Steamboat’s annual Cowboy Downhill. Rumor has it, the cowboys like Bud Light.
STEAMBOAT
RECOMMENDED BY Billy Kidd
“When I was growing up in Vermont in the late 1950s, Buddy Werner was a hero of mine,” Billy Kidd recalled. “I had pictures of him on the wall of my room. When I made the U.S. Ski Team in 1962, I was suddenly skiing next to my hero. We raced in the 1964 Olympics together and became good friends. Sadly, Buddy died in an avalanche in St. Moritz later that year. I came to Steamboat the first time in 1964 for his memorial service, and raced here the following year. Over the next few years, I worked hard to make up the fractions of a second that had come between me and a gold medal. At Innsbruck, I’d missed by 0.14 of a second. A few years later, I missed by 0.06 of a second, then by 0.007 of a second! In 1970, I won the gold medal in the World Championships. I had four medals in my pocket, and that opened many doors. I did some television commentary, wrote books, developed and endorsed products. Of all the things I’ve done, the thing I enjoy most is helping people ski better. I chose to do so in Steamboat, as I couldn’t find a better place to live.”
Steamboat Springs sits north of the many ski areas along the I-70 corridor, on the western face of the Rockies. The valleys around Steamboat are rife with hot springs; the story goes that the town got its name when early settlers heard the gurgling of the springs and mistook the sound for that of a steamboat chugging down the Yampa River. Upon further investigation, no steamboat was in evidence, but the name stuck. Modern-day visitors to Steamboat will still find no stern-wheelers, but they will encounter some of the world’s best powder. “For many, it’s powder that defines good skiing,” Billy continued. “The Rockies are blessed with it. Being a thousand miles from the ocean and at a ten thousand elevation, our snowflakes are mostly air. At many places, people describe an out-of-this-world powder day as one when you sink to your waist. On those days when we get four or five feet of snow, you sink in up to your hat. We call them snorkel days. Some people think I’m joking about the snorkel. There was a famous fighter pilot named Robin Olds who lived in Steamboat. He’d ski the trees and sink way down in the powder. On one of those big powder days, he came out to ski with a snorkel. There was a photo spread of him in one of the ski magazines. We only get a half-dozen days like that a year, but that’s why we live here.” (Consumers of ski publications may very well have come upon an image of Billy, up to his signature Stetson in powder. “I try to set a good example by wearing a helmet these days,” Billy added.)
One fun facet of visiting Steamboat is that you can take pride in knowing that you’re skiing in the lines of many past and present Olympiads. The town of Steamboat Springs has fostered more Olympic skiers and snowboarders than any place in America … though this has more to do with humble Howelsen Hill than Werner Mountain. “The Steamboat Resort is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 2013,” Billy explained, “but the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club is coming up on its hundredth anniversary. The ski club—and Howelsen Hill—are the reasons Steamboat has produced so many great athletes. Carl Howelsen [born as Karl Hovelsen] was a Norwegian émigré who came to the United States in the early 1900s. He was an accomplished ski jumper, and for a time, he toured the country with the Barnum & Bailey Circus, ski jumping inside a tent, sometimes over elephants, and into the arms of the circus strong man! Howelsen wasn’t the first skier in America, but he probably exposed more people to skiing than anyone else. In 1913, he arrived in Steamboat and began work on what would become Howelsen Hill. Carl taught the local kids to ski, and they taught their kids, and so on. You can watch the kids training on the ski jumps at night from some of the bars on Yampa Avenue.”
Before Steamboat Springs became an Olympic training ground, it was a cow town—at one time, among the biggest cattle-rearing areas in the country. This aspect of Steamboat’s heritage is underscored with the Cowboy Downhill. Billy explained the event’s genesis. “Larry Mahan, one of rodeo’s greats, called me up and introduced himself. He said, ‘I want to learn to ski, and I hear you’re the guy to teach me.’ I invited him up, and I’d never seen someone learn so fast. The next year when the rodeo was in Denver [which hosts one of the biggest indoor events], Larry brought some of his fellow cowboys over. When you get three or four cowboys together, you’ve got a contest—whether it’s to drink the most beer or dance with the prettiest girl. It was no different on the slopes—so the Cowboy Downhill was born.
