xlr8r
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- Feb 7, 2009
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Did a four and a half day trip to Copper this past week skiing Thursday through Monday morning on my MAX Pass. Lucked out weather wise as it snowed about a foot on Monday and Tuesday the 5th and 6th of February, to set up the mountain nicely, and then snowed 10" on Saturday the 10th while I was there. Had some trouble with flights as my original flight out of Boston was cancelled due to the storm on the 7th, so I left earlier to beat that storm, and my flight back was delayed by 3 hours. Otherwise things worked out well on the trip.
Other areas I have been to out west include Whistler, Park City, Canyons, Deer Valley, Alta, Winter Park, Vail, Beaver Creek, and Steamboat. The terrain at Copper is very varied even though it is one of the smaller areas I have been to out west. There are plenty of high alpine above tree line bowls to explore almost entirely ungroomed. Due to it being a down snow year in Colorado, there are still a lot of exposed and hidden rocks to hit in the bowls (I got 2 core shots over the five days). So even though the conditions were great with the fresh snow, the coverage was not fantastic.
Highlights were doing multiple runs in Union Meadows, a large tree skiing area that takes days to be tracked out. Skiing down the steep Union, Copper, and Spaulding Bowls. Ripping big vertical runs off of Super Bee on the official FIS downhill training runs. Taking the Tucker Cat on Sunday to the saddle between Jaque Peak and Tucker Mountain, then hiking up Tucker and skiing down the windblown moonscape of The Nacho. Finally one of my best runs ever hiking along West Union Ridge to ski an untracked run down Iron Mask.
Overall Copper has tons of fun terrain that is not overly skied due to the upper mountain lift layout (most of the best runs take multiple lifts or some hiking to lap). But I think I would rank Copper in comparison to other Colorado areas behind Steamboat and Vail, but ahead of Beaver Creek and Winter Park.
I feel it will probably be a few years until I travel out west again. Maybe I am not in as good of shape this year, or maybe it was the altitude, but my best energy was gone after the first 2 days of Thursday and Friday so I was not in top form for the two best weather days of Saturday (10") and Sunday. Monday morning was just a bonus of some time killing before my flight but by then I was tired enough that I just stuck to groomers that morning. I am so used to skiing hard just 1 or 2 days in a row, that 4-1/2 wiped me out. I probably should have spaced out my energy more and gone a bit easier the first 2 days. After the trip I am going to take this weekend off, but am looking forward to being able to ski with full energy again the following weekend somewhere in New England again.
Thursday morning top of Super Bee
Tucker Cat
Windblown The Nacho
Sunday morning groomer off American Eagle
Spaulding Bowl from top of Excelerator
Other areas I have been to out west include Whistler, Park City, Canyons, Deer Valley, Alta, Winter Park, Vail, Beaver Creek, and Steamboat. The terrain at Copper is very varied even though it is one of the smaller areas I have been to out west. There are plenty of high alpine above tree line bowls to explore almost entirely ungroomed. Due to it being a down snow year in Colorado, there are still a lot of exposed and hidden rocks to hit in the bowls (I got 2 core shots over the five days). So even though the conditions were great with the fresh snow, the coverage was not fantastic.
Highlights were doing multiple runs in Union Meadows, a large tree skiing area that takes days to be tracked out. Skiing down the steep Union, Copper, and Spaulding Bowls. Ripping big vertical runs off of Super Bee on the official FIS downhill training runs. Taking the Tucker Cat on Sunday to the saddle between Jaque Peak and Tucker Mountain, then hiking up Tucker and skiing down the windblown moonscape of The Nacho. Finally one of my best runs ever hiking along West Union Ridge to ski an untracked run down Iron Mask.
Overall Copper has tons of fun terrain that is not overly skied due to the upper mountain lift layout (most of the best runs take multiple lifts or some hiking to lap). But I think I would rank Copper in comparison to other Colorado areas behind Steamboat and Vail, but ahead of Beaver Creek and Winter Park.
I feel it will probably be a few years until I travel out west again. Maybe I am not in as good of shape this year, or maybe it was the altitude, but my best energy was gone after the first 2 days of Thursday and Friday so I was not in top form for the two best weather days of Saturday (10") and Sunday. Monday morning was just a bonus of some time killing before my flight but by then I was tired enough that I just stuck to groomers that morning. I am so used to skiing hard just 1 or 2 days in a row, that 4-1/2 wiped me out. I probably should have spaced out my energy more and gone a bit easier the first 2 days. After the trip I am going to take this weekend off, but am looking forward to being able to ski with full energy again the following weekend somewhere in New England again.
Thursday morning top of Super Bee
Tucker Cat
Windblown The Nacho
Sunday morning groomer off American Eagle
Spaulding Bowl from top of Excelerator
