We recently went on a steamboat trip and I was 25 weeks pregnant, so unfortunately skiing was out of the picture. This really ached me because I love to ski, sip spiked cider at apres, and reward my muscles by marinating in a hot tub each night. All of which, are on the pregnancy do-not-do list. However, I definitely made the best of my trip and it was nice to be able to have some winter fun while keeping my baby safe! Here are some non-ski things to do in Steamboat if you either can’t or don’t care for skiing:
Ride gondola up mountain for lunch!
It costs about $30 ($25 to ride up and an additional $5 for the QuickTrax card) to ride the gondola up the mountain. Be sure to use your QuickTrax card for an additional 10% off your order at Hazie’s, Stoker, or any other Steamboat Resort food! I enjoyed my trip up there. I was having major FOMO all day while the rest of my friends were out playing on the mountain, so it was fun to see them, and you seriously cannot beat the views!
Go Hiking and Snowshoeing.
There are some trails close to Steamboat mountain that are amazing! I went to Fish Creek and it’s a short hike to see the frozen falls and you only have to pay $5/vehicle to visit. This would be easy to do on your own and totally worth it! You could do this in about 30 minutes-1 hour.
Go on a Photography Tour.
They have several companies that offer snowshoe photography tours or even driving photography tours. I elected the snowshoe photography tour and if I were to do it over again, I would elect the driving tour because you would see more such as local wildlife, iconic barns, and Yampa River. I did the Snowshoe photography tour and think it would’ve been better just to do that on my own because Fish Creek is so close and it’s an easy, short hike to see the frozen falls.
Pamper yourself at a spa.
There’s several spa options in Steamboat. We decided to check out Steamboat Grand Spa. I had an amazing facial, sugar scrub, and prenatal massage. My only cons with this spa is that the pool, hot tubs, steam rooms were on the opposite side of the building, so it wasn’t as convenient to check out the pool in between sessions. They also don’t have a locker room area near spa, so I had to carry my stuff with me everywhere I went. However, at the end, I was buttery, jello legged, and on a natural high from all of the oils. It was so nice to have a day of pampering.
Dinner experiences.
This mountain has so much to offer and we took advantage of a few of the options the short duration we were there. I’m thankful that I have friends that totally took control of this because I loved everything we did.
- Chef Dave (info here). We had rented a townhouse and one night we had a private chef come and prepare us a 4-course meal. We all wore our matching, white robes, ate amazing food, and played games at our house. Highly recommend Chef Dave, they were great, food was awesome!
Points Snowcat Dinner (info here). It’s about $100 per person and it includes your transportation up the mountain (seriously, after paying $30 just to go to top this seemed like a bargain), and a four-course meal which you get to select the entre from a menu. Food and service was awesome, and we had a blast riding up in the snowcat! If you’re lucky you can even sit up front!
Après ski!
After the mountain closes, the base of the mountain becomes a party. They always have live music (check mountain’s event page to see where live music/other events are: info here) and the people watching never gets old! On Friday nights, they have a DJ dance party and occasionally, Bear River Bar and Grill has trivia night. Also, on Friday nights, they close out the party with a firework show. If you’re feeling up for it, you can ride the Outlaw Mountain Coaster at the base of the mountain. I was told that it was the longest gravity coater in North America! I was super pumped about this and as I strapped myself in, the attendant had asked me if there was a chance I was pregnant and told me that they can’t allow me to go up. As always, I don’t want to do anything to put my baby at risk, so I ordered another round of hot cocoa and watched my friends go down. whomp whomp…
Make time for Rest and Relaxation.
Nothing better than sitting on a mountain, near a fireplace, and sipping hot cocoa. I did this a lot! We rarely take time for ourselves and if you’re like me, you need to force yourself to relax. I definitely had time well spent, relaxing by myself.
Other must do activities if you can!
If you’re not pregnant, you can enjoy the other fun activities the mountain has to offer. Ex: Horseback riding, snowmobiling, snow tubing, Strawberry natural hot springs (LOVED going here), and of course, shopping!
Always so much to do and so little time! I look forward to skiing next year but had a blast enjoying all of the other activities this mountain has to offer! Enjoy!
xoxo, Rachael
