{"id":32213,"date":"2018-04-11T08:23:29","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T15:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=32213"},"modified":"2020-05-22T13:06:28","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T20:06:28","slug":"meet-powderchaser-steve-the-online-weather-forecaster-whose-boss-doesnt-know-he-chases-storms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/meet-powderchaser-steve-the-online-weather-forecaster-whose-boss-doesnt-know-he-chases-storms","title":{"rendered":"This Guy Chases Storms Like a Boss"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 5pm on a Monday in March, and Powderchaser Steve is tired. He just got home from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, chasing his sixth straight deep powder day at his fourth resort in three states. When he left his home in Boulder at 4am this morning, he was still half asleep. Seventeen inches of fresh, light powder woke him up. Just as 20 inches of fresh snow had woken him up the prior morning at Snowbird, Utah, and before that, three consecutive deep-snow mornings dragged him out of bed at Mammoth and Squaw Valley, California.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today was good but not perfect\u2014too many people on the hill, says Steve, a snowboarder who declines to give his full name out of fear that his boss might recognize him. (Despite the fact that he still performs his professional duties, he says, he often works at odd hours and figures it\u2019s best that his boss doesn\u2019t know he chases storms.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Steve organizes his entire life around scoring fresh tracks. He works as an outside sales rep for a healthcare company, though his job seems like more of a footnote given his lifestyle. He founded <\/span>Powderchasers.com<\/span><\/a> a decade ago and writes \u201cThe Chase\u201d report on the weather forecasting site <\/span>OpenSnow.com<\/span><\/a>. He spends three hours a day researching where to find deep snow and up to 40 days a winter chasing storms across the West. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how I\u2019ve gotten away with it, but none of my bosses have ever known about this,\u201d he says. As for why he takes the chance that his employer might find out, Steve says the reward far outweighs the risk. \u201cIt\u2019s all about the endorphins you get from that first, deep powder run. I will literally chase for one run.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The 57-year-old son of a cancer researcher, Steve grew up in the suburbs outside of New York City, where he began a lifelong fascination with snow. He started chasing storms in high school, often booking last-minute flights to Colorado if he saw a potent storm approaching. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Steve loads up his car for the next chase.<\/p><\/div>\n

Today, thanks to modern technology like social media and online weather forecasting tools, it\u2019s easier than ever to predict what a storm is going to bring. It didn\u2019t used to be so easy, chasing powder. Before live web cameras and, well, sites like his that provide a blueprint for how and where to find deep snow, powder chasing was \u201cway better,\u201d Steve says. <\/span><\/p>\n

Back in the day, Steve kept a little black book with ski-town phone numbers for every gas station that stayed open after midnight and every hotel with a night auditor. \u201cI would call them in the middle of the night and have them tell me exactly how much snow was outside their door in exchange for a six-pack,\u201d he says. \u201cI even had the number for the Eisenhower Tunnel and a Colorado Department of Transportation shed at the base of Rabbit Ears Pass. I would dial that number until finally somebody would answer, because when they\u2019re out plowing they\u2019re not in there. Then the guy would tell me there was 11 inches on the pass, or whatever it was.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now he splits his time between Park City, Utah, and Boulder, Colorado. \u201cBetween those two places, I can chase anywhere in the West,\u201d he says. \u201cFrom Utah you can chase to Jackson or Targhee in four and a half hours. I do that a lot. You can chase to Squaw in nine or 10 hours. You can be in Colorado in five hours.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lest one confuse storm chasing with road tripping, keep in mind that Steve travels halfway across the country on a whim\u2014oftentimes just for one day. He masters airline booking (and rebooking) policies and keeps spare gear in a storage shed in Seattle so he doesn\u2019t always have to fly with ski gear. He abides by a strict set of self-imposed policies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got to be double digits,\u201d he says, referring to the new snowfall. \u201cThis year was an anomaly, so I was chasing six inches sometimes. But usually the minimum is 10 inches. The snow quality needs to be good. I\u2019m not chasing storms that are extremely dense. I don\u2019t want to sound like a snob, but I\u2019m not going to chase a storm with a freezing level at the base of the mountain. And I\u2019m not going to chase a storm with excessive winds, because winds could keep the mountain closed or mess up the snow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, any powder chaser must be prepared for what he calls The Big Letdown, where a storm doesn\u2019t deliver on its forecast. It happens sometimes, though less frequently now than a decade ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

He somehow manages to keep his day job while dropping everything to score a powder day. Steve once dialed into a work conference call from the hill, handed his phone to a liftie, rode up the chair and took a run, then asked the liftie for an update when he reached the bottom. Despite how heavily powder hounds rely on forecasts like the ones he writes\u2014along Colorado\u2019s Front Range, for example, weekend warriors often save their sick days to chase weekday storms\u2014he doesn\u2019t worry that his storm-chasing reports will lead to overcrowding and thus ruin the experience for him or anyone else. Because even if he shut down his site, others would fill the void, he says. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, he spends his time poring over weather models and searching for the next deep day, wherever it may be. \u201cFor the ultimate run,\u201d he says, \u201cit\u2019s every bit worth it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 5pm on a Monday in March, and Powderchaser Steve is tired. He just got home from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, chasing his sixth straight deep powder day at his fourth resort in three states. When he left his home in Boulder at 4am this morning, he was still half asleep. Seventeen inches of fresh, light […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":32217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[727,59,265,364,145],"internal-tag":[1683],"class_list":["post-32213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-snowsports","tag-latest-posts","tag-ski","tag-snowboard","tag-snowsports","tag-weather","internal-tag-pre-redirect-snowsports"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/meet-powderchaser-steve-the-online-weather-forecaster-whose-boss-doesnt-know-he-chases-storms","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"This Guy Chases Storms Like a Boss","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/meet-powderchaser-steve-the-online-weather-forecaster-whose-boss-doesnt-know-he-chases-storms","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/meet-powderchaser-steve-the-online-weather-forecaster-whose-boss-doesnt-know-he-chases-storms"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/04\/Powderchaser-Steve.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/04\/Powderchaser-Steve.jpg?fit=4032%2C2515"},"articleSection":"Snowsports","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["latest posts","ski","snowboard","snowsports","weather"],"dateCreated":"2018-04-11T15:23:29Z","datePublished":"2018-04-11T15:23:29Z","dateModified":"2020-05-22T20:06:28Z"},"rendered":"