February 24 - March 3, 2018
Fifteen clubs with 213 participants joined the fun on Cnhicago Week this year in Steamboat Springs, Colorado February 24, 2018 - March 3, 2018. We stayed at six properties: Bronze Tree, Canyon Creek, Dulany, the Lodge, the Phoenix, and Timber Run.
Since we began our trip at the end of the Winter Olympics and were skiing in a Western ski town, our theme for the week was Go for the Gold - Western Style! Thanks to everyone for the great participation and creativity. We saw many versions of cowboy hats, jeans, boots, and lots of red white and blue.
From challenging skiing, to easy cruising, to fun parties made Steamboat Springs a typical great Chicago Week. The weather could not have been better. We started with the first few days of snow overnight, but we enjoyed BLUE skies every day with perfect ski temperatures.
Sunday started our great skiing week after our 7 inches of fresh, overnight champagne powder. What a fabulous day of skiing! The day ended with a Welcome Party at the Bear River Bar and Grill where most everyone attended! CMSC Board members and Trip Leaders were wearing their sparkly red, white and blue cowboy hats. Yeeee-haw!
Monday was a jam packed activity day. First, was the Nastar Race at Bashor. We had a great turn-out with ~100 who joined the race. While every racer won a medal, we had a variety of categories such as "fastest” male & female by many different age categories, and closest to match their own time!
Everyone had a blast in the racing event. The race was followed by lunch at the bottom of Bashor with a delicious picnic lunch. Club photos were taken by the Steamboat photographers after lunch and they brought the pictures to the banquet.
The last activity for Monday was the pub crawl in downtown Steamboat Springs - it began at 7:30pm with another great turnout! ~100 participants joined the raffles and fun at Carl's Tavern, our first bar, where everyone tried the corn bread. We had another raffle at Dude 'n Dan's, our second stop; another raffle at Back Door Grill, the third, and final raffle was conducted at the Old Town Pub – way to hang in there!
Tuesday we tried something new during our ski day that was offered by the Steamboat staff - the Mountain Poker Run. 119 of our skiers 
joined in on the fun. With the maps provided, we skied to each of the 5 locations at different areas on the mountain to pick up each of the 5 envelopes. It was a great way to get to know the mountain!
Our Après Ski was at the Sheraton, where we had a delicious buffet of appetizers, and collected the poker hands. Although 10 received prizes, the top hand was 2 pair - QQ44.
Wednesday was a "day off" for many. A few groups spent a relaxing time at the Strawberry Park Hot Springs, and others skied their hearts out.
Thursday was another great day of skiing followed by the dinner Banquet at the top of the Gondola, the Thunderhead Lodge. What a great view! It was Steamboat's famous Western BBQ dinner, with an abundance of delicious food enjoyed by all. The well attended banquet included some very creative red/white/blue and western wear to support our theme. Thanks, everyone! We had quite a few dancers "shakin' their booties" to the tunes of an excellent band! Again, we experienced quite a few people looking for lift tickets to enjoy a 6th day of skiing on Friday. Twas' another fun night!
Friday continued with great weather for skiing followed by an Après Ski at the Bear River Bar and Grill. It was such a beautiful day, we enjoyed the après ski party both inside and outside. Skiers finished their days tired, yet rebounded for parties in the evening or enjoyed the Steamboat Fireworks to survive another great Chicago Week.
Until next year everyone, where we will gather together in Aspen!
Vicki Schutz, Trip Leader