Skiing on the cheap - 2018-19

[gregnye]

What's with all the Copper hate? I mean it's obviously not as gnarly as Abasin or Loveland, but I think it really is the best all-mountain skiing in the front range.

Most mountains in colorado seem to either have good trails or good alpine. Never both. Example: Abasin and Breck have good alpine, but the trails (excluding Pali in Abasin) either don't exist or suck. Same with Vail. No one should go to Vail to ski the frontside.

Copper is great because if the bowls are skiing badly just head to the front side and there's a ridiculous amount of vertical off of the Superbee lift.

I've been visitng Copper for a few years. Last year I decided to give Winter park a try. Overall was disappointed. Alpine terrain was either wind-whipped (Panoramic) or not easy to lap (Cirque). Mary Jane area was cool though but if I wanted bump runs I could do that on the Alpine lift at Copper or even the east coast.

The key to Copper is the east village not the main village and definitely not the green/beginner village. Park in free lot and walk 5 minutes. Boom. Easy.

Calling Copper the stratton of Colorado is quite the insult to me. If anything Breck's lower trails (Peak 10,9,8,7) should be considered stratton or Okemo level. It's literally flat. Going there on a day when T-Bar, 6-Chair and Imperial is on wind hold is awful.

 

[Jully]

The Flyer/Eagle trails leading to Center Village definitely do remind me of Okemo. Wide open and lower intermediate pitch that's consistent the whole way down.

I honestly don't find the Super Bee groomers much better. Long flat sections. Kind of like the Olympia area at Winter Park with a bit less pitch.

Comparing Alpine to Mary Jane is a bit of an insult too. Mary Jane is massive with consistent pitch and tremendous variety in bump runs. You can spend two whole days over there and not get bored (assuming you don't get bored with bumps in two days). Alpine has like 3 bump runs that are fun, but not much different from one another (though Black Bear "glade" is one of my favorite tree lined runs anywhere).

Winter Park and Copper are just different. If you go to one and try and compare one to the other you'll 100% dislike it. IMO, if you're looking for bumps or steep trees, go to WP. If you're looking for tremendous variety of advanced level bowls and high alpine, go to Copper. Expert/extreme high alpine is found at neither, go to Abasin or Utah.

I do have to follow abc around Copper's glades sometime though, because I couldn't find much outside of the Reso area.

Signed as someone who likes Winter Park and Utah better than Copper.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Copper sucks. No western area should be so sorely lacking in real deal butthole puckering expert terrain

Place is intermediate to a fault

 

[Zand]

Super Bee is not what it's made out to be. Mostly groomed trails, sheets of ice by noon no matter how good the rest of the mountain is. Reminds me of the Superstar pod but 3 times the size. The vert is cool I guess...smaller than Madonna lift, only a few hundred feet more than ForeRunner or MRG Single. 17 Glade was terrific when I was there, I'll give them that. The two glades between Super Bee and Alpine were real fun...almost like Kinsman. Then you get to pole ACROSS the tubing lanes to get back to the lift at the bottom. Good trail design.

I did like the terrain off of Excelerator lift...some nice little tree shots and bump trails, but they're maybe 800 vert and not all that steep. The stuff off Resolution is good if you like icy bumps...all the trails felt like Hardscrabble at Cannon. Can't believe they didn't cut any glades down there.

Obviously Copper has good bowl terrain but like most bowl terrain it gets skunked quickly on the south side. There was some fun stuff above treeline on the front side too with better conditions. But a lot of it requires riding 2 lifts to get back to it except on the backside.

Other than that, the place is a carbon copy of Stratton. The trails are Stratton-like, the people are Stratton-like, and the crowds are Stratton-like. No matter where you park, you have to walk through a pretentious village to get in (other than Alpine if you get there early enough to park). It's all flat groomers and there's no sugarcoating it. It is what it is, but unless you're looking to bring your intermediate family to a place where they have a lot to explore, there's so much better in the west for a lot less money. And I'll repeat that Union Meadows is literally the biggest sham and waste of time you'll ever see at a ski resort. You get to traverse for 5 minutes out to the "sidecountry", ski some short tree shots that are about as steep as Yodeler Headwall, then traverse back for 5 minutes onto a crowded green trail that goes down to a beginner lift with a 10 minute line, putting you 2 lift rides away from where you want to be.

Don't get me wrong, I had fun while I was there and it was awesome getting fresh tracks in the bowls on a powder day. But other than those bowls and some glades and bump runs all the way to skiers right on the front side, there's nothing there for anyone except the Stratton-type crowd. As far as ritzy family type resorts go, Deer Valley blows it away.

