Does the Forest Service even look at skier safety or are they looking just at forest land impact?
Conversely, I haven't skied Keystone or Vail in years (and never Snowmass) but I don't think it's that bad at Copper. I often choose Frank's Fave as my last little pitch into Center Village which is usually pretty empty.
Does the Forest Service even look at skier safety or are they looking just at forest land impact?
Yeah, I thought about suggesting widening and better signage for Frank's Fave. Most don't know it's even there. But then I like it the way it is.
I was thinking something like this as I was reading the thread. They could either close the lifts out of the base a little early or run upper lifts a little later or some combination of the 2.How would folks react to something like this:
To promote skier safety, the American Eagle lift runs at 60% speed from 3-4pm each day. During these times, advanced skiers should consider repeat skiing on the Super Bee, and beginner and intermediate skiers on the American Flyer and Union Creek lifts. We suggest slower and less experienced skiers also consider downloading on the gondola portion of the American Eagle for end-of-day egress.Just an idea.
Does the Forest Service even look at skier safety or are they looking just at forest land impact?
I don't think the end of day rush has changed much. Pretty scary, but probably still better than most areas. It could get much worse with the increased uphill capacity of the new lifts:
The American Eagle Lift, a high-speed quad, will be replaced with a Leitner Poma high-speed lift that includes a combination of both 6-person chairs and 8-person gondola cabins. The new lift will increase uphill capacity by over 40 percent, allowing more skiers and snowboarders access to an abundance of Copper’s intermediate terrain.Questions for all:
http://www.coppercolorado.com/culture/news/resort-updates/new-american-eagle-chairlift
A Leitner Poma high-speed 6-person chair with bubble enclosures is set to replace the high-speed quad known as the American Flyer lift, offering a more comfortable ride and a 33 percent increase in uphill capacity. The new lift will primarily serve the easy and intermediate side of the resort’s unique naturally-divided terrain and also will provide expedited access to Copper’s advanced high alpine bowls.
http://www.coppercolorado.com/culture/news/resort-updates/new-american-flyer
Do Aspen, Vail and Keystone allow downloading on their gondolas at all times? At some point, I could see taking our kiddos up to ski laps on the Excellerator then downloading to avoid the dangerous trip to the bottom.
Is there any precedent for running a lift slower at the end of the day?
Are requirements like these something the Forest Service would consider imposing?
I ski Copper all the time and can't remember seeing a rush at the end of the day...at lunch time yes. IME most skiers are done skiing by 1-2pm and in the bar or on the road back to Denver. I quite often only ski from 1-4 simply because it's the least crowded part of the day except for 8:30-9:30.
I was wondering pretty much the same thing as it seems to me that the Forest Service's area of expertise has nothing to do with developing or running a ski resort.
The B.C. Forest Service only gets involved in British Columbia ski resorts if you want to cut runs (or remove diseased or danger trees) and that is because the Province of B.C. owns the land and the trees on it. They certainly don't tell ski industry people how to manage ski resorts although the resorts do operate under government approved Master Plans and permits.
I ski Copper all the time and can't remember seeing a rush at the end of the day...at lunch time yes. IME most skiers are done skiing by 1-2pm and in the bar or on the road back to Denver. I quite often only ski from 1-4 simply because it's the least crowded part of the day except for 8:30-9:30.
I don't usually ski til the end of the day, either, but when I do, these are my observations. Copper has enough base areas that people seem to be decently spread out.
Yeah, overcrowding might not be an argument that flies. Even with the new lift capacity added to the density numbers in the MDP, the density is still below industry standards. If safety was a concern getting rid of a month of WROD and/or the SuperPipe would be the first step.
So, anything else to push for in comments to the Forest Service? Any objections or just bring on the new lifts?
I heard that Copper is not going to sell Eagle and Flyer as whole lifts in the secondary market due to how fast they want them out and will sell them off as parts. I guess you have go more slowly and carefully pulling them out if you are going sell the lift as a whole system and they are in a rush with two replacements going in.
Not sure if it was mentioned in this thread, but Copper posted on FB that the Tucker lift won't be going in this summer. At least one more year of fresh tracks next year.All systems go as far as I'm concerned! Get these two done and then do Tucker!
....It's worth noting those upgrades were approved in 2002 and just completed this year.
I'm all for the Lumberjack upgrade!And it probably wouldn't be a shocker for me if Lumberjack gets upgraded before Tucker happens.
I'd forgotten about the N lift. I'd rather see that than the Tucker or Lumberjack upgrade but it should go all the way up next to the base of Storm King.