• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Question: Beaver Creek, Vail, Copper Trip Planning Advice Requested

SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Hello Divas! Early next month (Feb) I have a chance to get away for three days of skiing with my husband. We will spend two days at Beaver Creek with our friends who have offered us free lodging there. Our last day (which will be a Tuesday) we will be on our own. We are Ikon (not Epic) passholders. I am trying to decide if I buy three days of Epic day passes and we ski another day at Beaver Creek (or down the road at Vail???) or whether to just buy two days and pop over to Copper (or maybe A-Basin... although it’s a bit farther away) and ski the last day on our Ikon pass as we make our way back to the Denver area to fly out. While I don’t mind spending a bit in lifts (the generous offer to stay free with our friends sure helps) I want to feel I made a choice that was “worth it”. I am an upper intermediate skier and enjoy trying easy trees (loved the green trees off High Lonesome at Winter Park) and easier bowls (had lots of fun at Breckenridge on peak 6 during my first bowl experience last season). DH is advanced (IMO) and enjoys bowls but hasn’t skied them a lot. We have skied 1 day at Copper and 1 day at A-Basin tacked onto other trips before and enjoyed both but don’t know either area well. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
We are Ikon (not Epic) passholders. I am trying to decide if I buy three days of Epic day passes and we ski another day at Beaver Creek (or down the road at Vail???) or whether to just buy two days and pop over to Copper (or maybe A-Basin... although it’s a bit farther away) and ski the last day on our Ikon pass as we make our way back to the Denver area to fly out.
From what I know of Beaver Creek, two days is enough. I suggest using Ikon for the third day. Make a decision between Copper and A-Basin based on weather. A-Basin is easier to explore with decent visibility from what I remember. Only been there once and that was before they opened new advanced/expert terrain. My ski buddy and I were following a friend (from DC) who knew where to go so my memory is fuzzy about trails.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Well, all you got from me was my opinion, but you're totally welcome! I hand that out a lot!
Your opinion matters more than mine in this case because you've skied both places. I've skied with @SarahXC but have only read about Copper and driven to look the base area once. I tend to avoid Colorado in favor of places that are harder to reach from a travel standpoint. Hoping that @BlizzardBabe will report on her trip to Copper.
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
Your opinion matters more than mine in this case because you've skied both places. I've skied with @SarahXC but have only read about Copper and driven to look the base area once. I tend to avoid Colorado in favor of places that are harder to reach from a travel standpoint. Hoping that @BlizzardBabe will report on her trip to Copper.
Possibly, but people like such different things for skiing that my opinion could be exactly opposite of what she likes, too! I will say, I could be happy at Beaver Creek for three days but I really like it there and there's still places I haven't gone there (i.e. Grouse Mountain Express Lift). And I really, really like Copper, too. Dislike Vail, and haven't spent enough time at ABasin. So, part of my vote was based on that, but part was also based on the fact that I think it's nice to get a head start back to Denver.
 

Little Lightning

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Deal from strength. If the weather tells you that you need to get down to Denver early you won't lose a $100+ lift ticket. Copper or A-Basin will also put you an hour closer to the airport.

I'm planning on being at Copper next week, probably Monday-Thursday.
 

SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@Jenny — opinions are exactly what I was requesting. Of course there is no one size fits all in skiing but thoughts from someone who has been there are so helpful!

@Little Lightning —I hadn’t even considered the possibility of extra travel time. Thanks for pointing that out! Will be the week after next we are out...

@marzNC — look forward to skiing together again! I have had a few more lessons and some days under my belt. Was showing another gal that garland drill where I had my right ankle breakthrough just today when we were free skiing after the Women on Wednesday class.
 

Little Lightning

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
One less mountain pass between you and DIA. Copper is my home mountain so I'll probably be there that week too.
 

LPski

Diva in Training
I just did a quick weekend trip to Copper and loved it! I flew into Denver and took a shuttle to the mountain and stayed in the East Village.

