Copper Mountain, CO (March 2002) – Peeling
back the curtains, a kaleidoscope of light patterns played upon the otherwise
pitch-dark slopes above the new village, emanating from a series of high-powered
projectors perched atop 30-foot high wooden poles. Further up the mountain,
snowcats purred as they prepared the features in the terrain park. Below,
the occasional strolling couple or small group of revelers wandered past on
the quiet sidewalks, generally going to or coming from the resort’s brand-new
Indian Motorcycle Café. Construction fencing in the pedestrian circle below
surrounded some new structures that somehow resembled a miniature Stonehenge.
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This is the new face of Copper Mountain, or at least of its
base. Intrawest is enacting sweeping change at lightning speed, adding cohesion
to the existing hodge-podge of condos and turning them into a “village” in
the way that seemingly only Intrawest can. The Canadian developer is adding
dining, retail, and still more condominiums – complete with underground parking
– to the Summit County resort to augment the village’s long-standing anchor,
Club Med. The entire development is anticipated to total $450 million over
five to ten years.
Copper’s base is now divided into three sectors: the New Village
at the mountain’s core, Union Creek at the west end serving primarily novice
and low intermediate terrain, and the East Village below much of the mountain’s
advanced and expert terrain. No fewer than 22 lodging properties already
populate the New Village, combining with existing properties in the other
two sectors. At the conclusion of the initial real estate sales blitz, Intrawest
Senior Vice President of Marketing Michael Coyle emphasized the speed at which
the project was realized. “We didn’t just launch four buildings this month,”
he said, “we launched a resort.”
The day skier drops further and further down the food chain
– as it does with many of these projects – and is forced to park further and
further from the lifts, except for the select few willing and able to obtain
a close-in parking spot for a hefty price. This is a bold move on Intrawest’s
part, when one considers the proximity of the sizeable Denver drive-up market,
a mere 78 highway miles to the east.
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Endo’s Adrenaline Cafe sports a climbing-wall ceiling |
Intrawest’s departure from the norm for this project, however,
centers on their theme for Copper. Aiming dead-on for Denver’s fast-paced
and outdoors-minded population of young urban professionals, Intrawest has
infused Copper’s new village with high-tech high-alpine touches throughout.
From ice axe handle light fixtures to climbing wall holds adorning the ceiling
in their new restaurant, “Endo’s Adrenaline Café,” Intrawest wants their guests
at Copper to feel – and embrace – the high-energy charge from the natural
high of the great outdoors. They hope to create a brand image to carve out
their niche along the Front Range, to create an identity for a resort that
seems to have more or less lacked one for its entire existence.
Copper has even dedicated 10,895 square feet to bring these
yuppies into the mountains for their meetings at a brand-new Copper Conference
Center, in the New Village at the foot of the American Flyer lift. Copper’s
new high-tech theme extends to the facility’s state-of-the-art WorldCom Communications
Center, complete with computers, color copy machines, conferencing capabilities,
Internet access and email ports for conference attendees and the general public
alike.
Still, as I re-closed the curtains to bed down for the night,
I couldn’t help but feel that the funky light patterns seemed woefully out
of place.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SKIING, STUPID
Dawn brought another day, and to my relief very little has changed
on the mountain at Copper since my last visit more than a decade ago. Sure,
they’ve expanded into bowls on the mountain’s backside, and naturally lifts
have been upgraded, but the mountain is still Copper’s claim to fame.
“Copper has always had a great mountain and a lousy village,”
acknowledged the resort’s Communications Director, Ben Friedland. Regarding
three of Copper’s closest neighbors, Friedland added, “It used to be that
Keystone is where you go to stay, Breckenridge is where you go to party, and
Copper is where you come to ski, but now we were moving more towards having
Copper be the not only the place to ski, but the place to eat and party as
well.”
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Click on either image to open a full-size map in a
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The main face of Copper has a unique layout in that the further
west you travel, the easier the terrain becomes, and conversely the further
east along the mountain you ski, the steeper the slopes fall away. It’s a
natural progression that easily separates the learners from the experts, to
the advantage of both. There’s also little cause for concern among novices
that they’ll accidentally end up atop a run too steep for their fledgling
abilities.
