Colorado Copper Mountain Basics

[Superbman]

So, I'll be skiing CO next week from Wed-Sun. Staying in Frisco (at the Holiday Inn near the Highway ). I'll hit a few places-Loveland and Abasin...I'm to cheap for Vail as my off day area : ) , but mostly I'll center in on Copper, especially on the weekdays.. So I have some basic questions:

1. The Town Shuttle stop is near the Hotel-Is it better than driving to Copper?. How close to the base areas does it drop off? I'll have a car as well, but if I need to take a shuttle from the free parking anyway, I wonder if it just makes more sense to Hop on the Free Town Shuttle from Frisco.

2. What's the best base area at Copper to base out of?? Meaning, where do I want to boot up and stow my stuff (and can you sow your stuff, do they do abag check, etc)? I'll assume there are multiple drop off points for town and parking shuttles, so what makes sense, where do locals set up shop?

3. Which lifts service the North facing terrain...Tony Crocker has 60% of copper with a northern exposure, but I can't get a bead on it on the right terrain to zero in on). Last time I was at copper 10 years agho, I'm pretty sure I made a wrong turn down the resolution lift area on a warmer sunny day...so I'm thinking that's the south side.

4. Could someone tell me exactly how the copper Catskiing works: Do you just ski down to the area it's running and wait your turn? That'd be fine, I just want to know the standard procedure.

5. Eastern Skiing (as most of you know) was pretty rough this year, I haven't made a single off piste turn all season (!!!), I'd like to get some trees in: what are the can't miss Glades at Copper? Are there any? Looks like there should be a layer of new snow by middle of next week, so i'm pretty happy. Hell, one wintery turn is all I've wanted all season.


Oh..one more question, I have a late (7:00pm) flight out of DIA on Sunday, hope to ski half day at Loveland...if I leave at one, think I'll make a 5pm check at the airport?? We hear a lot about the I-70 driving...just wondering what folks routinely deal with on Sunday drives back to the city.

Thanks, as always.

 

[Philpug]

paging @SBrown, @UGASkiDawg and @dean_spirito to the white courtesy phone.

 

[SBrown]

So, I'll be skiing CO next week from Wed-Sun. Staying in Frisco (at the Holiday Inn near the Highway ). I'll hit a few places-Loveland and Abasin...I'm to cheap for Vail as my off day area : ) , but mostly I'll center in on Copper, especially on the weekdays.. So I have some basic questions:

1. The Town Shuttle stop is near the Hotel-Is it better than driving to Copper?. How close to the base areas does it drop off? I'll have a car as well, but if I need to take a shuttle from the free parking anyway, I wonder if it just makes more sense to Hop on the Free Town Shuttle from Frisco.

2. What's the best base area at Copper to base out of?? Meaning, where do I want to boot up and stow my stuff (and can you sow your stuff, do they do abag check, etc)? I'll assume there are multiple drop off points for town and parking shuttles, so what makes sense, where do locals set up shop?

3. Which lifts service the North facing terrain...Tony Crocker has 60% of copper with a northern exposure, but I can't get a bead on it on the right terrain to zero in on). Last time I was at copper 10 years agho, I'm pretty sure I made a wrong turn down the resolution lift area on a warmer sunny day...so I'm thinking that's the south side.

4. Could someone tell me exactly how the copper Catskiing works: Do you just ski down to the area it's running and wait your turn? That'd be fine, I just want to know the standard procedure.

5. Eastern Skiing (as most of you know) was pretty rough this year, I haven't made a single off piste turn all season (!!!), I'd like to get some trees in: what are the can't miss Glades at Copper? Are there any? Looks like there should be a layer of new snow by middle of next week, so i'm pretty happy. Hell, one wintery turn is all I've wanted all season.


Oh..one more question, I have a late (7:00pm) flight out of DIA on Sunday, hope to ski half day at Loveland...if I leave at one, think I'll make a 5pm check at the airport?? We hear a lot about the I-70 driving...just wondering what folks routinely deal with on Sunday drives back to the city.

Thanks, as always.

1. Probably? I've been a homeowner for a decade, so I'm not up on ins and outs of parking, but ... the buses all drop you off at the same place at least in Center Village. I'm not sure if the Frisco bus goes to Union and West, but I think it does.

2. You can definitely boot up in Center Village at Jack's; there is a locker room on the lower level, and also places to stow bags unlocked, and a bag and ski check that I think is still $5. Super Bee will be less crowded in the morning, though; there are some lockers there, but not sure if it's as convenient on that front.

3. Reso faces east. Copper Bowl (Mtn Chief and Blackjack lifts) faces south. Most of the rest faces north. Storm King runs north-south but Spaulding Bowl faces east. It still preserves snow well, though. Sierra lift is higher and serves steeper north-facing terrain; it's usually a good bet for snow. There is a bunch of east-facing stuff there, too, so just watch aspect. (Hopefully you are coming in at just the right time and it won't matter though!!!)

4. Yes, just go to the line. But this season, there are two cats and two lines: if you have a (working) beacon, you can go to the short line. I haven't done it yet, but someone detailed it a few weeks back, I'll look for the post. It doesn't cost, but throw a few bucks in the tip jar for Patrol, they can always use it.

