I am going to Copper Mtn 3/19 - 3/26 and I have never been there before. It looks like a very interesting mountain. It has 4 bowls and free snow cat skiing in one of the bowls not to mention some very well laid out terrain. If any one has been there and can provide your sage advice on the skiing, ski trails the wife would like, restaurants, food shopping, drinking establishments, etc, I would most appreciate it.
Tell me what kind of terrain you seek and I might be able to help. In a nutshell (from the bottom looking uphill) the right side lifts access grren terrain, the middle lifts mostly blue, and the far left lfts black. I've never stayed on hill so I have no feedback about lodging, food or activities. For the best of all these visit Breckenridge, which is 45 minutes away..
See if they are running that 2 - 1 special at Shell Gas Stations. We bought 10 gal of gas, went inside the gas station with our pump recpt and grabbed a voucher for buy one get one. Paid 144 at the ticket office and got 2 lift tix - good for same day for 2 people.
Most in my group are groomer cruisers. We spent most of our time on the American Eagle and Timberline Exp lifts. Plenty of blue trails and a few greens. As Bob said the further left you go, the steeper it gets. More challenging blues and blacks near the Super Bee lift.
We did not do the expert area at the Alpine lift or the nor the green areas at the Kokomo and Lumberjack lifts.
If you are off site, we parked in the free lot and took the shuttle to the main area - easy peasy. We ate lunch at the Solitude Station - nice variety of cafeteria style food and a outdoor grill area was open as well. We walked right thru the small village area and there seemed to be a few places to drink and eat on site but I cannot attest variety or quality.
IMO Copper was just as much fun as Vail and Keystone for half the price. Hell, all those places out there are SO much bigger than what we have at home, you can't go wrong.
Enjoy your trip!
My condo is about 100 feet from the Super Bee lift.
snowsmith wrote:
My condo is about 100 feet from the Super Bee lift.
Super Bee accesses Blue and Black terrain. Turn right off the top and you get to the blues. Do a u turn off the top and you have a choice of blue or black, stay left and you're totally black.; There are no greens off of Super Bee. It ties with Keystone Summit quad and Keystone's gondola as the longest lifts in the county -- all three about 2300 feet of vert.
Edit add: most black runs left (east) of Super Bee will be bumped up -- as well as all runs off the two other lifts left of Super Bee. I had the pleasure of doing the only rag dolling of my life off of Resolution years ago. As usual, bowls are at the top.
I will also be heading there around that timeframe! Probably be skiing there 3/18 & 3/19. Heading to Loveland on St Patricks Day on the way in and then hitting A-Basin on the way out 3/21. Definitely looking forward to the free cat skiing at both Loveland and Copper.
Pay attention to the slope reports everyday. About one or two days a week they will groom a double black slope, triple threat I think. I saw a video of the slope and a Copper employee said that slope has one of the steepest pitches on the mountain.
itdoesntmatter wrote:
Pay attention to the slope reports everyday. About one or two days a week they will groom a double black slope, triple threat I think. I saw a video of the slope and a Copper employee said that slope has one of the steepest pitches on the mountain.
Very good to know! There will be at least 1 person in our group who does not mind steep pitches as long as there are no bumps.. She will be happy to hear about this.
powday wrote:
itdoesntmatter wrote:
Pay attention to the slope reports everyday. About one or two days a week they will groom a double black slope, triple threat I think. I saw a video of the slope and a Copper employee said that slope has one of the steepest pitches on the mountain.
Very good to know! There will be at least 1 person in our group who does not mind steep pitches as long as there are no bumps.. She will be happy to hear about this.
It's been few years since I skied Copper, but I newver ran in to any groomed double blacks, however (black) Rosie's Run (the about 700 feet of vert right under the bottom of Super Bee) was always groomed and pleasantly steep.
I'll look for that trail. I am getting a little old to ski bumps anyway. You, I and Itdoesnotmatter should get together for a cocktails or perhaps a few runs.
So glad I cancelled my Killington trip. I would be there today with only 48 trails open, groomed granular crap and rain.
snowsmith wrote:
I'll look for that trail. I am getting a little old to ski bumps anyway. You, I and Itdoesnotmatter should get together for a cocktails or perhaps a few runs.
So glad I cancelled my Killington trip. I would be there today with only 48 trails open, groomed granular crap and rain.
Absolutely! I believe we will be there Friday (18th) and Saturday (19th) for sure.
Sad news to report, a teenage skier was killed on Wed at Copper when he collided wit a tree. Be careful out there! Spring conditions can be tricky with sticky snow surfaces, hard pack near ice from rain and thawing and piles of soft snow/slush. Especially true with the above average temps over east coast and Rocky Mountains. I saw all of this while skiing in Utah for past week. Take care!!!
MorganB
aka The Colonel
Good news - weather forcast for Copper indicates snow nearly every day next week!
Story about Copper accident in ARLnow:
https://www.arlnow.com/2016/03/11/bishop-oconnell-grad-dies-in-ski-accident/
johnfmh wrote:
Story about Copper accident in ARLnow:
https://www.arlnow.com/2016/03/11/bishop-oconnell-grad-dies-in-ski-accident/
That's the third Summit County death of the season. One each at Keyatone, Breck and Copper. All the same: skiers/riders on groomed blues lose control and hit trees - die of blunt force trauma.