“Now we get about sixty cowboys up to Steamboat. They learn to ski in the morning, race in the afternoon. It all happens on the beginner slope. For the first event, they come down through some Giant Slalom gates. They have to stop in the last gate and lasso a female ski instructor. Then they head down farther and they have to saddle a horse. After the horse has been kicked by a few cowboys wearing skis, it gets a little harder. In the second event, we line up all sixty cowboys at the top of the beginner slope and say ‘Go!’ We have to put up three rows of fences to keep the cowboys from sailing into the crowd, as they’re not really good at stopping.”
With almost 3,700 feet of vertical drop, nearly thirty feet of powder, freeskiing for children, an easy way down from the top of every lift, western exposure for afternoon sunshine, and free daily lessons from an Olympic silver medalist, Steamboat has something for everyone. (Billy’s one P.M. lesson is the stuff of Steamboat lore: “I try to show people how to apply Olympic techniques to their skiing,” Billy offered. “By the end of the run, you’ll be one step closer to making the Olympic team!”) If you miss Billy’s one o’clock run, you might find him skiing Shadows toward the end of the day. “Shadows is a legendary powder spot for both Olympic skiers and intermediate skiers who want bragging rights. It’s not really a trail, but a run where we thin out the trees. If you’re going down the center, there’s a tree every fifty or sixty feet. If you go farther right, the trees are ten or twelve feet apart. You might be a blue trail skier going down the middle, and have one of the best powder skiers in the world right next to you. At the top it’s pines, farther down, aspens. The aspens are reminiscent of the bamboo poles that used to be used on slalom courses. I think of it as nature’s slalom course.
“To ski down Shadows in the powder as that delicious late-afternoon light spreads across the slope—it’s my favorite place to ski. You’re skiing off into the sunset, into the Wild West. That’s Steamboat.”
BILLY KIDD first gained worldwide attention when he finished eighth in slalom and twelfth in giant slalom at the 1962 FIS World Championships. In 1964, he became the first U.S. skier to medal in alpine skiing, when he finished second in the slalom at Innsbruck. Over the next few years, Billy laid claim to the title of America’s greatest ski racer of that era. In 1965, he won eight consecutive races in the United States, and in 1966 he won several European races, dueling head-to-head with the great Jean-Claude Killy. However, a broken leg in 1967, and sprained ankles prior to the 1968 Olympics, hampered his chances at Grenoble. After the Olympics, Billy competed as an amateur for two more years, during which time, in 1970, he won the first U.S. gold medal at the FIS World Championships. He then turned pro and won the 1970 World Professional Championships in giant slalom and combined. Billy has continued with his success in the ski industry. He has been ski director at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, for many years, has represented various ski industry manufacturers as a spokesman, been a ski commentator for television, written columns for ski magazines, and written two books on skiing. Billy has served on the President’s Council for Physical Fitness and Sports and has been a part-time coach to the U.S. Ski Team.
If You Go
Getting There: Steamboat is 160 miles northwest of Denver; several airlines serve Steamboat Springs, including American (800-433-7300; www.aa.com) and United (800-864-8331; www.united.com).
Season: Late November through mid-April
Lift Tickets: A day ticket at Steamboat runs $99; multi-day tickets are available. Remember: Kids under twelve ski free if a parent purchases a five-day ticket. See details at www.steamboat.com.
Level of Difficulty: Steamboat has great terrain for everyone, designated 14 percent beginner; 42 percent intermediate; and 44 percent advanced.
Accommodations: A range of lodging options are available through Steamboat (877-783-2628; www.steamboat.com).
