Copper, CO 4-12-09

EMSC

Well-known member
A tough, mixed grab bag.

Snowing hard at first, then only up top and intermittently. Eventually a handful of 'spots' of sun. Maybe an inch new at the base (being very generous), but probably on average ~4" up top and blown around just enough to fill in the troughs on the upper mtn. I started with a couple of Spaulding bowl runs which were rather decent (if you skied in the troughs only) - until you hit the resolution cut run which had almost no new snow and total ice bumps underneath. So fun followed by the worst skiing of the year for half of each of those laps.

So I moved on to Copper bowl hoping that there was enough new snow by then to cover the S facing bowl and also that the entirety of the bowl would be high enough to have the full 4". I had a serious white room few minutes getting back there (see pic). It wasn't too great, you did hit bottom on a lot of turns and occasionally hit a random ice lump, but mostly it was reasonably decent (well for me). No way hardly any tourists strayed off of groomers today. Where I was skiing there might have been as many as 30 people total in the whole bowl, so no rush or pressure for skiing fresh lines every run. Eventually I hiked the ridge line to Schaffer's twice - the only two sets of tracks in that section the entire day. Though I did see two people hike further out the ridgeline for no apparent reason (it gets flatter after that and no tracks to cross by there anyway, so?? To each their own).

Anyway Tucker Cat was closed due to the weather and is therefore done for the season as is Copper bowl. Eventually I tried laps on Union bowl which was about the same, but a different face and terrain to hit. I hadn't realized it, but 3pm came up and all the good stuff closed so I headed down in where the lower mtn was an odd mix of new, icy, sticky and even a touch of slushiness. Hitting one last run down A-chair terrain back to the base of Super B where I started.

I may just go to A-Basin or Loveland from here on out.

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I can see the snow line on the left half of the screen.

I realize most folks don't ski in the particular areas where you do, but the resort looks eerily empty of skiiers, especially for a Sunday in a school holiday week.
 
itbeme":2huimfwn said:
the resort looks eerily empty of skiiers

Virtually no tourists or average joe's where I was skiing. Only a handful of us die-hards - I seriously think it was a max of ~30-40 at any one time in the entire Copper bowl/backside area. Not that Copper bowl is really all that 'extreme' or anything, but low visibility, ice underneath, and dealing with your own sluff on the steeper stuff, etc... Lower mtn on the groomers there were some folks, albeit not a lot relatively speaking. And school breaks were in March for Colo. They don't necessarily line spring break up with Easter as many states back East often do.

They also had a band playing in center village when I came to the bottom a little after 3 to a 'crowd' of about 20 - which I'm sure was partly due to the weather (more folks in the village than that, but only about 20 actually paying attention to the band).
 
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