Three hours from a major city, 331 inches of average annual snow fall, 59 annual average frost free days, and significantly less than 11,000 people...those will be the first reasons why Steamboat Springs, CO may be the ideal spot to live, now let me provide you with a few more. I'll try to be brief, but take into account, there's more where this is coming from! First and foremost, the community is actually, a community first, and a world-class ski resort second. Ask Epic Lake Adventures who lives here and they'll be happy to tell you that in Steamboat Springs you have others who live nearby who care about you and watch out for you. There's Boat Rentals Steamboat Springs in your drive-way? Be confident, one of your neighbors will call and inform you. Ask any second house owner or visitor about Steamboat Springs, and something of the initial things they'll say is that individuals inside our town are so friendly. This fact alone would make Steamboat Springs, CO an ideal spot to call home and certainly the ideal place to raise a family - i want to say it one last time before moving on, "the people are nice and individuals here care about you."

OK so everyone's nice, but I get asked, "What now ? when you're 3+ hours from a major city, and it's cold and snowy so a number of days of the entire year?" Well let' Epic Lake Adventures with summer when it's not cold and snowy and people arrived at this ski resort town and with out a trace of champagne powder on the ground they spend a week here and opt to stay. Summertime in Steamboat Springs, CO brings the free concerts at the bottom of Howelsen Hill, fly-fishing in the Yampa and Elk Rivers, hiking and biking on trails for each level and surrounded by Rocky Mountain beauty, golfing at public or private courses, the weekend rodeo that thrills both locals and visitors, and of course tubing down the Yampa River for individuals who like to beat the heat in chilly, fresh mountain water. Summertime also means the annual July 4th parade, Art-in-the-Park, HEAT balloon festival, Steamboat Running & Bike Series races...and in the end this activity, a margarita on the Rio deck, a brick oven pizza sitting on Rex's back patio, or an ice cream cone from Johnny B. Good's take-out window hit the location. Locals in Steamboat Springs take full advantage of the short, but very sweet summer season - we know winter is right nearby.

And now for winter...how do we Steamboat locals co-exist with the thousands of skiers and snowboarders who come year-after-year for our champagne powder and western hospitality? Well for starters, you might see mostly locals in the gondola line at 7:45am because we've listened to the 5:00am snow report and know there's 14 inches of powder on Storm Peak that require to be skied before heading into work just a little later than normal, but totally refreshed and energized for the day! But we don't just ski within Ski Town USA, when you live here and it's wintertime, you take your children to Winter Sports Club, you take a dip in the Old Town Hot Springs pools, you snowshoe in the moonlight to the perfect spot for sitting and drinking some wine that was in your backpack forever, and you hit the first bird special at the Orr House where a sizzling steak and huge salad bar await. Local winter events that even us locals await every year include the Winter Carnival where the senior high school band "marches" down Lincoln Avenue on skis, you can find races where (if you are brave) you're pulled by way of a horse while sitting on a shovel, and you trek to Howelsen Hill to spend an evening watching fireworks where in fact the lighted man skis down the hill, shooting fireworks from multiple body locations...some things you just have to see to believe.