If you've ever made the drive between Interstate 70 and Steamboat on 131 you know the cell phone coverage is patchy. You'll have no signal for miles and then come around a canyon corner and it'll be full on. Similar is the skiing at Steamboat. You'll cut through some trees on a bumpy tracked out run to find steep face shots. Yup, that's what I said.

Just like any mountain that gets called flat, all you have to do is know where to look for the goods, or know somebody who'll take you to them. Fortunately, we had the latter. Local tele-ripper Scott Tracy led us to an early afternoon assault on the countless tree stashes under the Storm Peak chair.

As if hammering the trees at The Boat under four inches of fresh wasn't enough punishment on the ol' quadriceps, we met up with some other locals to make the hike out to Fish Creek Canyon. Following Bill Dowzel and Pecky, we bombed the sweetest, steepest, deepest lines on the tour to date. The Steamboat backcountry is a powdery terrain park and we were jibbing off all the pillows and tree trunks.

Legs thoroughly jellied, we headed over to the Tugboat for some liquid respite in the form of Red Hook ESB. The usual PTTP Tour schwag was awarded to a full house at the Tugboat. Everyone was out to support our cause of raising money for Lift Up of Routt County and to rock out to the guitar styling of The Chris Duarte Group.

The party was a huge success: everybody got into the Powder Video Awards playing on the house televisions and some great prizes were given out to some great individuals. Mike Sannons, a Steamboat local, was low on cash, but full on charity when he bought a raffle ticket. He went home with a brand new customized POWDER Dakine Pro II backpack. That's what POWDER to the People is all about.