Copper - April 11-14

[FleurDeSki]

I talked a buddy of mine who hadn't skied in a decade to take an April trip with me to Summit county Colorado. He was skeptical of skiing in April, but i assured him the odds were good that it would either be

1. sunny and warm spring skiing (he had only done mid winter trips) and that spring skiing is awesome.

2. A good spring storm would roll through (April is the 2nd snowiest month in CO)



I did disclaim that it could:

3. Hit a melt cycle, cloud up and be crap.



This was to be a budget trip,I wanted to do this as cheap as possible. I got screwed on airfare, but plan to erase the airfare charges with Capital One Venture Miles.

I bought the E-book coupon book, which supports CO education. I think it was $13, and it came with 2 for 1 lift tickets to Copper. There are also additional lift ticket deals for Copper and some for Loveland as well. The coupons expired Sunday, but a Copper ambassador gave us another 2 for 1 Shell gas promotion. So lift tickets cost us $52 day.



We got a room at the Alpine Inn in Frisco for $75 night. Great accommodations for the price. Its not downtown, but its about 200 yards from the bus station, which has buses to downtown, as well as Copper, Breck, KS, etc...

Youre also within walking distance of a strip mall with a Safeway, mexican restaurant, gas station, Chinese, etc...

Here's a view from the hotel parking lot yesterday...





I left Crown Town late thursday and got to Frisco at 11pm. I rented a car, but in retrospect, i could have done without it. The only thing i really used it for was to drive over to Breck Saturday afternoon, just to see the place. We ended up just skiing Copper all 4 days.



Friday we got up to warm temps, and sunny skies. I brought my Bibbys with hopes of being able to use them, but with plans to demo Fri/Sat for sure. I made a 2 day advanced reservation at Copper Rocker in the main plaza. I wanted a pair of Bonafides, but they had sold everything but the 173, which is too short for me. I skied the 187 for several days in SB last month and loved that ski. The guy at the store said i should take the 173 they had, but i passed and took out a pair of Rossi E98s instead which were pretty good. I didnt like the Copper Rocker store for multiple reasons that i wont go into, but i wouldnt rent from them again.

Conditions Friday were firm in the morning, and really fun from about 10:30-2pm. It started to get slushy late in the day. Saturday was basically a carbon copy of Friday, if not more slushy. My skeptical friend, though, was sold on Spring skiing, and not having to wear 6 layers of clothes to stay warm. Here are a few pics.



Entrance to Copper





















Lunch







This weekend started the Copper Springalicious, the Old 97's played Saturday afternoon..





We went into town to eat dinner Saturday night. Dined at 5th Ave Grill, which is definitely not in the budget category, but the food was good. that was the only splurge we had for the weekend. Downtown Frisco is a cool little mountain town with a touch of touristy. There was more to it than i expected. We didnt really spend much time downtown other than one evening, because we were so beat at the end of each day, but its definitely somewhere someone like my wife would like. A lot of things weren't open at night, i assume in prime season more things would be open in the evenings but im not sure. After dinner we stopped by Prost to have a beer.





After beers, we walk out just in time to see the bus pulling away. So we had another hour until the next bus. They only run hourly at night, at least at this time of year. Walking wasnt an option, and we didnt want to wait an hour. We decided to thumb it. A lady was walking out from a restaurant, to her car parked near the bus stop. My friend asked her if she could give us a ride...she wasnt even going in our direction, but said she would take us....she had a big piece of furniture in the back of her Outback so the seats were down, and my buddy had to lay down in the back. Im sure she was a little freaked out picking up two strangers but it was much appreciated. Would never happen in Charlotte.





It was supposed to snow Saturday night...and we prayed it would. The forecast kept pushing back to the storm starting later. I woke up early Sunday and looked out the window of the hotel, and checked the Copper Snow Stake cam. Maybe an inch had fallen, so I was in no rush to get to the hill. My partner was more eager so we got on the hill around 10am, to find the dust on ice. I skied a run, but It sucked really bad on the fattys..but it was starting to snow. I decided to eat breakfast with plans of skipping lunch, and let my buddy take his runs in the **** conditions. It finally started dumping. And then it got fun. It was probably dumping in the 2-3 inch per hour rate.





My friend wanted to change to fatter skis so we go back to the base so he can swap. It was dumping.





While waiting for my bud to change out skis I managed to get a close glimpse of the winners of the Eeenie Weenie Bikini contest. This was the winner...(not my photo)





Went back up and skied till they kicked us off..

Photo of a groomer during a lull in the storm. Things were getting refreshed very quickly.





I checked the snow stake cam that evening, and i think we got around 6 inches from 1-4pm. It kept snowing all night. The official report came in at 12 inches. Monday was awesome, but man did it get tracked up pretty quick even with light crowds...here are the couple of pics i managed to snap monday.









And...approaching the tunnel on the drive to Denver:(





So...thats it for 2014. Ive been blessed to get a(almost) free ski trip on the company, have an awesome trip with my wife, who i love to ski with. Got to see my little girl get on skis for the first time; got to ski with a long time friend and rekindle his stoke for the sport (hes jonesing now), and also get a 12"+ day which is the most for me in my short ski career.



I definitely dont take this for granted, and feel lucky to have had a good year.

:>)

[davidski]

Very nice, the late night Lohan pic was a little spooky but --



Coppers great isn't it and I'm not familiar with Prost .. that looks like a good place



glad your season had a great finish

[teledave]

Nice. Wait until you get your first 2' day.

[RMacSki]

that's great man. glad ya'll got the goods from that storm. I learned to ski at Monarch and Copper so that place will always be special to me