Colorado Copper Mountain vs Winterpark, better at Presi’day?

[Slim]

Which one do you think handles the crowds better during President’s Day weekend?

We are happiest skiing the black runs at Mary Jane and Eagle Wind, and similar at Copper, and willling to spend some time on the the Cirque or Tucker Mtn, but only sometimes.

we would Switch to the other resort or Aspen after the weekend, when it will be a bit less busy.

 

[RuleMiHa]

Remember, this is their first year on the IKON pass, and both have new Lifts. WP will have a gondola and Copper will have a Chondola so I think any historic data will be useless. But I could be wrong.

 

[coskigirl]

Remember, this is their first year on the IKON pass, and both have new Lifts. WP will have a gondola and Copper will have a Chondola so I think any historic data will be useless. But I could be wrong.

Neither of the new lifts at Copper serve much of the terrain he’s looking for so other than moving out of Center Village they won’t matter much.

Unfortunately, I have never skied WP during holidays so I can’t do a comparison.

 

[Ron]

strategy is key on Pres day at any resort! Get out early, take lunch early Have fun and hope for a pow day!

 

[Slim]

Remember, this is their first year on the IKON pass, and both have new Lifts. WP will have a gondola and Copper will have a Chondola so I think any historic data will be useless. But I could be wrong.

Oh, i hadn’t realized this, Zephyr will become a Gondola? That should certainly help with reducing lines at the base. Usually we park at Mary Jane though, since it’s free and it’s close to fun terrain.
You are right, between the gondola and Ikon Pass, that could alter traffic patterns. Although, Last year they had the Maxx Pass, which was fairly similar to Ikon(except no blackouts, gr...)

Neither of the new lifts at Copper serve much of the terrain he’s looking for so other than moving out of Center Village they won’t matter much.
Unfortunately, I have never skied WP during holidays so I can’t do a comparison.

I have 3 times, and it get’s pretty busy, especially at the bases and at Panorama lift. That creates the issue : You can avoid lines at Super gauge and take Challenger, but that limits you to laps on that section. If you want to warm up on a blue run, or venture farther up the mountain, to Eagle Wind or the Cirque, you have to get in the big lines.

strategy is key on Pres day at any resort! Get out early, take lunch early Have fun and hope for a pow day!

YEp, good points!
And ski with @Ron for a good luck charm! Worked 100% time for me until now ;-)


And just to be clear, this is a family trip, we are not expert skiers,, not skiing any “gnarly chutes” , we are totally happy on low angle terrain, as long as it’s fun: moguls, trees, rocks, powder

 

[RuleMiHa]

Although, Last year they had the Maxx Pass, which was fairly similar to Ikon(except no blackouts, gr...)

I have a feeling the IKON pass is going to be a whole new world. When I skied out there with the Maxx Pass no one even seemed to know what it was except for the office staff (much more dominant in the East IMHO). I'm more than a little curious to see how this all plays out.

 

[Freaq]

Well, perhaps history is of no value.... but I doubt that. In my experience Copper is the better place to be if you gotta ski at the same time as the hoards but wanna avoid them.

I think my strategy will be to mosey on back to MI and clock in to my job that weekend

 

[tball]

I'd suggest Copper will be better for you on a busy weekend.

Historically Copper has minimal lift lines on the terrain that serves the advanced and expert runs even on the busiest weekends. The lifts that serve the intermediate and beginner terrain will get crowded, but once you get away from the base you'll be fine skiing more difficult terrain. Hopefully, the capacity from the new base lifts will help the beginner and intermediates, but we'll have to see how many more skiers show up due to the IKON Pass.

The much touted "naturally divided" terrain at Copper is a huge advantage for an advanced or expert skier looking to avoid lift lines. There is always somewhere you can ski with zero lift lines. Just ski the mile-long bump runs off the A-lift and you'll never wait in line. Ski the Resolution, Mountian Chief and Blackjack lifts and you might wait a minute or two. Super Bee, Excelerator and Sierra back up to a maybe five-minute wait at the worst times, but only occasionally. Storm King frequently requires a bit of a wait on weekends, but not terrible and it's worth it. There is a lot of lift capacity for advanced and expert skiers, and most of it goes underutilized.

The same isn't true at MJ. Even the Challenger lift gets long lines on the busiest weekends. Eagle Wind is probably your best bet when crowded?

In addition to the different lift configurations, I think the Denver Hordes very much avoid driving through the tunnel on busy weekends. Day trips are much more tenable over Berthoud pass to WP/MJ than through the tunnel to Copper. No proof, but I believe this causes many front rangers to pick a WP Pass over a Copper Pass if they don't buy IKON. The tradeoff is they pay the price with lift lines when it's busy.

Because of kids schedules, I've been stuck skiing weekends recently, mostly at Copper. Lift lines have never been that bad once I'm away from the base to the advanced and expert terrain.