This was mid-December, and snow depths were not yet sufficient
to allow exploration of much of the mountain. Skiing was only available on
the resort’s front side, and the high-alpine areas of Union Bowl and Spaulding
Bowl were not yet ready to allow the first sliders of the season – a pity,
because the former, along with Upper Enchanted Forest, allows for steep high-alpine
experiences with easy lift access. In fact, the Storm King surface lift on
Copper Peak provided via Hallelujah Ridge the only open and available above-treeline
skiing.
What was available, however, provided more diversity than many
resorts can at full operation. Steep moguls under the Alpine lift turned
my legs into pistons, with knees and hips flexed to absorb each bump’s compression.
After enough of that, relaxed cruising could be found by heading further west
on Andy’s Encore and Main Vein, serviced by a pair of high-speed detachable
lifts. Quiet solitude could be found in the relatively narrow confines of
Far West and Retreat, dropping into the nearly deserted green-and-blue pastures
of the Timberline Express detachable quad.
When open, the backside of Union Peak and Copper Peak constitute
two separate pods of open bowl skiing, collectively known as the “Bowls of
Copper.” Three separate lifts provide easy access to and fro, but for solitude
traverse far to skier’s right onto Tucker Mountain, where the steeps of The
Nacho, The Taco, West Taco and Fremont Glades await. The solitude won’t last
forever, though, as future plans call for lift installations in the Tucker
Mountain region.
If Copper’s skiing has a weakness, it’s snowfall, and during
the early season the difference between the east and west sides of Vail Pass
can be remarkable. This past December was no exception, when the snowpack
seemed to double in the 16 miles between Copper Mountain and Vail.
EASE OF ACCESS
Driving to ski doesn’t get easier than it does at Copper. Much
like at neighboring Vail, I-70 virtually runs smack dab through the resort.
Just be prepared for the typical winter weekend crush to return to Denver
on the Interstate after skiing. Rapid growth in the Denver Metro area and
a twisting Interstate descending through tight canyons from the Eisenhower
Tunnel all the way to the city often mean Sunday-night parking lots starting
up high in Georgetown.
IF YOU GO:
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The New Village at Copper Mt. |
Dining Out and Après-Ski:
Catch the spirit of adventure while downing après-ski spirits
of your own at Endo’s Adrenaline Café in the ground floor of the New Village’s
Mountain Plaza. They’re also serving lunch and dinner.
The Indian Motorcycle Café at Copper is the company’s first
stateside location. The restaurant touts contemporary cuisine in a casual,
comfortable setting. Stop in for dinner or shoot some pool at the billiard
tables.
Molly B’s has been reborn JJ’s Rocky Mountain Tavern, with 10
beers on tap and drink specials during Monday Night Football (around here,
you’d better be rooting for the Broncos!).
The Kiva inside Club Med is Copper’s fine dining experience
in a Southwestern setting. A lunch and dinner buffet is also available at
the Club Med facility.
Snowbridge Square’s Salsa Mountain Cantina will cure your south-of-the-“boarder”
cravings for enchiladas, burritos and margaritas.
Other Activities:
Copper boasts a snow tubing hill serviced by its own surface
lift, open in one-hour sessions until 8 pm Friday and Saturday nights, and
until 7 pm the other five nights per week. Advance purchase of tickets is
strongly recommended as each session is limited to 75 riders.
Sleigh rides are available, in both the two-horse and the 150-horse
variety. Listen to the horse’s braying or the whine of a two-stroke – the
choice is yours. Horse-drawn sleighs are also available to take you to a
cozy miner’s tend in the woods for an old-West meal complete with entertainment.
The Copper Mountain Athletic Club is home to an indoor pool,
an exercise and weight room, yoga and fitness classes, massage, indoor and
outdoor tennis, an indoor driving range, racquetball and wallyball. Spas,
steam rooms, saunas and massages are also available. Club access is free
to most guests who book their vacations through Copper Mountain Lodging Services,
or daily passes are available for $10 each.
Finally, consider a peaceful afternoon in the woods wading through
bubbling brooks and streams on a guided winter fly fishing expedition.
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