Copper 4/2/14 - 4/10/14 --- Mid-winter powder in April

[abc]

Let me try to finish the trip report I abandoned due to hotel computer quirk.

Going to Colorado in April for "spring skiing", I took not my heaviest jacket but the mid-weight one, plus a mid-weight insulated mid-layer. Even took a light weight jacket in case it got into the 50's :wink: Left my insulated ski pants behind and only took a pair of un-insulted shell pants, with a very light weight mid-layer for the bottom.

The weather was such I never use the light jacket even once, and II had to wear ALL of my layers on most days! The plus side of such cold temperature? Fluffy llight snow on many many days!!!


4/2 - sunshine, soft snow

My local friend told me they had some fresh snow the day before. Of course since my flight arrived at Denver at midnight, I didn't make it to the mountain till 11. That's no way to harvest whatever leftover powder there was.

But the snow was soft. Perfect for a warm up run. Forecast was for a good 4-6" overnight. No sense kill my legs the day before the dump...

4/3 - Powder & 1st track!!!

The week before, I missed out on the powder of Stowe because I mis-read the lift opening time. I was determined not to have it happen again this time. I double and triple checked the lift schedule. My local friend was an old hand on that. So she come pick me up with enough time to get first chair. Things were looking good when we parked on the 1st row of the free lot...

As we marched into the lodge to change, I noticed the bottom lift was spinning! WTF? :-o Well, while we never figured out the reason, but there were only people on every 3 chairs. So we gather everybody was just like us, getting ready for the 9am 1st chair. No harm done.

Jumped on the Flyer chair and over to Wilderness area. A quick warm up on the groomer... Well, I mean the run that WAS groomed before the 4" fell on it! So with the 4-5" on the smooth surface, it was silky smooth cream cheeze! Though there were a few tracks, large part of the run was un-touched. My friend cracked me up "I'll let you go first and have the fresh track. I get to do this just about every week this season!" So ripped it I did, laying down tracks as we sped our way to the chair to bring us back up again.

Then we went to her favorite area over by the Sierra chair. I'll let the picture tell the story:

 

[ss20]

How were the blacks? :-D

 

[abc]

4/4 - Left over powder!

Since it's spring, the locals didn't seem to bother with coming early any more. And not being a weekend, the Denverites hasn't gotten there yet. So there's tons of left over powder in the trees, which my friend took me into that aren't too demanding. Oh, that was after we lapped some of the best soft groomer I've EVER skied...

By the time my friend left for work (afternoon shift, great recipe for powder turns and sleep deprivation), my legs were really quite toasted. So a long lunch was in order.

Then realizing this being the first day following the storm Copper run the Tucker cat (snow cat up Tucker mountain). I sped to the waiting area before the cut off time. Short wait later (mid-week, few crowd), into the cat and up to the ridge we went...

The cat dropped us off near the head of the ridge. There's a "short" hike to just get over the knoll. Hiking at over 10,000' on ski boots while carrying ski on one's shoulder is such an affair any length will NOT be "short"! As the group approaches the knoll, some damn clouds moved in from out of nowhere. It didn't quite envelope us on the ridge, but it did block the sun so now the light was so flat I couldn't see how steep the run was. Being near the end of the day's cat operation, I wasn't in a position to wait out the cloud for better visibility. So drop-in I did, rather blindly, into something a lot steeper than I envisioned. It was mostly survival skiing for the few hundred feet of vert until I started to see some vegetation that gave me some definition. The snow, since it's recently fallen and only a few cat-ful of people had been on that mountain, there was plenty of un-touched paths to choose from once I regain some perspective with the trees. But it wasn't the epic fresh powder one imagined. But hey, it's free with a lift ticket. So it's really just inbound skiing, only the "lift" was a cat.

 

[abc]

4/5-6 (Sat/Sun) - whatever was left of the powder, soft groomers late in the day

It was the weekend, which means slightly more people. Still, no line to speak of. This is spring skiing we're talking about. So I slept in, to give the freeze/thaw cycle a chance to work its corn-making magic.

An another storm was in the forecast.

4/7 (Monday) - Another powder day!!!

Overnight, a good 6-8" had fallen!

Initially, my friend and some of her friends were going to Vail. But the snow kept on falling and Vail pass was closed. Rather than risking waiting in the pass wasting the day away, we just hit Copper again! Although the "official" report was for only ~5", the benches and tables shows a much thicker pile of snow!

The group of us went through the same "routine" again, Flyer to Wilderness to Sierra. To my embarrassment, I've managed to fall off the poma and the T-bar once each! Fortunately, there's no line on the drag lifts so I was able to get right back on. We surf some rather healthy thickness of soft fluffy snow all day until my legs could no longer held myself upright

By now, I've had so many powder runs they all blended together. Was it from the first storm? Or the second, more recent one? I really don't recall.

