prep / clean up: lunch	12	3	36
Meal prep / clean up: dinner	15	3	60
Housekeeping	15	1	15
Total			310

Going back to our question at the beginning of this story...what was that hourly rate? At $20 / hour this totals $6,200. At $40 hour that's $12,400 and you are well ahead! If you are lawyer we should be charging you more!

We know that there are many ways you can challenge our logic. All we are trying to say is - there is a value on your time. Full-service catered lodging offers you the possibility that every hour of every day of your vacation could be stress free vacation time. No shopping, cooking, dish washing, driving and organizing.

Sound good?

* We provide espresso machines with catered packages - think about what you will save at Starbucks in a week!

Seeing is believing...

"A catered chalet ski vacation is the way to go".

But, don't take our word for it.

Check out our Video on YouTube.com and hear from some of our guests just how well this worked for them. Meet the owners and founders of Moving Mountains and hear about their vision for your next ski vacation.

Bonus Out-Take
The making of this Video produced a hilarious out-take when one of the guests we were interviewing surprised us with a little red-neck humor. We couldn't help ourselves from sharing the moment with you...

A Moose on the loose...

One of the fun parts of living in the mountains is who we get to share our backyard with. The Routt National Forest is just 50 yards from the end of our driveway and the local wildlife has no concept of boundaries. Our backyard is just where their forest used to be. It's not surprising then that they stop by on a regular basis on their daily patrol for food.

Among our latest visitors over the Memorial Day weekend was a young black bear checking out why our guests at the Bear Chalets (you still wondering why we call it the Bear Chalets...?) had left the garage open, and attempting to make off with a bag of trash before we scared him off. That's not a good habit to encourage / reward. Black Bears are pretty timid and at the first sign of interest (or a camera) they are usually heading back to the hills. These fuzzy images do not tell much of a story because of the late hour of his visit. Trust me - that fuzzy blur is a bear..

This morning a couple of Moose stopped by. Our dog Lola was not impressed by these "funny looking deer" and attempted to show them that they were not welcome. Unfazed the moose grazed at the back of our house before strolling through the neighborhood and returning to the forest.