EMSC
Well-known member
"Hi I'm a tourist" was the theme of the day. From huge numbers of day trippers clogging the roads (30min of added stop & go both UP and back - I should know better... but my ski days are mostly fixed in time so I'm stuck with what I get).
A gorgeous day. Nothing but sun and blue sky with temps in the 20's and little breeze. Lots of folks both from the front range and all over - especially the mid-west... At least those that I happened to talk to. The snow was mostly a firm hard pack with a thin layer of soft on top (that got pushed into tiny bumps on groomers by the end of the day. A few handful of places had enough soft on top to be fun. Parts of Spaulding bowl, union bowl, and Copper bowl.
The Storm King poma was down for repair for at least the last 4-5 days and they were running the snowcats usually used for Tucker mtn instead. That left Tucker to hike only status (not happening by me!). Copper realy needs to dump that poma and replace it with a T-Bar. The silver lining being the very low volume of skiers kept the snow in Spaulding Bowl in good shape.
It never ceases to amaze me how few folks ski the places I do at Copper vs the couple of lifts that have HUGE lines (Timberline for example). I made he mistake of trying out Union Meadows for my first time ever a bit too early in the afternoon which dumps you all the way down at Timberline - oops. Even the singles line was way out of the pen and slow moving. Union Meadows is meh. Mostly low angle with a couple of very short pitches. It takes a long traverse to get there so at least the snow is kept pretty good and some 'untracked' left in there (all of 3").
All in all not a bad day considering it's still December and 100% of the place is open on a good base that is more like mid-February. A couple, but very few hazards left to avoid (other than the obvious stuff that never gets covered).
A lot of panoramic pics mixed in for ya.
A gorgeous day. Nothing but sun and blue sky with temps in the 20's and little breeze. Lots of folks both from the front range and all over - especially the mid-west... At least those that I happened to talk to. The snow was mostly a firm hard pack with a thin layer of soft on top (that got pushed into tiny bumps on groomers by the end of the day. A few handful of places had enough soft on top to be fun. Parts of Spaulding bowl, union bowl, and Copper bowl.
The Storm King poma was down for repair for at least the last 4-5 days and they were running the snowcats usually used for Tucker mtn instead. That left Tucker to hike only status (not happening by me!). Copper realy needs to dump that poma and replace it with a T-Bar. The silver lining being the very low volume of skiers kept the snow in Spaulding Bowl in good shape.
It never ceases to amaze me how few folks ski the places I do at Copper vs the couple of lifts that have HUGE lines (Timberline for example). I made he mistake of trying out Union Meadows for my first time ever a bit too early in the afternoon which dumps you all the way down at Timberline - oops. Even the singles line was way out of the pen and slow moving. Union Meadows is meh. Mostly low angle with a couple of very short pitches. It takes a long traverse to get there so at least the snow is kept pretty good and some 'untracked' left in there (all of 3").
All in all not a bad day considering it's still December and 100% of the place is open on a good base that is more like mid-February. A couple, but very few hazards left to avoid (other than the obvious stuff that never gets covered).
A lot of panoramic pics mixed in for ya.
