February in the Mountain Village:

Marcia Ball at Strings Music Festival

Thursday, February 14, 7:30pm

Strings Music Festival: Bring on the blues! 2012 Grammy Nominee for Best Blues Album, performs a red hot Valentine’s Day concert.  Her skillful keyboard playing and passionate, playful vocals fuse New Orleans R&B with Austin's deep songwriting tradition into a sound described as "a little rock, a lot of roll, a pinch of rhythm and a handful of blues."  Tickets start at $39.

Torchlight Parade and Fireworks Display

Monday, February 4^th – 6pm

Steamboat Mountain Village: Kick off Winter Carnival early with a special Monday, February 4th Torchlight and Fireworks show at the Steamboat Ski Area.  This special event, provided by a benevolent donor, lights up the night sky at 6pm with a torchlight parade, followed by a magical fireworks display. This event is best viewed from Gondola Square and the Promenade.

100^th Steamboat Springs Carnival

February 6^th – 10^th

For the full lineup of activities and events, visit SSWSC.org.  Some of the events taking place on Friday, February 8^th in the Mountain Village include:

• Soda Pop Slalom (Mt. Werner, Stampede Run – 10am)
• Vintage Ski Race & Ski Fashion Show (Mt. Werner, Bear River Bar & Grill and Stampede Run – 1pm)

Steamboat Ice Castle (on-going)

Open for public viewing

Ski Time Square:  A one-of-a-kind Ice Castle comes to life in Steamboat with turquoise-colored tunnels sure to spark the imagination as you walk through thousands of hand placed icicles.  These ice formations are dynamic, larger than life and something entirely new and unique-especially at night when the frozen setting is colorfully lit.  Open daily beginning December 29^th from 12pm to 10pm.  Tickets may be purchased at steamboat.com or by calling 800-922-2722.

Download the complete list of events here.

Celebration Continues (1/17 - 1/21)

Steamboat’s 50th Anniversary Celebration Continues
Now through Sunday!
Steamboat Mountain Village
We're celebrating 50 years of the best skiing in the world. And we're doing it with a boatload of festivities. The schedule of upcoming events includes:

• Sunset Happy Hour (Thurs, 1/17: 5:30pm): Head up the Gondola and listen to the sounds of Rural Wreckage.  Enjoy drink specials including the Steamboat 50th Anniversary Pale Ale or a Golden Antler. Appetizers are available.  Gondola uploading starts at 5:30pm.  No pass needed to ride, just come on up!

• 50th Anniversary Winemaker Dinner at Hazie’s (Thurs, 1/17: 6pm): Matt Ashby, Director of Vineyard Operations for Franciscan and Mt. Veeder Wineries will discuss his 12 years of experience in California’s Napa Valley and provide insight into what makes this area an outstanding place to grow world-class wine grapes.  Ashby will pair a variety of wines with the delicious cuisine of Hazie’s, a perfect way to celebrate Steamboat’s 50th Anniversary.  Call 970-871-5150 for reservations.  Adults only, $69pp plus tax and gratuity.

• Banks & Shane at Bear River Bar & Grill (Fri, 1/18: 3-6pm): Stop by the Bear River Bar & Grill for après ski and listen to the high energy, hard-kicking, blow-the-roof-off band Banks & Shane.  Try the specially brewed Steamboat Anniversary Ale or Golden Antlers drink.

• Coca-Cola Celebration Day (Saturday, 1/19: All Day): Steamboat celebrates its 50th Anniversary with partner Coca-Cola. Keep your eye out for special prizes throughout the day from Steamboat and Coca-Cola. Look for the Coca-Cola Polar Bear, who will be in Gondola Square all day greeting guests and posing for photos.

• Banks & Shane at Bear River Bar & Grill (Sat. AND Sun., 1/19-20: 3-6pm): Stop by the Bear River Bar & Grill for après ski and listen to the high energy, hard-kicking, blow-the-roof-off band Banks & Shane.

39th Annual Cowboy Downhill
Monday, January 21st - 3pm
Gondola Square

• Public Festivities (12pm): The resort has enjoyed a long history of genuine friendliness and western hospitality; and 4H of Routt County continues this tradition with live animal displays.  In addition, the Cowboy Downhill merchandise tent will have all your souvenir memorabilia.

• 39th Annual Bud Light Cowboy Downhill (1pm): It all began 39 years ago when Billy Kidd, Steamboat’s Director of Skiing, and Larry Mahan, six-time All-Around World Champion cowboy, decided to invite a few of the Pro Rodeo stars to Steamboat for a day of skiing. The cowboys had such a great time that the Downhill has become the most popular event of the season with over 100 of the best professional rodeo cowboys competing in the most unique ski rodeo in the country. Sponsored by Bud Light, the action busts out of the starting chutes at 1:00pm on Stampede on its new day, Monday, January 21st.

• Free Bud Light Rocks the Boat Concert - Blackberry Smoke (3:30pm): Building on the Lynyrd Skynyrd Southern rock template, with a good dose of outlaw honky tonk country and a little bit of bluegrass, gospel, and R&B mixed in, Blackberry Smoke knows how to party. Quickly building a loyal fan base on the Southern tour circuit, Blackberry Smoke opened for top-tier acts like Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, the Zac Brown Band, George Jones and others. The group released a debut album in 2004, followed by a self-released EP New Honky Tonk Bootlegs in 2008. A full-length album, this one also called Little Piece of Dixie, was released in 2009. In 2012, the band signed with Zac Brown’s Southern Ground Records and released their latest album, The Whippoorwill.

