The Howelsen Touring Center is located in the center of Steamboat Springs and is part of the Howelsen Hill Sports Complex which includes the alpine ski area, the ice skating rink, Nordic jumping hills, snow board half-pipe, alpine slide, rodeo grounds and horse stables, and summer biking, hiking and equestrian trails.
Description & Features
The trails were built, and are maintained and groomed, through joint efforts of the city of Steamboat Springs and the Steamboat Springs Nordic Council. At this time there are about 20 km of groomed trail. The trail system is being improved and expanded on an annual basis.
The trails are groomed on a daily to every other day schedule from late December through March
In general the trails tend to be more aerobically and technically challenging than any of the other Nordic areas in Routt County.
At the present time there is no fee for use of the trails. The Nordic trails are considered part of the city park system and are open to multiple user groups. While the Nordic Center maintains an open attitude toward responsible trail use by the public, these same trails have been part of the Nordic Combined World Cup Cross country course as well as several other high level regional and national Nordic skiing competitions the past several years.
The Howelsen Nordic Center is not a full service touring center at this time. Area users must have there own equipment or rent equipment from one of the full service Nordic centers or shops in the area.
The area operator, Jeff Nelsen, was Chief of Course for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.
Terrain
| Distance of Trails |
21 km |
| Easy |
20% |
| Moderate |
60% |
| Difficult |
20% |
|
;)
