Was this our best season ever? On to 2024.

Greetings Powdercats,

Wow, what a season! After a truly epic winter, we ran our final snowcats on Thursday, March 30th, and are now breathing deeply after what could well have been our best season ever.  The stars and the snow were perfectly aligned for us and we cannot thank you our guests, our staff, and Mother Nature enough for helping us celebrate our 40th anniversary season.

From start to finish, this season’s snowfall proved to be one of the greatest on record, not only here in Northwest Colorado but all over the Rocky Mountains and the Western United States. Here are some snow highlights from our season with you on Buffalo Pass:

  • From December 1st to March 31st, it snowed 466 inches at our mid-mountain cabin (elev. 9,715 feet). In the highest terrain on Buffalo Pass (elev. 10,620 feet), we received over 600 inches of new snowfall.
  • During the 105 days in our operating season (December 17 to March 30th), it snowed on 63 of those days. 60% of our days this winter we received fresh snow.
  • The December 12th to December 16th storm dropped 60 inches of snow on Buffalo Pass at our mid-mountain cabin. This storm alone was 13% of the total snowfall and set up our season nicely with a great base and outstanding opening-day conditions.
  • January was amazing! It snowed 171 inches total at our mid-mountain cabin, and we had new snow on 80% of our days. 15 of these days we had 5 inches of new snow or more on the snow stake.
  • January 2023 will go down as the snowiest month we’ve had since we started keeping up-to-date snow records in 2002.
  • In February things slowed down a bit with only 63″ of total snowfall.
  • Our longest drought of the season was the 5 days from February 1st to the 5th.
  • Many of you know that March is a critical time for us as conditions in the backcountry can quickly change. One heat wave or extended drought can impact snow conditions so we have to cancel our trips.  Because of this, more than any time in the season, we wish for a cold and snowy March. This year, our dreams certainly came true.
  • With 98 inches falling on 68% of the days, and cold temperatures throughout the month, March 2023 will go down in history as the template for how we’d like our season to conclude.
  • Overall, this season’s snowfall will go down in history with the other big winters of 2010/11 and 1982/83 and will be written into lore like that of January 1996 when it snowed over 200 inches in the month.

Thanks again for being part of our Steamboat Powdercats Nation and helping us make this our best season ever. Much love and gratitude to you all.

Your friends at Steamboat Powdercats

How we will book our 2023/24 trips

Now on to next year! We are currently in the process of loading our “internal calendar” of dates, rates, and trip availability for the ’23/’24 season. Once this calendar is loaded, we then reserve trips first for returning guests from this past season who are looking to rebook a similar trip that you took this year.

For instance, if you came on Friday, January 27th in the Level II snowcat and you had 3 people, you can rebook those same seats in that same ability level snowcat for next year on Thursday, January 26th. The day of the week stays the same, not the date.

We currently have a lengthy list of returning guests from this season who wish to repeat next year.  If you haven’t been in contact with us regarding your wish to revisit us next winter, please do so now.

Many of you repeat guests are wishing to come back but also are looking to change your date, ability level, or the numbers in your group. For you, we will have to wait to see how the calendar plays out before loading your new requests. Thanks for your patience.

This process of loading repeat guests first can be lengthy, and we hope to have it completed by the middle to end of May.

For any new inquiries for next season, be it past guests who didn’t come this season or a new guest for us, we will wait until we get all the repeat guests into the system first before opening the calendar to you. Once we load your requests, which can be as late as June 15th, we will then make our booking calendar live online for anyone to place a reservation at their leisure.

Rates for the 2023/24 season will be $950 for individual seats and $9500 for a private snowcat. All reservations will require a 50% deposit before we launch our online calendar, typically around June 15th. As always, we recommend guests add on the 10% Activity Insurance that protects you if you need to cancel.

Email us for all reservation bookings, inquiries, or questions.

An Additional Remembrance
RIP Dave Genchi

As many of you know, our friend and past colleague, Dave Genchi, who pioneered our photo and video program in the early 2000s and many of you knew and loved, passed away on February 18th, 2023.

For many reasons, Dave has made a long-lasting impact here at Powdercats.  He not only helped create the culture that you know and love, was a great friend and a beautiful soul, but his story is a part of our history, as he injured himself while working at Steamboat Powdercats on December 21, 2006. This accident paralyzed Dave and he lived as a quadriplegic from that day forward.

Dave’s positive energy and passion for adventure even after this accident was an example of his never-ending spirit and will continue. We will miss Dave for so many reasons and carry on his legacy here for many years to come.

Dave’s wife Debora was by his side throughout and was his primary caregiver and life partner.  Without Dave, Debora is now facing some serious hurdles and because of this, we started a Go Fund Me page to help her get back on her feet.   If any of you would like to support her and the legacy of Dave Genchi, please consider supporting this Go Fund Me campaign here.