4/8 - Breckenridge

Since my friend had a buddy pass, and it's nearing the end of the season, no sense letting it go to waste. We hit Breck day 2 following a storm. The previous day, the high ridges and all the bowls were in the clouds. So big patches of them went un-touched. Our onlly dilemma was which one to go after first!

In the end, we did a little bit of each bowl and had a blast. The most interesting part was I fell off the traverse while trying to get to Whale's Tail, as I regain my footing, I realize the snow under my skis was better than anywhere else I've found. So I simply pointed my skis down the fall line and had a whole slope of powder to myself!!! Too bad the Imperial lift closes early and we were out of time to do a repeat.

Finding places to eat turned out to be a small challenge since they're slowly closing down the on-mountain food places... Man (or women) can't sustain on powdery snow alone after all!

 

[Savemeasammy]

Sounds like a great trip. Good for you!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Edd]

Nice timing on the trip! Jealous!

 

[bigbog]

killin' me abc......
Think I'll get gear ready for pow out West at any time this summer....

abc's:
>Finding places to eat turned out to be a small challenge since they're slowly closing down the
>on-mountain food places... Man (or women) can't sustain on powdery snow alone after all!

Ahhh, speak for thyself Pilgrim!........lol.

 

[abc]

Top of Breck Peak 6 (or 7?).



(note how big the cornice!)

 

[abc]

4/9, Copper: left over powder, soft groomer & creamy bumps

By now, I figured out the layout of the mountain well enough and how the sun work its magic in turning firm boiler plate (albeit well-groomed) into corn. So I just move with the sun: 1st round to slay the soften-up groomer, east to west; 2nd round, back to east then west slaying the bumps which by then gotten soften into cream cheese!

Half way through my "round", I noticed the wind had came up and dumped a fair layer of fluffy snow on the top part of Union bowl. In my haste to reach it, I failed to notice the poma wasn't actually moving! As I skidded into the loading zone, the liftie sadly informed me (and one other like me) the poma had been on wind hold for a while and probably out for the day! All those freshies that I can't get to, arghhh...


4/10, Breckenridge with an AZ'er

SkiNEwhere had a free ticket for Breck and offered to show my his favorite stashes!

We timed it so perfectly he's the car behind me pulling into the parking lot!!! Sun was out, air was warm. Warmer still is the hospitality of yet another AZ'er I met!

Some people fear slushy pile of snow (including my CO local friend/guide). Others love it. That was the case for both skiNEwhere and I, both of us enjoy cutting through the pile as speed bumps!

He had a knack on figuring out which trail that just gotten soften on a given part of the day. So we basically we cruise the mountain without a care (well, at least I was without a care following SkiNEwhere)!

To "cap the day", he insist we went down an abandoned lift tower line that's got good size bumps. It was narrow enough so traverse wasn't an option. One bump left, next bump right. Don't like to look of the next bump to the left? Well, there's the option of meeting a tree trunk on the right which is even less appetizing! Thankfully it wasn't too long. I wouldn't exactly say I "skied" it. Rather I somehow made it down, one bump at a time for the most part, but without too much drama.

4/11, back to Copper -- more corn on groomer and cream cheese on bumps

Back to my double circuit routine of following the sun to harvest the corn on the groomer and bump fields. I've even found a few "favorite" un-groomed that has the "right sized bumps" for my taste!

Oh yes, I kept an eye on the bowl again, this time the poma was spinning. I did find a few turns worth of fluffy section. The feeling of a "successful hunt" was probably more satisfying than the actual skiing of the fluff I found! (interspersed between the good sections, I also found some manky snow that can compare with the consolidated eastern "chowder" too!) Regardless, I had a fun time.

Interestingly enough, two guys standing on the top of ridge was watching me traversing across the entire width of the bowl then back, dropping in at the corridor I felt had the best snow. Sure enough, they dropped in after me. At the bottom, one of the guy thanked me for taking the time to "test the snow" and showing him the best snow!

This concluded my stay at Copper and I moved to Winter Park for the rest of my trip...

 

[skiNEwhere]

Had a great time skiing with you abc!

Although I wouldn't use the word "insisted", I think the word "compelled" is a better way to describe that scenario

Thankfully that "trail" was only about 50 yards long, max

 

[Cornhead]

Nice TR abc, thanks for the stoke, headed to Boulder in two weeks to deliver my Son"s cat to him. He moved out there about a month ago. A Basin is now 100% open, they plan on staying open til June 1st. I"m tempted to buy a season's pass for next year, only $279. You can ski the remainder of this season on it too. I probably won't though, I can get a three day pass for $139. I don't think I want to be tied to A Basin when I return next Winter to visit my Son. Quite the deal though. My Son bought the Epic Pass for next season.

 

[abc]

I"m tempted to buy a season's pass for next year, only $279. You can ski the remainder of this season on it too. I probably won't though, I can get a three day pass for $139. I don't think I want to be tied to A Basin when I return next Winter to visit my Son.

There're a lot worse places than A-basin for one to be "tied to". And for a mere $140 extra?