EMSC
Well-known member
Prologue: Due to a big week long trip to Steamboat with extended family upcoming, I went with the Colo Intrawest pass this year instead of my usual Vail Inc pass. So this year it looks to be Copper, Winter Park and Steamboat (in addition to Eldora of course).
I can't recall when I last skied Copper for normal skiing. Maybe 10 years ago? I've been there plenty since; but for early snow race camps, Summer ski camps in June, plenty of coaching at races, etc... But haven't gotten more than a couple runs of 'everyday skiing' there in quite a long time.
Main story: Copper reported 3" on Sat and 8" on Sunday and the skiing was pretty good though we only hit a limited section of the hill. Lots of snow squalls, occasional in-the-cloud, and wind being prevalent both days. Specifically getting maybe an inch during the day Sat and despite predictions of huge snowfall, even less during Sunday.
For Sat it was fairly warm except on the upper ridges where the wind was blowing quite good. We hit the super b lift and headed straight to resolution lift which was opening for the year. I figured that that area was probably most sheltered from the prevailing winds. I was surprised at how well things were covered, with a few bones around, but not all that many. Ended up also hitting a couple of laps on the E lift (whatever that is re-named now), and a couple of top to bottom's on Super B to mix it up. With super B runs being typically a bit firm (good for laying it on edge though).
Sunday we did a similar thing, hitting super B to resolution and just lapping that over and over as the snow was so good and soft in there. A lot colder with temps in the single digits. Around 2pm we decided that we were getting hungry, that the temps were falling fast and another round of cloud skiing was coming in... Plus of course being kind of wiped out from having skied only one groomed trail in two days (it is still a bit early for mid-season shape - that's my story and I'm sticking to it). None of the top (storm king, S lift), backside, etc... are open yet so I figure Resolution area was not only more wind protected, but the steepest/best we could hit so far.
Found out that Copper was (are still?) running a screaming deal - could by a day lift ticket plus a '4 pack' for $150. Or $30/day for 5 days! Shows how desperate they are to be selling that in mid-Dec (usually 4 pack sales are done by ~late-oct or so). We never did wander over to any of the other open terrain toward the main village area, timberline lift or etc... So never saw any of the 'big' snowboard comp going on.
Post script: In other summit county news, found out that there is now zero (yes zero) free ski parking in the town of Breck. All free parking is now a long shuttle bus ride down airport road. Especially in this economy, not impressed with that move... Also found out that ~55 of 70-something units in the building going up at the base of peak 8 are already pre-bought at ~$1000/sq ft... despite the fact that real estate sales in Breck generally are WAY down (by >80%+ in Nov for example), and literally hundreds of real estate folks are dropping out of the biz up there...
Took only a couple of pics - the snow/cloud cover was not exactly conducive to it. Took the camera on Sat which was mostly useless, but only cell pics on Sun... Also took way too much helmet video to play with - maybe later this week.
I can't recall when I last skied Copper for normal skiing. Maybe 10 years ago? I've been there plenty since; but for early snow race camps, Summer ski camps in June, plenty of coaching at races, etc... But haven't gotten more than a couple runs of 'everyday skiing' there in quite a long time.
Main story: Copper reported 3" on Sat and 8" on Sunday and the skiing was pretty good though we only hit a limited section of the hill. Lots of snow squalls, occasional in-the-cloud, and wind being prevalent both days. Specifically getting maybe an inch during the day Sat and despite predictions of huge snowfall, even less during Sunday.
For Sat it was fairly warm except on the upper ridges where the wind was blowing quite good. We hit the super b lift and headed straight to resolution lift which was opening for the year. I figured that that area was probably most sheltered from the prevailing winds. I was surprised at how well things were covered, with a few bones around, but not all that many. Ended up also hitting a couple of laps on the E lift (whatever that is re-named now), and a couple of top to bottom's on Super B to mix it up. With super B runs being typically a bit firm (good for laying it on edge though).
Sunday we did a similar thing, hitting super B to resolution and just lapping that over and over as the snow was so good and soft in there. A lot colder with temps in the single digits. Around 2pm we decided that we were getting hungry, that the temps were falling fast and another round of cloud skiing was coming in... Plus of course being kind of wiped out from having skied only one groomed trail in two days (it is still a bit early for mid-season shape - that's my story and I'm sticking to it). None of the top (storm king, S lift), backside, etc... are open yet so I figure Resolution area was not only more wind protected, but the steepest/best we could hit so far.
Found out that Copper was (are still?) running a screaming deal - could by a day lift ticket plus a '4 pack' for $150. Or $30/day for 5 days! Shows how desperate they are to be selling that in mid-Dec (usually 4 pack sales are done by ~late-oct or so). We never did wander over to any of the other open terrain toward the main village area, timberline lift or etc... So never saw any of the 'big' snowboard comp going on.
Post script: In other summit county news, found out that there is now zero (yes zero) free ski parking in the town of Breck. All free parking is now a long shuttle bus ride down airport road. Especially in this economy, not impressed with that move... Also found out that ~55 of 70-something units in the building going up at the base of peak 8 are already pre-bought at ~$1000/sq ft... despite the fact that real estate sales in Breck generally are WAY down (by >80%+ in Nov for example), and literally hundreds of real estate folks are dropping out of the biz up there...
Took only a couple of pics - the snow/cloud cover was not exactly conducive to it. Took the camera on Sat which was mostly useless, but only cell pics on Sun... Also took way too much helmet video to play with - maybe later this week.