Olympic Heritage

Steamboat’s skiing heritage began back in the early 1900s, when high-flying Norwegian Carl Howelsen showed locals that skis could be used for fun as well as work at the local ski hill in downtown Steamboat Springs. Today, that local hill, Howelsen Hill, is the oldest ski area in continuous use in Colorado and has the largest and most complete natural ski jumping complex in North America. It's where the likes of six-time Olympian and World Champion Todd Lodwick, the most successful U.S. Nordic combined skier, first snapped on his skis at age 7. It's the training ground of World Champion and four-time Olympian Johnny Spillane, who made history by becoming the first American to win a medal in Nordic combined at the Winter Games and World Championships. It's where Steamboat’s first family of skiing, the Werners, first learned the craft every afternoon after school. And it's the home of the first freestyle camps, The Great Western Freestyle Center, which produced many of the nation’s first freestyle athletes.