Here's a very long boring POV video tour of Copper in March. I'm pretty sure this was the busiest weekend I saw last season, including President's Weekend. I had to wait in a 15-minute line that morning to get away from the base but never waited in a substantial line after that. You can see there's basically nobody on the runs if you get off-piste. Then at the very end of the video, you can see how crowded it is at the beginner base when I pick up my kiddo from ski school. Thankfully they have put in two high-speed quads there in the last few years.

 

[UGASkiDawg]

I'd suggest Copper will be better for you on a busy weekend.

Historically Copper has minimal lift lines on the terrain that serves the advanced and expert runs even on the busiest weekends. The lifts that serve the intermediate and beginner terrain will get crowded, but once you get away from the base you'll be fine. Hopefully, the capacity from the new base lifts will help the beginner and intermediates, but we'll have to see how many more skiers show up due to the IKON Pass.

The much touted "naturally divided" terrain at Copper is a huge advantage for an advanced or expert skier looking to avoid lift lines. There is always somewhere you can ski with zero lift lines. Just ski the mile-long bump runs off the A-lift and you'll never wait in line. Ski the Resolution, Mountian Chief and Blackjack lifts and you might wait a minute or two. Super Bee, Excelerator and Sierra back up to a maybe five-minute wait at the worst times, but only occasionally. Storm King does frequently require a five or so minute wait, but it's worth it. There is a lot of lift capacity for advanced and expert skiers, and most of it goes underutilized.

The same isn't true at MJ. Even the C lift gets long lines on the busiest weekends. Eagle Wind is probably your best bet when crowded?

In addition to the different lift configurations, I think the Denver Hordes very much avoid driving through the tunnel on busy weekends if possible. Day trips are much more tenable over Berthoud pass to WP/MJ than through the tunnel to Copper. No proof, but I believe this causes many front rangers to pick a WP Pass over a Copper Pass if they don't buy IKON. The tradeoff is they pay the price with lift lines when it's busy.

Because of kids schedules, I've been stuck skiing weekends recently, mostly at Copper. Lift lines have never been that bad once away from the base.

Here's a very long boring POV video tour of Copper in March. This was the busiest weekend I saw last season, including President's Weekend. I had to wait in a 15-minute line that morning to get away from the base but never waited in a substantial line after that. You can see there's basically nobody on the runs if you get off-piste. Then at the very end of the video, you can see how crowded it is at the beginner base when I pick up my kiddo from ski school. Thankfully they have put in two high-speed quads there in the last few years.

Mostly agree with you but the lift line at Resolution on a powder day can get redonkulous. It doesn't always happen but when it does it's brutal because there is no escape.

 

[tball]

Mostly agree with you but the lift line at Resolution on a powder day can get redonkulous. It doesn't always happen but when it does it's brutal because there is no escape.

It seems to me the big problem is it's always breaking down, often on powder days. I think, maybe, the old lift doesn't like hauling a full load?

When it's running well, the most I typically see is a full maze out each side. No horrible, but I guess I'm usually skiing single and it's easy for me to move up since it's a triple.

No doubt a lot of folks didn't like the off-piste conditions the day of my video above and avoided those runs. You'd see a lot more people on a powder day.

 

[cosmoliu]

I don't have an opinion on any actual comparison between the two areas on a busy weekend. And I'm surprised that this hasn't already been mentioned, particularly by tball: Wind is the biggest wild card in this consideration/debate. When it's windy, both Panoramic and Eagle Wind are subject to possible (probable?) closure. And this can have a more magnified effect at WP than at most other resorts. If that happens, and assuming all else is equal for the purposes of this comparison, the skiing experience at WP will be vastly degraded as everyone who would otherwise be skiing the upper mountain will be forced to the lower lifts. This is not an issue midweek, or in less crowded weekend days, but can be a huge buzz kill on a busy day. It's a wild card because, of course, there's no way to predict such an issue in advance. However, in the context of this thread, I believe that this should be aired.

 

[Slim]

@cosmoliu , thanks for that! I know that, but had never thought of that as related to busyness/wait times, even though I have actually experienced it, come to think of it!
Thanks @tball and @UGASkiDawg , I had originally thought it would be the other way around, Copper is smaller and closer to Denver, so I kind of thought it would be the busier one.

 

[pete]

Haven't skied Copper for long time but do they still offer a fast pass lift add on that lets one take the ski school line?

Too, they are offering there four pack now

www.coppercolorado.com/plan-your-trip/tickets-passes/winter-season-passes/four-pack

 

[pete]

Doh

Four pack deal expired while back. Should of read it fully.

Sorry

 

[mikel]

@pete yep they do. "Secret Pass". It has it's own line. Not the value it use to be. Now it's about $200 more than the regular pass and many lodging options include it. There can be times during busy peaks when it's possible the secret pass line can be crowded and have a wait on the more popular lifts