Steamboat Springs Winter Festival Fantastic!

February 3, 2018

I felt for sure I would freeze to death at the Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival in Colorado.  Minus-1-degree temperatures will do that to a body!  The spectacle was fun and lively, and I wanted to go to all the events, but when my fingers began to stick to the camera, visions of hot chocolate were all that was on my mind.  The spectacular show included the most powerful fireworks ever ignited.  The skiers came downhill with lights attached to their bodies,  and the young boys pulled by cowboys on horseback on the streets of “Steamboat” made Skijoring, as it’s called, seem like a breeze.  And there WERE breezes — mighty-cold ones!

Above: Colorfully attired skiers and snowboarders carrying flares and LED (light-emitting-diode) lights descend Howelsen Hill en masse prior to a dazzling fireworks show — one of the largest in the United States — during the “Warmth of Winter” exhibition at the annual Winter Carnival. (Carol M. Highsmith Library of Congress America Collection)

The fireworks extravaganza capped off the “Warmth of Winter” exhibition.  (Carol M. Highsmith Library of Congress America Collection)

Scene from a frigid street rodeo, part of the annual Winter Carnival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. As of 2015, the five-day event, first staged in 1913, stood as the oldest winter carnival west of the Mississippi River. (Carol M. Highsmith Library of Congress America Collection)