By Ulrich,
Archive for the ‘The Steamboat Lifestyle’ Category
Claiming Our Local Ski Champs As Your Own
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009By Susana Field
Yesterday, as Doug Labor mentioned in his blog post here, we learned that Todd Lodwick, a local Steamboat hero, won his second Gold Medal at the World Ski Championships in Liberac, Czechoslovakia this past weekend. Billy Demong, a New York native who has trained extensively in Steamboat Springs, also won his first Bronze Medal of the weekend. And there are two events more to go!
All of these medals were won in the sport called Nordic Combined Skiing, which is really big in our town; and in fact is the sport that has contributed the most to Steamboat Springs, Colorado being called Ski Town U.S.A. (We’ve sent more athletes to the Olympics than any other town; 69 and counting.)
Nordic Combined actually consists of two disciplines: ski jumping and cross-country skate skiing. And it’s not the type of ski jumping where the skiers go up in the air and perform all sorts of wild flips and things before landing back on the ground. That’s called freestyle, which consists of aerial stunts and mogul skiing.
The type of ski jumping I’m talking about occurs off a HUGE ski jump. The jumpers wear special jump suits and use special jump skis which are eight feet long or so and maybe five inches wide. From the top of the jump hill, each skier, one at a time, will drop off a bar they momentarily sit upon, down onto a cut track (a long slide-looking thing called the inrun), in a crouched position. They continue off the edge of the inrun out into thin air, and down, parallel to the hill until they touch down. In flight, the ski jumpers’ body stretches forward to where the edges of their skis, held in a V shape, are held alongside the sides of their face, and their arms are shot back like in the start of a swan dive.
When the TV cameras show you the jumper sitting on the bar at the top of the inrun right before take-off, as well as when the cameras follow the jumper off the end of the inrun and into the air, you can see the spectators at the bottom merely as pin points on the landscape; the jumpers are that high up.
The score that each athlete gets for his jump (based on distance plus style), determines at what time that athlete gets to leave the start gate for the cross-country skate ski race; the jumper who scored the most points goes out of the start gate first, the second best goes out so many seconds later, etc., until the last person goes out, which could be several minutes after the lead person took off.
The first person to cross the finish line (usually 5k or 10k in distance) wins.
Todd won this last Gold Medal after first gaining the most points for his jump, which gave him the best advantage into the race, and then holding on to the lead and claiming the medal by winning the 10K cross-country race, in just over 20 minutes. And that’s 20 minutes of racing full out!
Walking through downtown Steamboat Springs on a winter’s night, the ski jumps just across the Yampa River may be ablaze in lights. You may hear the announcer’s voice blaring out from the loudspeaker, and may make-out the jumpers soaring through the sky.
In the summer, you’ll notice that one ski jump hill looks like a bright green ribbon upon the side of Howelsen Hill. What you are looking at is the summer training ground for our local Olympic-hopeful jumpers. The summer –used inrun is made of a porcelain track and the landing hill is clothed in plastic, kept smooth by water.
Todd Lodwick grew up on a local ranch. Johnny Spillane, who won the USA’s first Gold Medal at the World Ski Championships In 2003, also grew up on a local ranch. Coincidence, or is it something about the western ranching work ethic that has enabled these young men to jump far and ski hard?
But for those of us who would just like to watch the sport, and watch it from the privacy of our own, beautifully appointed, living rooms with a nice fire crackling in the fireplace, well Steamboat has that to offer to you too. There are currently five prime downtown Loft developments with numerous units for sale which look straight at the jumps. I’d love to show you these or any other property which would meet your Steamboat real estate needs.
And before you know it, you’ll be jumping up and down too when our local boys make it big on the world stage. Yep, you’ll be claiming them as your own. And me? I’ll be right alongside you.
A Great Little Steamboat Fishing Property
Monday, February 23rd, 2009By Doug
This weekend was an exciting one for Steamboat Springs skiing as Todd Lodwick came away with not one, but two gold medals at the Czech Republic at the 2009 FIS Nordic World Championships. His first gold came on Friday, winning the nordic combined event.
It was also historic as Lodwick shared the his second trip to the podium for gold with fellow USA Nordic teammate Bill Demong as he received a silver medal for the individual Gundersen event.
As reported by the Steamboat Pilot & Today, Lodwick became the first American Nordic combined skier to hold two world championship gold medals. U.S. teammate and fellow Steamboat Springs resident Johnny Spillane (16th in Sunday’s race) won the gold in 2003 in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
We would like to congratulate Todd, Bill and the rest of the athletes, coaches and trainers of the USA Ski Team and their success.
