The Powder Concierge: My Love Letter to Skiing

Why I created a community built on local knowledge, better trips, and a shared love of the mountains.

I have been skiing for almost as long as I could walk, which is an unusual thing to say when you are from St. Louis, Missouri.

I have my dad to thank for that. When he was young, his parents sent him to Steamboat with a group over school breaks. He fell in love with skiing and, years later, made sure we had the chance to fall in love with it too. My sister and I learned at Boyne Highlands, near Harbor Springs, Michigan, in its Austrian-American ski school in the early 2000s. Once we could make it down the hill, we spent plenty of time at nearby Nub’s Nob, the local favorite.

My dad got bored on beach vacations. We went skiing instead.

Those trips took us all over the world, from northern Michigan to Steamboat, Sun Valley, Sunday River, and Kitzbühel. I didn’t realize until adulthood, how fortunate we were to grow-up skiing at world-class resorts.

By high school, I was watching USC ski club videos on YouTube for hours. I am fairly sure I knew more about their ski trips than their academic programs.

College took me to Dallas instead, and for a while skiing became something I did only on breaks.

Then I took a January term course in Taos, New Mexico. Part of the program involved skiing with an instructor, something I had not done since childhood. I loved the challenging terrain and seeing how much my skiing improved. The trip reminded me that there was so much I could still learn, and I came home wanting to get better and ski as often as possible.

A few years later, in March 2022 while I was in my second year of Teach for America in Dallas, I went to Steamboat with friends. This trip set in motion how I would transform my life. One night, while at a bluegrass show at Schmiggity’s, a thought hit me: I’m going to live here next winter.

I said it to myself before I had any idea how to make it happen.

By December 2022, I had almost given up on my dream of moving to Steamboat for the winter. I had no one to move with and didn’t know anyone that lived there. I pushed through my hesitation and found a roommate through a locals’ Facebook group. I had not met her, seen the condo in person, or secured a job. Steamboat was still hiring ski instructors for its final January new-hire group. I got a spot, packed up my life in Dallas, and drove.

I cried for most of the two-day drive. I was moving to a place where I did not know a single person, toward a home I had never seen. I told myself that even if I did not make one friend, at least I would get to ski every day.

I came for the skiing, but the people I met through ski school changed my life’s trajectory. I made lifelong friends who made Steamboat feel like home and opened my world to possibilities I had not imagined when I made that drive alone.

I also discovered how much more there was to learn. During my first season, I took every instructor clinic I could fit in before work. If I was not in a clinic, I was skinning uphill before lifts opened. I worked on my technique, started learning about backcountry, and looked forward to seeing how far I could take my skiing.

Teaching showed me another side of the sport. Someone can arrive at a lesson nervous about the equipment, the lift, the slope, or simply being the least experienced person in the group. A few hours later, they make turns they couldn’t imagine that morning. Sharing their excitement was my favorite part of the job. When someone comes on a ski trip, as an instructor you have no idea what battles they are facing in their personal life. Skiing is so much more than learning a new skill. It teaches confidence, resilience, patience, appreciation for the world around you. It honestly just teaches you about life.

Steamboat changed the way I spent my time off, too. I toured at Mt. Hood, fell in love with Mt. Bachelor and the Pacific Northwest, skied Canadian Ikon resorts on a road trip, went heli-skiing in Chile and Canada, and joined a ski touring retreat in Norway.

Every trip brought discoveries I could not have found by looking at a trail map or social media. At Mt. Hood, I learned about skinning toward Illumination Rock on the summer solstice. In Chile, I developed a new appreciation for a T-bar and learned what a tropical Red Bull was. In Steamboat, events like Cowboy Downhill and Texas Week reminded me how much a mountain’s character lives beyond its runs.

I wanted to bring those details home and share them with everyone. I also kept thinking about how easily I could have missed them.

That is true for the little things, like a local’s favorite place to stop after skiing, and for decisions that shape an entire trip. How do you choose a resort where everyone in your group will have a good time? Which pass should you buy? Do you bring your skis overseas? If you are planning a heli-skiing trip, how do you know whether the terrain and lodge experience are actually what you want? Who do you ask before booking a guide in a place you have never been?

The best ski days can feel effortless, but planning one often requires knowledge that people who grew up around the sport take for granted. After moving to a mountain community, I realized that even my friends who grew up skiing but only ever visit resorts, have so much learn about the sport. I grew up skiing, taught it professionally, and still want to talk to someone who knows a destination better than I do before I book a trip.

That is the idea behind The Powder Concierge. I want to connect skiers and snowboarders with locals, instructors, guides, and people who love a place enough to share what they know. I am creating the guides I wish I’d had when planning my own trips: useful, honest, full of personality, and willing to answer the questions you might feel silly asking. Whether you are just getting in to the sport or a pro seeking out new destinations, we provide technical and thoughtful advice for all levels.

When I started building this, I wondered whether I was the right person to do it. I am turning 29 in November. I do not have a lifetime career in the ski industry. What I do have is a lifelong love of skiing, experience teaching people who are new to it, and a habit of asking a lot of questions. I love bringing people together. If I do not know the answer, I want to find someone who does.

Part of what keeps drawing me back to skiing is that I will never run out of things to learn. New places and snow conditions, new skills and traditions, and people whose way of experiencing a mountain might change my own. I founded The Powder Concierge as a place for skiers and snowboarders to share that curiosity, along with the knowledge and recommendations they have gathered along the way. The best recommendations come from people who are excited for someone else to have a great day out there.

The Powder Concierge is my love letter to skiing: to the people who taught me, the friends I met because I took a chance on Steamboat, and the places I am still hoping to discover. I hope it becomes a place where we can share our favorite trips, ask better questions, and pass along the kind of recommendation that makes someone say, “I’m so glad we went.”

What mountain, trip, or person changed the way you experience skiing or snowboarding? These stories are what The Powder Concierge is built on.