Steamboat Springs

We recently moved a piano in Steamboat Springs that makes for an interesting story. The owner of the piano (a 7′ Mason & Hamlin grand) had moved from Connecticut to a nice condo in Steamboat at the foot of the ski slopes. Her furniture movers wisely left her piano at the base of the first stairway rather than attempt to move it up multiple stairways into her loft where she wanted it to sit. I always commend movers or anyone else who looks at a situation and realizes that they are not capable of moving the piano safely. The worst thing you can do is to try to do something you really can’t do. The piano owner made a few inquiries as to who could move her piano up into her loft and as is usually the case, she was put in touch with us. After discussing the logistics and receiving a number of digital photos of the stairs and landings we set a date for the move. A Mason & Hamlin 7′ grand weighs about 1000 pounds and getting it up to her loft is a job that requires at least 4 men. 3 men fit into the cabs of our trucks. The only solution was to drive 2 vehicles up to Steamboat (150 miles from Denver). So we took one of our trucks and I drove my personal vehicle. The five of us arrived and set about the work of getting the piano wrapped and prepared. We removed hand rails to gain precious inches that we needed to make the very tight turns on the landings. All told, we went up 5 flights of stairs and put the piano “on keys” 3 times. On keys is when a grand piano is stood vertically, like you would stand a couch to make a turn on a landing. We are really “keyboard carriers” when a grand is on keys. The piano is “dead lifted” through the turns and is about the most difficult maneuver we make as piano movers. We got the piano safely up the stairs with no damage to the condo or the instrument, and no one was injured. The owner promised she would never move, but if she did (and she will) she knew who to call to get her piano moved out. We loaded up our equipment and ourselves and drove back to Denver. I’ve moved pianos over 30 years and this one is a record for distance travelled with the number of guys needed to do the job. It’s a satisfying feeling to do a job well.