If you are looking to make a successful Steamboat Springs real estate investment, read onn…
Some of the most expensive real estate in the Steamboat Springs area has water (lake, river, pond, springs, etc.) as a major feature. Just listed is a property located only 12 miles north of Steamboat Springs on the Elk River consiting of 38 acres and a cute cabin for only $649,000! The property justifies a larger residence, so the new owner will be able to use the cabin as home base while a new home is built, or rent it out while the market comes back for a savvy investment. The last 15 acres located on a river such as this sold for $985K in Oct 08, making this an incredible value. Buy it now and enjoy the benefits right away as this property appreciates in value.
The Elk River is a great fishing river, and the North Routt area is an outdoor recreation paradise! The owner of this property will have all of that right out their door.
If you would like additional information about this great Steamboat Springs real estate buy, please give us a call today!
It’s Easier Than Ever to Get to Steamboat!
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009It’s easier than ever to get to Steamboat. The recently completed eighteen million dollar expansion at YVRA (Yampa Valley Regional Airport) not only added an entirely new departure ticketing lobby and doubled the size of the hold rooms but it also allowed more and larger aircraft to be stationed on the ramp. This means that there are more direct flights than ever landing just twenty four miles west of Steamboat Springs.
This Special Place
Friday, February 20th, 2009I had the pleasure of hosting a 5th grade classmate of mine that I hadn’t seen in over 30 years. Rick had spent some time in Steamboat shortly after High School and has always wanted to come back (boy, how many times we have heard that). It was interesting seeing Steamboat through someone else’s eyes, particularly someone who hadn’t been back in over three decades. As I was playing tour guide and pointing out all of the great things that we, as a community, have accomplished and how we did so through the spirit of cooperation, it amazed even me what this community is all about. I thought he may criticize the density around the base area but instead Rick appreciated the effort to keep the valley floor open. After Rick and his wife, Connie, took a trip to the top of Rabbit Ears pass then down through Stagecoach and Oak Creek they remarked how special it was to see open land and unobstructed views, not at all like the Vail valley of Aspen.
Location, Location, Location!
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009If purchasing real estate is all about location, location, location, there are few locations as nice as downtown Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Also known as Old Town, downtown Steamboat stretches from the Old Town Hot Springs located right before 3rd Street, and ends on 13th Street at the Bud Werner Library and Elk Springs Park. In the other direction, east to west, Steamboat’s downtown core area extends from Howelsen Hill with its own ski hill, rodeo grounds and ball fields, past the Yampa River and the commercial area of Yampa Street, Lincoln Avenue and Oak Street, eastward past residential neighborhoods and several schools: Colorado Mountain College (CMC) Alpine Campus, Steamboat Springs High School and Soda Creek Elementary.
The predominantly single family downtown homes are located, for the most part, on relatively small lots (.07 to .35 acre, with a very few up to 5 acres), and are an eclectic mix of architectural styles. You’ll find elegant Victorian-style homes, with wrought-iron fences, and log cabins, amongst an assortment of older miner’s cabins, some of which have been beautifully enlarged and remodeled, while others are still as they were when first built in the 1920s. Relatively new to Steamboat (since 2005), several high-end downtown lofts are perched above trendy retail spaces in the heart of downtown, most of which offer wonderful views and outdoor balconies.
You can walk from any of Steamboat’s downtown homes or lofts to say, The Shack for breakfast, and then on to The Epilogue Book Company for a book recommendation from Erica, or to the Meat and Seafood Company for deli goods, Lobster Pies and take-home gourmet dinners. You can perform your yoga asanas while overlooking the Yampa River at the Bear River Center, or participate in the Kayak festivals held right through town during the spring runoff in June.
For dining, there’s the cave-like Double Z with its famous Z Burgers and Pork Ribs, or The Rio, where the margaritas are so smooth there’s a sign saying they’ll limit you to three – and they mean it! There’s the Friday Art Walks, the Chief Plaza Movie Theater, the bike path along the Yampa River, the hiking, biking, ski trails at Howelsen Hill, and the free bus service to the Mt. Werner Ski Area. Living and playing in Old Town, you can literally park your car and seldom have to start it up. (Which comes in handy over the winter, since so few downtown homes have garages!)
There are 35 Single Family homes currently on the market within the core of downtown Steamboat Springs. They range in price from $499,500 for a 3BR 2BA, 1430 square foot home on .12 acre built in 1924 to $1,995,000 for a 6 BR, 5 BA, 6590 square foot home on .35 acre built in 1965.
Convenience and community. Urban amenities and outdoor recreation, all within a block of each other. Downtown, Old Town, Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
We’d love to help you make this your home. For a customized search and/or unbiased assistance with property evaluation, please give us a call, shoot us an e-mail or stop on by (we’re located downtown too, at 118 8th Street, between Lincoln and Oak Street.). Location. Location. Location.
