Copper 1-15-1-18

[swamphox]

First off, thanks to powdermonkey for the hook ups. And for being patient with me on the day we made some turns as I'm not very fast.



First things first, I learned something at Copper. That I am roughly as good as the local women in their 60's. I did the mountain tour both days. They asked if we were comfortable on blues and I said I was and then took us down some of the more challenging ones. I really enjoyed myself and was really impressed by my guides' abilities.



I liked the tour so much I did it again the second day. This time we went down a bump run which kind of sucked. I'm not really big on them although I did try and improve my bump skiing a little while there. American Flyer has a portion where half the run is bumped up so that you can dart in and out of it at will. I also tried a shorter bump run called bucksaw a couple of times but decided I didn't like committing to bumps for the duration of a run.



Day 1 saw an official reading of 3 inches of fresh snow although it may have been more on many parts of the mountain. i went over to the easy side after hitting a couple of the blues and discovered no one had touched them at about 10 am. I lapped the easier powder stuff a few times and the only tracks I saw were my own which was cool. I would've stayed there longer if the lifts weren't so slow.



A lot of the blues there towards the eastern part of the mountain have some considerably steep parts, easily comparable to whoopdeedoo if not steeper. More than once I'd look up at what I skied think "man that was steep".



Also, if you like fondue, this is the place. Alpinista has an awesome fondue for 25 bucks a head which is cheaper than it was at the melting pot the last time I ate there.



Lots of cool stuff for kids to do as well, my son split time between critterland and the pool.



Onto pics, sorry if I don't ID runs or anything mainly because I've forgotten what was what.



Looking at the super pipe first thing in the morning





This is where we stayed, close to everything....





early day contrast of the grooming vs powder....on Wednesday there weren't many people out which was nice. A LOT of retirees....who were all better than I was





Up to the right is Bucksaw, the smaller bump run I alluded to earlier, I decided I would rather have functional knees for the duration of my vacation





Just a nice view....lots of those at copper

[IMG]http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-
ash3/14884_10152452321335315_1755188838_n.jpg[/IMG]



Sky chutes...so named because they appear to spell "SKY"





One of my tour guides on day one....nothing will remind you of how bad of a skier you are like having to put forth an effort to keep up with someone older than your mom. Hopefully by the time I'm able to retire and do something like this theyll have bionic knees. BTW, if you take this mountain tour, they accept tips which go towards an end of the year party.





i think this is part of andy's encore. There were some pretty steep parts to it. fun run, and long....





I-70 made an appearance





Some ski-bikers....I'd never seen this before









You don't see this everyday either





I thought about going down that ridgeline to the right. I kind of regret not doing it now, that whole black diamond designation spooked me.





My boy in front of the SKY chutes





Critterland





He tried tubing. Despite the fact that it was probably never warmer than 35 degrees or so it was "hot". Thin air and no humidity I guess





More critterland fun. The whole mountain is very kid friendly; he loves donuts and they have a restaurant in the village called "Sweet Lips" that makes small kid sized donuts right in front of you. He got a kick out of that and getting to pick his own donut toppings and sprinkles. Also you can get child care in the evenings for free if you drop them off than show up with a receipt showing that you'd spent 30 bucks at a restaurant.





Video of some of the runs. Powdermonkey is in a few of the shots albeit well ahead of me.

[KneeDeep]

Nice, glad you had fun out here!

[davidski]

Hey Swamp that looks fun and a lot better then some reports I've read. Andy's encore is a fast run indeed -- and I think it feeds into rosey's run which even though its a wide groomer is rightfully designated a black. That bowl you were looking at I've skiied under similar conditions and I bet it was a lot thinner then it looks from a distance.



Great report and you are going to have so much fun skiing w/ your little guy in years to come

[ROYMERCER]

Man that looked so fun. Really enjoyed the tunes as well.

[davidski]

^^ dirty hippie

[skiing rules]

Those groomers look GOOD I'd be on that stuff all day.

[RMacSki]

did you see all the blacks out there?

[teledave]

I've heard some of them aren't very well groomed.

[RMacSki]

yea definitely the best for getting the white powder

[Ga Skier]

Looking good E!!!!! I've skied that bowl but for some reason I can't remember the name of it.The last time I went down it they were doing limited runs trying to pack it down.Great powder that day.If you ever go back and they're doing it catch the cats going up Tucker Mountain.Sometimes its a wait but well worth it.Oh yeah some booting it will also be required.

Looks like a fun trip .I'm hoping to get out late March to A bay and Silverton tied in with a work trip and hopefully bring the new Mrs to Co for her first time.