It appears we're headed for a "normal" season -- total of 4-6 deaths -- unfortunaly. For a loong time it looked like we were going to eacape the normal carnage -- until death 2 on March 1.
powday wrote:
itdoesntmatter wrote:
Pay attention to the slope reports everyday. About one or two days a week they will groom a double black slope, triple threat I think. I saw a video of the slope and a Copper employee said that slope has one of the steepest pitches on the mountain.
Very good to know! There will be at least 1 person in our group who does not mind steep pitches as long as there are no bumps.. She will be happy to hear about this.
Check out the snow report for today at Copper. Triple Zero (a double black) and Hodsuns Cut is grooomed today. I'll be there in 5 days!
I have skiied a lot of days at Copper It's one of my favorites. I was there this year in early Feb. for the SIA show which held there two day on snow demo event at Copper (by the way the Fisher Ranger 108 and the Voile V6 BC were my favorites of the couple of dozen I tried). Because I usually made only 1 or 2 runs (3 at most) on each ski and the manufacterer tents were between the Flyer and Eagle lifts it meant that I remained on the terrain there for the most part; usually I would spend equal time on the super Bee and the backside, anyway skiing the same runs and so many different skis forced me to focus more than usual which made for some cool discoverys.
A great way to extend those runs is to head left off the American Eagle lift onto Excelerator and ski those Blues and blacks down into the various long blues that return beneath Eagle back to the Center Village.
Also I discovered trees that have always been hiding in plain sight. I used to always head over to Union Meadows, or Enchanted Forest but the trees along the edges and further in out of sight of Bittersweet, Coppertone and Bouncer were pretty amazing. Tight but much more open then things between blacks off SuperBee and Alpine.
By the way the blacks under Alpine are almost always too steep and bumped for my taste.
My favorite lift at Copper is actually the fixed grip double Sierra, the runs arent long but their is a great deal of duck in-and-out, tree clusters and small drop options. (I don't drop much of anything anymore but small rock bands are there.) One of my favorite runs at copper is a little awkward logistically but well worth it. From the top of the Sierra lift go skiers' left down Gold digger and into the top of Jaque's Pique and Copperfield, then lap all those blues and the bordering trees under the Timberline lift. T-rex grill is the best beer on the mountain on a sunny afternoon.
The bars at copper are way too sterile and corporate flash for my taste but the Incline bar is pretty nice and more personable. Of course the Summit stage runs back and forth for free to Frisco till midnight I think, and it's listed schedule is accurate.
Hey that's my input, hope you guys find it useful and have a great time, no doubt about that right?
Oh and if you want to go fast and unimpeded ski down Rosies run first thing in the morning when it is still crisp and firm, it's one of the steepest wide groomers I've ever skied, get your carve on.
Kemper definitely knows his way around Copper, very superior knowledge. Fwiw, I liked staying up high - bowls and excellerator and timeberline. Those long groomed blue and black runs to the base were just kind of boring - I was looking for obstacles and gulleys to break it up. You will quickly find your way around and groove your sweet spots. Good snow year.
Looks like about 2 feet of snow this week so the bowls should be goooooodddd.
^^ and trees man!! that's the time to hit steep and otherwise intimidating trees!!
I'm biased I guess , bowls just remind me of breakfast before school
kemperski wrote:
^^ and trees man!! that's the time to hit steep and otherwise intimidating trees!!
I'm biased I guess , bowls just remind me of breakfast before school
Even then I was looking for the marshmallows in the luck charms.
How was the trip? Any stoke? Any Joy or fun to share as the season here grinds to an ugly halt?
Today was a good powder day. Most of the snow fell east of the Front Range. I-70 was closed from Silverthorne to Denver, 90 miles. Denver got 18"; We received 8-9" at Copper. I got in 4 powder runs off the Super Bee lift this morning (2500' of vert each run) before having to stop to take my wife to the hospital. Would you believe that she fell in the bath tub and broke a bone in her shoulder. It is still snowing and I am guessing we'll get another couple of inches. I really like the mountain layout. I was hoping to hit A-basin but it looks like I'll be skiing at Copper for the remainder of the week so I can check in on the wife. It could be much worse; I could be back in balmy DCSKI. Country. My condo is only about 150' from the Super Bee lift, so it cannot get any more convenient. Copper is a great mountain and I highly recommend it. Conditions have been superb.
Snow smith, Hope the wife is feeling better soon. Ouch!!
MorganB
Colonel - she' doing better. The severe pain is starting to subside. Good news is no surgery required. She of course is upset that she cannot ski. Not sure how I'm going to get all that luggage through the airport with a one armed woman. I do get to be a little more adventurous on the mountain, if there is a bright spot. Still snowing and the hot tub was very nice with the flakes falling on my head.
Thank you for your concern.
Sorry to hear about the wife, hope she recovers quickly.
re: A-Basin, my strong recomendation is to do it on a day with good visibility. at least half the vert is above tree line, and skiing it when visibility is poor makes it a challenge - especially if you don't know the hill. Atl east when skiing below tree line you have reference points to help out. That being said, the Basin is totally different than anything you've skied out East or Copper. Try it if you can.
hope your're wife is well, what a crappy injury... i've had more than my share of experience with busted shoulders
We were there just about the same time as snowsmith. Conditions were epic, fresh snow just about every day. The snow was so soft it made everybody feel like they knew what they were doing in powder.
If you have a sense of humor, see what Kevin Nealon told Conan O'Brien about skiing at Colorado -- Copper Mountain in particular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mptT4YDAsZg
Woody
