Blogger Paulette Thomas, Chamber Staff Member

A few weeks back my boyfriend in an effort to get me back on my snowboard accused me of not taking advantage of Steamboat and all its outdoor appeal. Sure, I was eating at Steamboat's many restaurants , volunteering within the community and not to mention working-out at least five days a week. But it was true, my daily routine lacked exposure to the outdoors.

Along the way I discovered that part of the Steamboat experience is the Olympic Heritage within our community. I attended the 2010 Winter Olympic Sendoff and followed every sport cheering on our locals during these Olympic Games. I am not a sporty person by any means and to be perfectly honest I find most televised events boring, sports commentators can be annoying and overly critical. But somehow none of that mattered, I found myself holding my breath waiting for the final tallies every time.

The Nordic Combined Events left me stunned; I was filled with so much pride for Steamboat Springs, the USA and Nordic Sports. I have heard of the Steamboat Ski Touring Center but until this very moment that didn’t mean much to me. Not only does the Steamboat Ski Touring Center  has miles and miles of snowshoeing trails but they have some of the best cross-country and skate skiing trails around. Destined for glory I drove off to begin my first nordic adventure.

I decided to start with classic cross-country and then maybe graduate to skate skiing later. My plan would be the same as my first snowshoeing experience, taking  as long as I needed on the training loop until I got the hang of basic cross-country and was ready for more of a challenge. Surprisingly that moment came after I was only on my third loop.

After two hours of moderate but fulfilling aerobic exercise I was spent. I turned back ready to call it a day. As I turned in my rental gear I recounted the tales of my experience, that I was surprise how quickly I had picked up the technique and even though the Moose Meadows trail was filled with steeper stretches I managed to make it back in tacked... I only had one question for them... How exactly do you stop when you are headed full speed downhill? I guess I will address that one next time.

Visit our winter activities page to discover additional winter activities to do in Steamboat Springs for the whole family!