Denver Hears about '24 in 24,' Flocks to Steamboat for Long Lines and Tracked-Out Snow

Written by Harry Uppenwate Friday, 08 February 2013

After being bombarded by Intracourse's marketing machine that noted Steamboat Ski Resort received 24 inches of snow in 24 hours, approximately half of Denver showed up at the ski mountain many days later for a weekend of historically long lift lines and snow that barely resembled the actual powder dump that took place several days prior."You see this snow?" asked Denver's Dave Late. "Several days ago, well before I got here, it was stacked up 24 inches high of pure fluff! You can just tell it was awesome for some other skiers! Shoot, I gotta get going before the traffic on I-70 really builds up. What a day!"

"It was epic, dude!" exclaimed Dave Late from Denver's Stapleton area. "The lift lines were way shorter than Breck's, where I normally ski on Saturdays. I only had to wait 20 minutes to catch a chair! That totally made up for the five hours in grueling traffic to get here!

"And the pow-pow was awesome!" he added. "You could really tell that the piles of scraped off snow were 'the goods' at some earlier time in the past!"

After spending most of the week harassing every Denver newspaper and TV and radio station to mention Steamboat's early week powder extravaganza, Intracourse marketers were more than pleased with the massive showing of Denverites on the weekend.

"It was a win/win for us here at Steamboat," noted Annie Waytomakeabuck, head of Intracourse marketing. "We got to ski the huge powder day all to ourselves on Tuesday, and then reaped the financial rewards on Saturday and Sunday when nothing was left but a shell of heavy snow. With these crowds, I couldn't even find a line in the trees that was untracked, so I took off the rest of the day and helped the executive team count all the money that was flying in from those days-late Denver powder trackers."

Several of the Denver citizens polled on the mountain, while waiting in the massive lift lines, couldn't believe they were lucky enough to ski or ride on groomed-over snow that had at one time been a monster powder day most only dream about.

"Someday I'm going to be able to tell my grandkids about the time I skied on the remnants of snow that fell two feet in 24 hours!" noted Dollar Short of Aurora. "It's like seeing a Rolling Stones concert now. Sure, it was probably 200 times better to see them in the '60s or '70s, but it's still being loosely associated with something that used to be awesome!"

Actual Steamboat residents, who ran back to their homes on the weekend after seeing just how many Front Rangers were on the mountain, seemed slightly confused about the mass turnout.

"They do know how a calendar works, right?" wondered Slack McSlackenstein, a lift operator at Morningside, which saw lines reach more than 40 minutes at times. "Tuesday isn't that close to Saturday, much less Sunday. In snow time, that's an eternity. Hell, we track out fresh powder in about 45 minutes around here when all the locals turn out. What did they think four days was going to do? I don't get it."
Regardless, ignorance appeared to be bliss for the out-of-towners.

"Woo hoo! Did you see that face shot I just got?" asked Aurora's Short. "My buddy Steve, he just sprayed me with a ton of snow he scraped off the top of Tomahawk. I need a snorkel just to breath after that! 24 in 24! Several days later!"