Steamboat Ice Castle (on-going)
Open for public viewing
Ski Time Square
A one-of-a-kind Ice Castle comes to life in Steamboat with turquoise-colored tunnels sure to spark the imagination as you walk through thousands of hand placed icicles.  These ice formations are dynamic, larger than life and something entirely new and unique-especially at night when the frozen setting is colorfully lit.  Open daily beginning December 29th from 12pm to 10pm.  Tickets may be purchased at steamboat.com or by calling 800-922-2722.  

Download a printable version of these events and more

Steamboat's 50th Anniversary PARTY!

Steamboat’s 50th Anniversary - Saturday, January 12th – All Day!
Steamboat Mountain Village

We're celebrating 50 years of the best skiing in the world. And we're doing it with a boatload of festivities. We start by celebrating Steamboat's birthday on January 12th and we continue with events all month long.  The schedule for Saturday’s events include:

• Yampa Valley Boys (8:30am): Enjoy the musical talents of the Yampa Valley Boys throughout the morning Saturday & Sunday beginning at 8:30am in Gondola Square.
• 50th Anniversary Merchandise Tent (9am-7pm): Stop by and check out the amazing deals on limited edition 50th anniversary items.
• Time Capsule Reveal (2pm): We will reveal the contents of the time capsule from 1988 on stage in Gondola Square. The contents will be on display the rest of the day in the Merchandise tent.
• The Congress (2pm): The Bud Light Free Concert will begin at 2pm with The Congress! The Congress are a natural evolution of more than 60 years of purely American music. With a spirit rooted just south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and now calling Denver – “The Queen City of the West” – their home, they’ve got enough soul, grit, and have spent enough time in the woodshed to call them pretty much whatever you want. The Congress plays Rock & Roll.
• Birthday Cake (3:00pm): Come grab a bite of the Enormous, delicious anniversary cake. We will be serving up complimentary slices beginning at 3:00pm.
• Robert Randolph & the Family Band (3:30pm): The Bud Light Free Concert featuring Robert Randolph and the Family Band continues. A virtuoso on the pedal steel guitar, Robert Randolph set the music world on fire in 2000 when he began playing his first club dates in New York City. Randolph started playing the instrument as a church-going teenager in Orange, NJ, a small city just outside of Newark. He regularly attended the House of God Church, an African-American Pentecostal denomination that had been implementing steel guitars (or "Sacred Steel") in services since the '30s, with the pedal steel in particular being introduced during the '70s.
• Lighting of the 50th Anniversary Cauldron (5:15pm): Join us for the lighting of the 50th Anniversary Cauldron. This Cauldron will remain lit throughout the 10 day anniversary celebration.
• 50th Anniversary Spectacular Torchlight Parade and Fireworks Display (5:30pm): The spectacular on-snow torchlight parade will begin at 5:30pm followed by an explosive fireworks display from the top of Christie Peak. The fireworks will be choreographed to a special musical production.

Download the complete list of this week's mountain village activities.

Welcome MusicFest 2013

This week in Steamboat we welcome back MusicFest and all the good people in town to celebrate.  In addition to the private, tickets-only shows in the music tent, here's a lineup of the week's FREE CONCERTS on the Steamboat Stage in Gondola Square.  Shows start daily at 1:10pm and are open to the public...

Sunday, January 6:  Ashley Ray  /  Jack Ingram

Monday, January 7:  Dirty River Boys  /  Kyle Park:

Tuesday, January 8:  Midneight River Choir  /  Turnpike Troubadours:

Wednesday, January 9:  The Washers  /  Cody Johnson:

Steamboat Ice Castle

The Steamboat Ice Castle opened for viewing this week. This incredible feature has been carefully constructed over the last month in the heart of Ski Time Square within the Steamboat Mountain Village.

Ice sculptor and artist Cory Livingood has been working on his latest creation since the temperatures fell cold enough to freeze ice. But just because it's now open to the public doesn't mean that the sculpture is finished. Since ice is always growing and changing, so is the castle. Cory will continue to refine the structure throughout the season and he expects some of the interior walls of the castle to grow as high as 30-50 feet.

Cory has created his own "icicle farm" on site where he cultivates what will become new features of the castle which are added daily. You can read the full story of how this all began by visiting the Ice Castles blog or on Facebook.

Check out this very cool video produced by the good folks at Shutterbliss Cinema + Photo:

ShutterFly: Art of Flight Series: Building Ice Castles from shutterbliss on Vimeo.

Walk-up tickets to tour and view the inside of the castle are $15 for adults and $10 for children. Hours are 12pm-1opm weekdays, 10am-10pm Saturdays and 12pm-7pm on Sundays.

And if you need any more inspiration to visit this incredible work of art, see one of Cory's other castles he constructed last year as featured below. It was the backdrop to a Lindsey Sterling music video which has over 41 million views on YouTube:

Other upcoming January events in the Mountain Village