Steamboat Springs Warnings Or Dangers

What was supposed to be a pleasant ride through the Rockies with the top down, at times became a nightmare of dust. The 90 mile trip ended up taking 3 and a half hours, due to several stops for one way road controls.

Also, I took out two chipmunks. The little suicidal things wouldn't stop running across the road!

Speaking of 'Dumb Asses'...don't forget to use some sunscreen on your face when snowboarding/skiing on bright, sunny days...my brother didn’t as evidenced by the picture. My only other warning would be for beginners (Boarders or skiers) or those simply taking their time polishing their skills on the “Green” trails. Steamboat’s “Green” trails are not well designed as many are intersected or feed into by the much steeper, faster 'Blue” trails or even 'Black Diamonds' trails. For those not familiar with the trail descriptions/terms: Green equals easy, Blue equals intermediate and Black equals expert. Anyway, the more expert boarders/skiers end up flying down 'Green” trails increasing the chance/risk of hitting the less skillful or even those simply riding slower. Although I did not see any actual collisions, I did see many 'close calls' which I chalk up to bad trail design and/or poor skier/boarder etiquette. Perhaps somewhat surprising to many, but my observation was that skiers were the biggest offenders. Although I am totally in favor of pure acts of Darwinism (which really includes any mountain activity), lets get one thing straight, “DOWNHILL SKIERS HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY YOU WANKERS!!!”

Well a few things that people should be aware of is the altitude if you are flying in from sea level. It's not that high as far as Colorado standards go but still there are always some people that expect to get out and go like they do back home. That's a good way to get sick and miss the rest of your vacation. Take a day or so to acclimate before doing any potentially stressful activities like skiing or hiking or biking. Do NOT drink the hotsprings water. It will make you sick. Do not drink from ANY mountain streams no matter how far you are away from civilization (unless in an emergency of course) they all contain bacteria that will have you throwing up or worse for the remainder of your trip and after. And finally, the sun is REALLY strong so always wear sunscreen and sunglasses. Besides that, ther isn't much crime and very rarely is ther violence of any kind unless you consider yourself crashing while skiing to be a violent act!

I will be throwing myself off cliffs. If not cliffs, at least some big table tops. As long as there is enough snow. FOR 2009 BABY - !