A moose on the ski slopes of Steamboat turned heads recently, including catching the eye of a vacationer with a video camera.
“It was cool,” said Ben Satterfield of Tennessee, who was with his family at the resort and took the video. “I was amazed. I’ve been skiing all my life and had never seen anything like it.”
Satterfield and about 100 other skiers were at the slope base Feb. 12 enjoying a collective après-ski moment when people started screaming “Moose! Moose!”
The moose came out of a parking lot, crashed through a plastic mesh fence and trotted upslope. That’s when Satterfield trained his camera on it.
“You just never know what’s going to happen when a wild animal — a moose — shows up,” he said.
For the most part, skiers on camera at Steamboat did the right thing, giving the moose plenty of space and not trying to get too close or aggressively interact with it.
“They’re a larger animal, and they are not typically afraid of people,” Randy Hampton, a Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman, said of moose. “Because of their tolerance, people can sometimes get too close.”
Last ski season, an injured moose at the Steamboat ski area had to be killed by wildlife officials after it became too aggressive with people, he said.
Steamboat, as well as most other ski areas in the state, is on National Forest Service land, and it’s not uncommon for wildlife — including deer, elk, fox, coyotes and even an occasional bear — to amble through.
“We are sharing their home with them; we have to be respectful of them,” said Loryn Kasten, a Steamboat spokeswoman. “They are just out there trying to enjoy their day as well. Respect the wildlife, and understand their role.”
Satterfield and his family visit Steamboat every year because he has a brother who lives there.
The moose sighting — and the video he posted on YouTube — was the crowning of a great ski vacation, he said.
“It was one of those things, probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said. “I was just glad it worked out well and nobody got hurt.”
