Let’s break down the cost
Ticket Price
This part alone could break your bank and steer you away from the slopes if you do not own an Ikon Pass or the Steamboat Season Pass, which is even more expensive.
The Ikon Base Pass will get you 5 days at Steamboat, and this Ikon Pass will cost you a minimum of $829 depending on when you purchase it. I purchased it around October and paid $929.
Steamboat Season pass is sitting at $1699, so let’s take a look at their day pass rates!
From what I am looking at it’s between $244 – $299. That’s more than $1000 to ski 5 days. Just on the pass! Now obviously you’ll have to rent your equipment if you don’t already own your gear. That’ll break your bank even more.
Well, thankfully using my skier’s math, with an Ikon pass and my equipment, Tickets were free… lol
Total Cost = Free(?)
Lodging
Lodging can be very stressful when you’re planning for your multi-day ski trips. Our condo was 5 minute’s walk away from the chairlift and it cost us $575 per person for 4 nights. 2/1 – 2/5
There were 5 of us, and for a 2 bedroom condo with a pull-out couch, it was big enough for 5 men. We saved a good amount of money here as a 3-4 bedroom place will cost you $2000-$3000 a night.
So I highly recommend booking early and sharing a room with your friends.
Additionally, it’s more expensive if you decide to book a place that is ski-in-out. We didn’t have an issue with walking 5 minutes as that was still close enough.
Cost: $575/pp
Food
Be prepared to spend if you are not going to make your food! What we decided to do was make a trip to a supermarket (there is a Safeway 10-minute drive away from the base) and buy food to make breakfasts and most of our dinners. If you are eating at any of the lodges on the mountain, it will cost you around $20 per dish. Be sure to bring your Ikon pass if you have it (you can also borrow your friend’s for this) because that will get you 25% off on your food. Make sure to visit Rendezvous Lodge or Thunderhead Lodge. They have good food there. I mean, for the US ski resort food standard-wise it was pretty decent.
Away from the base, at the downtown, you can visit Mambo Italian for very good Italian food for a decent price. Between 7 guys, after ordering a whole bunch of food with 2 bottles of wine, it only came to $65 per person. Now that’s a very good price for a touristy place. Mountain Tap Brewery does Trivia Nights on Thursdays. If you want to participate you need to make sure you are at least an hour early for the event as this place gets packed. Their food is very good as well. You can’t go wrong with their pizzas.
Since my trip was an annual boys trip, we skipped out on a lot of our dinners and drank our calories instead. So on food, I spent less than $250 for food. I’d say that’s a win.
Cost = $250
Apres
Let’s talk about my favorite part. The apres is a crucial part of the ski experience for me. I hope it is for you too. However, after experiencing the apres scenes in the Alps, your standard gets 3 levels beyond what the American ski resorts offer. But, let’s not get too disappointed as Steamboat provides apres experience fairly well.
On the base, you have T Bar, and the Range.
T Bar is right by the cat track as you are coming down from the mountain. It bar scene where you can get food as well. I haven’t stepped into the indoor sitting area but there is plenty of space outdoors.
The Range is located at the base right by Steamboat Gondola. The bar is on the second floor and they have DJs playing music at decent volume as well, which is what you want for your standard apres scene. You can also get a variety of food downstairs. It’s like a food court.
Let’s talk about T Bar first.
I didn’t exactly like T Bar. The bartenders are rude, possibly because they’re heavily understaffed with just 2 men behind the bar pouring drinks for the hundreds that are waiting. If you get in the line to get drinks outside, it’ll take you ages. What I recommend is when it finally comes to your turn, don’t order just one round. Order many rounds so you don’t have to wait in that line again and lose the vibe.
T Bar’s music volume is too low and it does not provide much apres vibe, sadly. I did not get to try the food.
The Range
The Range is a far better place to apres on the base. The DJs upstairs will play good music at a very good volume and drinks are much easier to get compared to the T Bar. I’d say the only downside to this place is they have tables everywhere on the outside patio. This means people are more likely to sit and just relax rather than party. They should have kept all the seats inside and left the outside like a dance floor with a few standing tables. Check out the video on this article if you haven’t yet.
Off the base, I tried, Foxes, Schmiggity’s, The Barley Tap and Tavern, Sunpie’s Bistro, and O’neil’s.
I recommend Foxes, Schmiggity’s, and Sunpie’s Bistro. But, they all have very different characteristics.
If you feel fancy, and you’d like to have wine, champagne, a cocktail, or a nice old-fashioned – I recommend you go to Foxes. The owner is one of the DJs at the Ranger! It’s an awesome place with a very mystique vibe. But obviously, be prepared to spend.
Thursday night karaoke night at Schmiggity’s!
This place is awesome if you are into karaoke, or enjoy watching people making a show on stage. The drinks are your average bar price, and I think because of that it attracts a lot of people aged 25-35. It’s a great place to party.
Sunpie’s Bistro.
Do you miss a college bar scene? Where look no further. This is it. It is a dive bar filled with a lot of people aged 21-30. The drinks are very cheap here. But don’t look to order any fancy cocktails. It’s a dive bar. You’re getting well drinks. If you enjoy dive bar types of scenes, Sunpie’s Bistro is where you want to be.
Cost = $500-700
Skiing Experience
I left the most important part to the last. What is the mountain like to ski anyway?
If you are a beginner to an intermediate, the lower side, and the right side of the mountain offer most of the greens to blues. But if you are an advanced skier, I recommend sticking to the left side of the mountain.
One of the 5 days we skied happened to be a beautiful pow day, and the right side of the mountain was WAY TOO CROWDED to ski safely. Avoid that area, move to the left side by taking Pony Express, and the new lift that is Mahogany. This area even on a powder day wasn’t crowded at all.
Trees are amazing at Steamboat, so if you can afford to do some tree runs I highly recommend it.
Thick of It, and Edge of the World are definitely my favorite runs there. Also, I noticed there is a lot of moguls compared to other Colorado resorts. Maybe that was just my experience, who knows?
Wild Blue Gondola is a brand new 10-person gondola that is the longest, and the fastest in North America. So check that out too!
Total Cost
The total cost is between $1500-1700. Now for a 5 day trip, this can be quite a lot but if you look at the money we saved on lodging, it could have been a lot more expensive. Thankfully, I’m just another single man in his early 30s who’s got no time to eat bougie and rather party with the boys by ordering one more pitcher.
So the actual cost of this trip? Priceless