Steamboat Springs — At 8 a.m. we wait.

Anxious and restless, the morning coffee starts to kick in. That perfect song selected, awaiting its cue. Echoing throughout the crowd are hoots and hollers for a day we’ve been waiting for all season.

A powder day in the ‘Boat.

On Thursday, the snow spirits granted Steamboat powder hounds a fresh, 20 inches of untouched, Champagne powder.

A town meeting of locals had commenced as friends greeted one another, and one of the “lifties” exclaimed, “first row!” Boarding the lift, each one of us had that same glimmer in our eyes in anticipation for what the morning would hold.

Guiltlessly, we postpone our busy work schedules in the pursuit of the absolute pleasure of gliding down a cloud of snow, covered from head to toe in the fluffy goodness.

While I won’t give away undisclosed pockets of secret powder stashes, I will say, Closet and Shadows — wowza. I’m still daydreaming about the plush snow underfoot — and the quad burn afterwards.

What is it about a powder day that locals love so much?

We all have our reasons. And of course, the answers vary depending on who you talk to.

For me?

It’s the freedom to escape. To make my own path through the untouched, sparkling powder — floating on a cloud of perfect snow. The soft, pillowy powder cushions the bumps and smoothes out the irregularities that marked the runs a week ago.

There’s a rarity in the experience of a powder day like Thursday — a utopia of uncovered snow pockets waiting to be explored. It’s almost indescribable as if you’ve awakened from a dream, back at the lift surrounded by friends who also smile in disbelief.

“No friends on a powder day” is a locals’ saying I now thoroughly understand.

Wait for no one. There are turns to be made and fresh tracks to be discovered.