Looking for Copper Mountain Info

[BethL]

I've been skiing Winter Park all season - 38 days. I figure that I really need to ski one of the other resorts on my pass, so DD and I are going to Copper on Sunday. It will be true spring skiing conditions, but the day works for our schedule and I have a friend who will be there (visiting from out of town, so he will not know the mountain). I've only been to Copper one other day (last year); it was a short day, so I do not know the mountain at all. I'm looking for recommendations on where to ski. DD likes bumps and trees - all of the bumps at Mary Jane with the exception of the chutes because I will not take her there. I just do my best to follow. She also likes to go fast on groomers. She led me through "do or die trees" at Mary Jane on our third run yesterday. The name of the trail was enough to scare me! Anyway, just wondering if anyone has suggestions on trails/parts of the mountain to ski on Sunday considering that it's supposed to be sunny and has not snowed since Wednesday? Thanks!

 

[bounceswoosh]

Pinging @pinto @Kimmyt

 

[just jane]

That's my home mountain but I don't ski bumps or trees much! That said, you probably want to check out the Alpine Lift for bumps, and Union Meadows for trees. Also, there should be some good bump runs off of the Sierra Lift.

 

[just jane]

Oh, for fast groomers, the Super Bee lift is loverly. Depending on my mood, I can do laps on Andy's Encore/Rosi's Run all day. If you park in the free parking, take the black diamond bus to east village to get to Super Bee.

 

[Little Lightning]

I imagine the high speed quads will be crowded on Sunday morning. With the warm weather the higher you go the better. Avoid Center Village (blue bus from parking lot). Thurs the lines were pretty full. Alpine might be too low to ski. Thurs. there were bumps on Triple Treat but conditions were pretty hard pack. Unfortunately, with the warm weather you might have to stick to groomers. If conditions are ok runs off of the Sierra lift would be a good place to play. We didn't ski it but it looked like Kaboom was skiing well. They usually groom Golddigger but it takes you back to Timberline. Timberline lift is a popular area with blue groomers but it could be crowded. Thurs. Hallelujah was skiing very well. Conditions were very good on skiers left, some of the bumps you see are actually boulders. The SuperB chair at east village is a 6 pack and that is where you'll find the steeper terrain, also less crowds. Most skiers ski Andy's Encore but right next to it is a run called Collage that goes to the bottom and has fewer skiers. There's a nice ungroomed area between Andy's and Collage that is fun to ski. For great views take the Rendezvous chair. It's a slow chair but the views are awesome. If conditions are lousy in Copper bowl you can take a blue groomer around to the Black Jack chair. It's worth it to see the views. Also, go up the T-bar. It's so pretty up there. You can either ski back down, go into Spaulding Bowl or go straight to Upper Enchanted Forest or LilyG which will take you to Copper Bowl. Buzzard's Roost was good last week too. The Resolution lift has several bump runs but when we were there a few weeks ago the conditions didn't look great. Some of the runs were closed last week but with the new snow they got last week they were reopened. Have fun, Copper is my favorite mountain.

 

[Kimmyt]

I haven't skied Copper in a few weeks so not sure how conditions currently stand. I know they've gotten some snow and I bet the conditions will be variable this weekend. It all depends on how warm it gets. I will actually be at MJ on Sunday, lol, go figure, or else I would offer to join you guys!

@Little Lightning is pretty spot on with her recs. Conditions can be pretty variable depending on exposure and it's very hard for me to predict what will be good vs. not good ( @pinto is better at this) so honestly I usually just try a few different aspects and see how things are softening up. For steeps if the conditions are right I will hang out in Copper Bowl on a spring morning once it's softened a bit, maybe an hour or so after open it might be about right (this varies, some days it seems like it will soften up but it doesn't!). Spaulding bowl can also be good but the different lines get a variety of different exposures so even within a few feet of each other you can get really different conditions. Solitude is the best place to go for lunch, imo, unless you want a sit down restaurant in CV but then you have to deal with crowds. Once things up high and in the sun get a bit sticky it's time to head to the trees, 17 glade by the Bee lift is a great option, Lower E trees and Cache glade are all good fun. Excelerator bump runs are short but tend to get less sun than other areas of the mountain so hold their snow a bit better.

Have fuN!

 

[Kimmyt]

Oh yeah, and don't forget to take a ride up Rendesvouz lift on the way to Copper Bowl and snap a photo of my favorite view at Copper!

 

[BethL]

Wow, great recommendations! Now, I wish I had made the drive to Copper earlier in the year. Thanks!!!

Bike ride in 70 degree temps today and skiing tomorrow. Colorado sure is fun!

 

[just jane]

Heartily thirding the recommendation to take the Rendezvous lift up for the view!

 

[pinto]

oops I got here a little late.... How was it?

Last weekend after all the warm weather, Triple Zero was skiing beautifully. They have been grooming it, and it's the perfect aspect to corn up pretty early. Then Cross Cut (which I usually hate) was also skiing beautifully. But I haven't been to Copper in a week, so not sure anymore.

I have also been to Vail, Monarch, Crested Butte, Aspen, Loveland, ABasin all with the past couple of weeks, and Copper was probably skiing the best of everything, all things considered. Altitude and aspect (and a few huge storms in Nov and Dec) have kept the base quite good. Then, just follow the sun.

 

[BethL]

Thanks for all of the recommendations. Copper was so much fun today! We stayed high, and the snow was good. We did two runs in Resolution Bowl a little too early in the day (crusty snow). DD still loved it, but the bumps in the bowl were a little too much for me. We did runs mostly arounds the Excl lift in the afternoon and even took the t-bar twice - just skied back down and did not try what looked like a bowl at the top. I'm planning to go back next Sunday.

My season so far - 35 days at Winter Park and 1 at Copper. I guess it was time to diversify a little.

 

[just jane]

@pinto, so glad I read your post before we went up yesterday! We hit Triple Zero about mid-morning yesterday and it was already soft, and we looped it 3-4 times before it got completely chopped up. I didn't know they ever groomed any of those runs. It was technically my first double-diamond run, but it wasn't exactly double-diamond conditions so I don't think it counts.

 

[elemmac]

I'm a little late to this party, and only been to Copper once (two seasons ago). But figured I'd share for anyone searching for info in the future...the bloody mary's at Jack's bar are AMAZING.

Also, not sure if they do it anymore, but I had picked up some 2 for 1's at the welcome center in Frisco. They had a full coupon book for $10, and had a bunch of 2-for-1 coupons in it.

Oh, the skiing there was fantastic too! I think we stayed over in the resolution bowl most of the day. Ungroomed, bumps and trees, and killer conditions!