My first lift ride at Copper, the guy on the chair (clearly from Texas or somewhere around there) asked me what I liked to ski and I told him I was looking for some steeps or woods. He says "oh then you'll love Collage!" lol

 

[gregnye]

And I'll repeat that Union Meadows is literally the biggest sham and waste of time you'll ever see at a ski resort. You get to traverse for 5 minutes out to the "sidecountry", ski some short tree shots that are about as steep as Yodeler Headwall, then traverse back for 5 minutes onto a crowded green trail that goes down to a beginner lift with a 10 minute line, putting you 2 lift rides away from where you want to be.

As far as ritzy family type resorts go, Deer Valley blows it away.

I agree with your argument for Union Meadows. That trail sucks. And that Timberline lift is a tourist trap. The key is never going there or Main Village. When I go out west I usually only stick above the treeline, so I'm not usually down there anyway.

 

[Zand]

I agree with your argument for Union Meadows. That trail sucks. And that Timberline lift is a tourist trap. The key is never going there or Main Village. When I go out west I usually only stick above the treeline, so I'm not usually down there anyway.

I heard a couple people gush about making sure to check out Union Meadows so I went over there. Unfortunately that lift is the only way out and after fighting through a hundred people just standing around in front of the lodge and then waiting 10 minutes in line, never went back to that side. The lines in the Main Village were never bad when I was there (start of a holiday weekend) but imagine they've gotten worse with the new lifts.

 

[Smellytele]

The 2 times I sked at Copper I skied off Chief, resolution, alpine and Sierra chairs. Stayed away from Center and West. Just like when you go to Vail you don't ski the front except at the end of the day to get back to the bottom.

 

[prsboogie]

Take the Copper bitch session to a new thread unless someone is giving away ticket to the hated place!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Smellytele]

Take the Copper bitch session to a new thread unless someone is giving away ticket to the hated place!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

agreed even though I am part of the guilty

 

[urungus]

In the interest of keeping things on topic, here is a lame deal for a New England ski area. The printed pocket schedule for the Springfield Mass Thunderbirds hockey team has a BOGO midweek ticket for Blandford.

 

[puckoach]

Cannon's Superbowl Special

Two for $79, one for $52

 

[puckoach]

Bretton Woods - [h=4]The Big Game - February 3rd[/h]

Ski or ride for $53 before cheering on your favorite team or rally a Nordic team of four and get four trail passes for $53!


​

 

[Jully]

agreed even though I am part of the guilty

+1 for me too.

And to that end:

Attitash is offering a $35 all day ticket for all ages on Sunday (superbowl).

That is a much better deal than I remember in the past from them. You have to buy early, but I assume there will probably be tickets available through Saturday.

Game Day Deal - Sunday FUNday All Day - Sunday, February 3rd
Score $35 Tickets All Day long before heading home to watch the big football game that everyone knows we are talking about yet you can't use the word "super" and "bowl" together back to back.

This deal is available in advance online only.

https://www.attitash.com/deals/

 

[Smellytele]

+1 for me too.

And to that end:

Attitash is offering a $35 all day ticket for all ages on Sunday (superbowl).

That is a much better deal than I remember in the past from them. You have to buy early, but I assume there will probably be tickets available through Saturday.



https://www.attitash.com/deals/

So wildcat also, I assume?

 

[Jully]

So wildcat also, I assume?

Yup!

 

[fahz]

Sugarbush
Bring your boo!

We're celebrating our love of skiing and riding by doing our best to share it with everyone on Valentine's Day. Head straight to the ticket window on 2/14 for your $14 all-mountain day lift ticket (significant other not included or required).

 

[soposkier]

$35 Tickets at Sugarloaf on select days. Just booked a 4-day ticket for $140, good timing for an already planned vacation.

https://buy.sugarloaf.com/ecomm/shop/calendar/6537955/en-US/?productcategoryid=117

 

[mgalluzz]

Cannon for $53 on Saturday:

https://www.skinoboundaries.com/latest-news/cannon-on-saturday-february-16th-for-only-53

 

[Mildcat]

Groupon has Crotched Midnight Madness tix for $30 and use coupon code GET50 for 50% off. I haven't tried it but figured I'd post it because $15 sounds like a really good deal. Coupon ends 2/16. https://www.groupon.com/deals/crotched-mountain

 

[180]

Suburban ski has a 50% one item. can often get new 2019 gear