Shipping Your Skis to Steamboat Springs

Where Your Skis Go in Steamboat (Not the Gondola)

You can't ship skis to the Steamboat gondola or Gondola Square, but you can ship them to your hotel or condo at the base, to a rental downtown, or to the UPS Store or FedEx Ship Center in town, and carry them to the lift from there.

Steamboat is really two places. The ski area sits three miles southeast of downtown, per the resort's ground transportation page, and the free Steamboat Springs Transit bus links them. Decide where you are sleeping before you ship.

• The Steamboat Grand, 2300 Mt Werner Circle. Accepts UPS and FedEx deliveries only (no USPS) and won't store luggage, skis or boxes more than seven days before arrival. Put the guest name, reservation number and arrival date on the c/o line, per the Steamboat Grand owners' FAQ. Guests get free overnight ski storage at Grand Ski Storage in Gondola Square (Grand services). No receiving fee is published, so ask.
• Gravity Haus Steamboat, 2304 Après Ski Way. Guests can ship items to the property if they call ahead, and there is a gear room (Gravity Haus Steamboat).
• Sheraton Steamboat Resort Villas, 2200 Village Inn Ct. The Sheraton publishes no package fee. Ask when you book.
• Condos and rentals. Most base lodging is condos run by management companies. Confirm the front desk accepts packages and how many days ahead, then ship to the desk, not the unit.
• Carrier counters. There is no FedEx Office in Steamboat. Use The UPS Store, 1815 Central Park Dr (between downtown and the mountain, on the bus line), or from the FedEx Steamboat directory: FedEx Ship Center, 2717 S Copper Passage, or FedEx at Walgreens, 1440 Pine Grove Rd.

Label it with the guest name as booked, arrival date, "Hold for guest," and the street address. Ship to arrive two to three days before you do, inside the Grand's seven-day window, and track it.

If you want your skis carried to the hotel ski room by a courier who hands them over in person, that's our sister service, Luggage Forward. LugLess ships by FedEx and UPS, so your ski bag goes to your hotel, your condo desk or a hold-for-pickup counter in Steamboat, and you carry it to the gondola.

Champagne Powder Is a Registered Trademark, and Your Skis Should Match

Skiers bring their own skis to Steamboat for the snow, the trees and the new terrain.

"Champagne Powder" is US trademark registration 3796193, owned by Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp. and registered June 1, 2010 (Justia trademark record). The resort says no other ski resort has trademarked its snow (resort Champagne Powder page). The resort's ten-year average at mid-mountain is 314 inches, and the record season was 489 inches in 2007-08. The mountain has 3,668 feet of vertical and 3,741 permitted acres (mountain stats).

The Full Steam Ahead project added 655 acres in Fish Creek Canyon and Pioneer Ridge, with the Mahogany Ridge Express and the Wild Blue Gondola, which the resort calls the longest and fastest ten-person gondola in the US. The resort now calls itself the second-largest resort in Colorado. If you ski trees on wide skis, you probably don't want to rent a pair.

Ski Town USA: the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club has produced 108 Olympians since 1914 (SSWSC Olympians), and Howelsen Hill in town is the oldest ski area in continuous use in the country (Steamboat Chamber).

For Steamboat ski storage once your skis arrive, day lockers are $20 at five base locations, Creekside Equipment Storage and the Ski Corral rent by the week, and Steamboat Sports rental customers get free overnight storage (seasonal storage page). For overnight ski check at your lodging, ask your hotel.

Shipping Skis to Steamboat Springs with LugLess: How It Works

1. Pack. Use a padded ski bag or hard case, secure the bindings, and pad the tips and tails. Boots and outerwear can share the bag (how to ship skis). Riding instead? See shipping a snowboard.
2. Pick a size. Skis go up to 45 lb and 76 x 9 x 8 inches. Large Skis go up to 90 lb and 76 x 15 x 9 inches, which is the one for wide powder skis. A boot bag usually ships as a carry-on (what can I ship).
3. Get a quote. Enter your destination (base hotel, condo desk, downtown rental or the UPS Store on Central Park Drive), bag count and a delivery date two to three days before arrival in the LugLess calculator.
4. Ship and track. LugLess compares FedEx and UPS rates and sends digital labels. Drop the bag at any FedEx or UPS location or book a home pickup, then track it from drop-off to delivery. Value protection is optional (how it works).

To weigh the cost, add up an airline ski bag plus a suitcase each way, and remember the shuttle seat is the same either way. Compare airline baggage fees with your quote.