5. Look for anything on the trail map that says "glade": Black Bear and Freefall over between Alpine and Super Bee lifts are super fun (be aware that Black Bear will take you out skier's right to A lift, but Freefall requires a small uphill traverse over to Super Bee); 17 Glade between Super Bee and Eagle lifts; Cache Glade and Lower Enchanted Forest off Hallelujah, but note that those take you out and most of the way down the mountain, can't really lap easily; Spaulding Glade is below the bowl; other random shots in between runs especially off Excelerator and Super Bee. On the west side of the hill, Union Meadows has a ton of tree skiing, and there is some fun lower-angle glade skiing above Timberline Express aka T-Rex (Clear Cut).

caveat: I haven't skied any of these in several weeks, and I'm not sure how it's all holding up; hopefully someone can chime in. Last day I skied Copper was 3 wk ago? in about 7" of fresh, and stayed in the trees all day, it was just after that wind event, and snow was weird out in the open, but trees were lovely.

6. Sunday eastbound drives run the gamut. You should be fine leaving at 1 pm as in, 90% ok, but you never know.

 

[SBrown]

paging @SBrown, @UGASkiDawg and @dean_spirito to the white courtesy phone.

And @tball and @coskigirl

 

[dean_spirito]

Everything SBrown said.

With regard to buses, if you are staying close to a bus stop, definitely take advantage of that. The bus ride is 15-20 minutes from Frisco to Copper and it drops you off walking distance to the lifts. If you drive, you will either park in the free lot really far away and have to take a 10 minute shuttle anyway, or you will pay a $20 premium to park exactly where the Summit Stage drops you off. For me personally, the free bus system is one of the best things about living in Summit County.

I'm skiing Copper tomorrow. I'll post an update on conditions. I suspect we'll spend a lot of time in Upper Enchanted and Union. If it really warms up I may take a peek at Copper Bowl.

 

[tball]

Details on the beacon preference on Tucker Cats:

New this year: The Tucker Mountain Avalanche Beacon Snow Cat! On days that we are running TWO Tucker Mountain Snow Cats, there will be preference given to those with their avalanche beacons, in good working order and with good battery life. They will have VIP access to one designated cat; there will be a beacon check-point at the cat pick-up. It would be great if you also had your avalanche rescue gear with you--A Shovel and Probe--as all of this area is considered avalanche terrain! Please respect closures, they are there for everyone's safety. Ski in groups and have a plan. Stay updated at CopperColorado.com

More discussion and a first-hand report over here:
https://forum.pugski.com/threads/official-copper-mountain-thread-15-16.250/page-6#post-22110

Also, note that the Tucker Cat only runs Fri-Sun. You can hike around Mon-Thurs, but it's a lot of work at high altitude. Let me know if you want details on the long hike. Even with the Cat, it's still a 15-20 min hike. Well worth it if you ski more than one day at Copper, IMO, as it's high, faces north, gets minimal traffic and has fantastic views.

Here's a cool map showing the different slope aspects:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5333382.pdf

You can see why Sierra is a great place to start out to sample the different aspects to tell you where to head next.

And, if you are looking for the steep terrain (or want to avoid it) here's a similar map showing the slope gradients:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5333381.pdf

Looks like you might be in luck!
http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/copper

 

[dean_spirito]

Conditions at Copper on 3/12 were typical of spring in the Rockies; firm and even icy in spots in the morning, perfect for about an hour in the early afternoon, and scary by 3pm. It also depended a lot on which aspects you were skiing. North facing up top was still holding some cold, winter snow in places. I found that I was happiest carving around on groomers between 10:30am and 2pm. It started to snow a little bit in the afternoon and I'd guess that they picked up 1-2", maybe a little bit more in places where the wind blew in.

Today I was at A Basin and the place skied awesome! That being said, A Basin almost always skis awesome. No crowds, no lift lines, had an entire table to ourselves at BML, and the pulled pork was on point! Oh and there were pockets of soft baby powder in all of the NE facing aspects. I was working with a group of old timers and spent my day making open parallel turns on green and blue groomed terrain, so I can't speak to conditions off Pali. But it definitely looked like people were having fun on East Wall and Land of the Giants.

 

[tball]

Wow, congrats on your timing with the new snow @Superbman!

I'd suggest trying to get the first Tucker Cat on Friday if that's of interest. With plenty of new snow to farm on the front side, very few will be hiking around and Tucker will be fairly untouched this week. A couple days of storms before Friday is always a fantastic setup for Tucker.

I wish I could make it up and show you around a bit, but I'm recovering from the flu and the family is sick we just canceled our weekend trip to Copper. :-(

On a more stokefull note, here's a little tour of some of my favorite shots from a leftovers day at Copper last year:
That's Spaulding Bowl, Upper Enchanted Forest, Fremont Glade 1 on Tucker, I-Dropper, and Too Much

Have fun and let us know if you have any questions!

 

[Superbman]

Just got back to the hotel, man I thought yesterday morning was as good as it gets but this morning was epic. Thanks for the advice everyone, been a great trip so far.
actually, driving to the alpine free parking and heading to east village couldn't be easier.

And I'll tell you one thing that copper doesn't get enough credit for is tree skiing.