Copper has East, Center and West Villages and a super easy and free shuttle bus that will get you around between the Villages if needed. The conditions/snow were fantastic!

I think you said you're ending your trip mid-week so that should bode well for traffic. My trip in the shuttle down the mountain to the airport on a Sunday took 4 hours (yikes) with a 3 PM pick-up. And that was with the shuttle driver using the toll lane and other small tricks.

The altitude kicked my butt (I traveled from New Orleans), lots of huffing and puffing, so I stuck to runs out of West Village.

I really thought it was an easy mountain to navigate with friendly people working there and great skiing!

Have fun wherever you end up! I'm heading back to CO for a Winter Park trip over President's Day and can't wait!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Have fun wherever you end up! I'm heading back to CO for a Winter Park trip over President's Day and can't wait!
Hope you'll do a trip report. If all goes according to plan, I'll be checking out Winter Park in mid-Feb on the way from Steamboat to Denver.
 

j’aime skier

Certified Ski Diva
I share similar tastes with @Jenny: Beaver Creek & Copper are my two favorite resorts in the area. There is something intangibly magical about Beavercreek. Looking across the sweeping resort and seeing all the excitement unfold around me. And Copper is surprisingly dense with lovely long runs and a unique layout that makes navigating the resort a breeze.
 

BlizzardBabe

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well, you are probably there already, :dance:, but I enjoyed Copper very much. It is easily navigable and easy to move from east, center, west slopes. There was really nice terrain and snow on the back side, but they do need some precip - the base was only 37" when I was there last week. The good news is that they were expecting some inches starting Monday (yesterday).

There are likely to be BIG CROWDS gathering this week, however, b/c the Dew Tour is starting.
 

Little Lightning

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well, you are probably there already, :dance:, but I enjoyed Copper very much. It is easily navigable and easy to move from east, center, west slopes. There was really nice terrain and snow on the back side, but they do need some precip - the base was only 37" when I was there last week. The good news is that they were expecting some inches starting Monday (yesterday).

There are likely to be BIG CROWDS gathering this week, however, b/c the Dew Tour is starting.
Don't know how the Dew Tour will affect this weekend. What will affect this weekend is the weather. 1-3 ft of snow predicted after midnight tonight (Wed.) through Sat. morning. Travel on I-70 is predicted to be treacherous Friday though Sat morning. Trying to decide if should go home today or stay through weekend.
 

SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thanks Divas for all your replies on this thread! I’m sorry I hadn’t had a chance to come back and make individual responses. We actually aren’t out there yet… Landing on Saturday afternoon in Denver fingers crossed that the roads are passable and traffic is not insane! Definitely will look up about the Dew tour also!
 

Little Lightning

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thanks Divas for all your replies on this thread! I’m sorry I hadn’t had a chance to come back and make individual responses. We actually aren’t out there yet… Landing on Saturday afternoon in Denver fingers crossed that the roads are passable and traffic is not insane! Definitely will look up about the Dew tour also!
Current weather forecast says you'll be OK on Sat. afternoon. Traffic should be light on Sat afternoon. Here's the weather information from open snow.
https://opensnow.com/dailysnow/colorado FYI-Northern mountains include Summit County (Copper) and Vail/BC.
 

SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Drive out from Denver Sat was not bad at all and skiing today after all this snowfall did not disappoint!!! I can totally see why Beaver Creek is a favorite. It was incredibly beautiful today, especially with all the trees filled with last night’s snow.
 

j’aime skier

Certified Ski Diva
@SarahXC I’m so happy to hear that your trip is going well! I was thinking of you when I saw the photos of the crazy lift lines at Vail. When I was a Beaver Creek we skied on packed powder, I can only imagine how wonderful it is with fresh snow. Wishing you the best!
 

SarahXC

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thanks for the kind wishes @j’aime skier! I saw those crazy Vail lines posted! I doubt we waited more than 5-10 min anywhere today. I had read online that Beaver Creek is often less crowded because it’s just that little bit further from Denver and was glad it seemed to be true today at least!
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,235
Messages
497,578
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top