Maybe it’s that afternoon I spent here as a college student, back before I knew how to ski and figured a pair of blue jeans would serve just as well as insulated pants on the slopes.
Let’s just say I fell down a lot, and the jeans didn’t exactly stay dry. Shivering and blue-lipped, I mentally scratched Copper Mountain off my must-visit-again list.
Twenty-five years later, based on the recommendation of good friends, I gave Copper Mountain a second shot.
This time I visited the resort as a more seasoned skier. I wore warm, water-proof pants and took an all-day ski lesson, something I try to do every time I head to the mountains.
Now I’m wondering why I was so quick to write off this ski area.
The vibe here is old school and rock solid. This isn’t where people strut around in mink stoles and high-heeled boots, hoping to be seen. It’s where people ski hard all day, crash for a few hours, then wake up, gulp coffee and do it again.
With about 60 percent of its business coming from the Denver area, it’s known as a locals’ mountain. But what’s good for the locals must be good for us, right?
Copper Mountain Resort opened the winter of 1971. It has 2,650 skiable acres, with more than 125 trails and four bowls, spread over three mountains. By comparison, Aspen has about 700 skiable acres, Telluride has about 2,000 and Steamboat has about 3,000. That’s plenty of space to roam without getting bored.
The terrain is naturally divided, too, with expert runs on one side of the ski area, beginner stuff on the other, and intermediate runs sandwiched in between. That makes it easier to ski without accidentally guiding your 7-year-old down a synapsis-searing run with a name like Widowmaker.
Twenty-one lifts buzz visitors up and down 2,600 feet of vertical drop. Folks who like to defy gravity can shred it up at five terrain parks and one monstrous, newly upgraded 22-foot superpipe.
Despite my 15 years of skiing experience — gathered in one-week-a-year increments — instructor Dave Briddle got me to focus on fundamentals during my day-long lesson. Under his expert eye, I practiced skiing backward, very slowly, down one slope. I focused on hip position, too, channeling Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie.”
I felt a little silly, spinning like some sort of slow-motion, snow-borne buffalo on planks, but basic exercises like that one got me to concentrate on carving more as I executed each turn. The refresher left me ready to tackle the good stuff the following day.
My favorite runs at Copper? Some of the gladed areas, where you can skip through nicely spaced trees, away from the bite of the wind. Try Sail Away Glade or 17 Glade, if you like the feeling of schussing through a protective curtain of greenery. Enchanted Forest charms, too, and Copper has some nice long, ego-boosting screamers.
We stayed in the Mountain Plaza, walking distance from the Center Village base area. If you’re looking for cocktail-swilling, music-pounding nightlife, this probably isn’t your place. If you like being close to the mountain, your idea of a ski trip is all about giving yourself up to moguls, and you’d rather cook in a few nights than rack up the expense of restaurants, you might like it. We did.
Otherwise, consider grabbing a room in nearby Frisco, which is home, I might add, to one of the best skier’s breakfast joints in all of America — the Butterhorn Bakery and Cafe. (Try the Eggy Bread or Eggs Butterhorn with red pepper sauce.) It’s a six-mile haul to the ski area, but it’s less expensive than staying at the ski mountain. Save even more by booking a room in Silverthorne, another 10 minutes down the road.
Copper Mountain embraces its retro past. The resort’s “Everyone Deserves a Snow Day” marketing pitch is brilliant, if you ask me. In time traveling, 1970-esque style, Copper’s advertising campaign includes mock videos that’ll make you want to grow a creepy mustache and pull out your stretch ski pants. But please don’t.
There’s a website () that will give you a faux ski patrol name and provide you with a ready-made excuse to call in sick and go skiing. It even has downloadable sound effects such as coughing and sneezing. (Don’t tell my boss!)
The resort is talking a lot about a few new programs this season. If you haven’t been at Copper in a couple of decades (like me), check out Woodward at Copper. It’s an indoor training center where you can practice aerial ski and snowboard tricks into a pit of forgiving foam blocks instead of bone-jolting hard ice.
I stopped by for a drop-in session one afternoon, and swooped down the faux ski jump alongside a bevy of teenagers. I’ll show them!
Parents looking to ditch the family for an evening alone can take advantage of Kids Night Out, a childcare service sponsored by the Copper Mountain Chamber of Commerce. As long as the parents spend $30 per child in any commercial outlet at the resort, the childcare is free.
The program is offered Wednesday through Saturday nights, and kids get to watch movies, eat pizza and do crafts. Reservations are recommended.
The resort’s Ski and Ride school caters to families, too. Kids in the program get GPS trackers, so mom and dad can keep a virtual tab on them.
“It helps give peace of mind to the parents,” says Copper Mountain spokesman David Roth (yes, that’s really his name, Van Halen fans, and isn’t it perfect for an employee of a resort that loves its rockin’ cool roots?).
At the end of the day, kids can get a printouts of what runs they skied, and check to see who has logged the most vertical in a day.
If you’re a snow snob and have to get first tracks, you can pay a $20 upgrade charge on your lift ticket for what’s called a Secret! Pass. That gets you a dedicated lift line at certain lifts and a 15-minute head start at the main American Eagle lift at the base every morning.
Frankly, when we were there, lines weren’t an issue, although they might be if you travel during busy President’s Day weekend or spring break, two times I never plan a ski trip.
My advice? Just buy the regular ticket.
Between a tubing hill, where you can ride a moving sidewalk up a slope and glide back down in a slick channel, an ice skating rink and trails for snow shoeing, there’s plenty for nonskiers to do at Copper Mountain, too. Snowmobiling, sleigh rides, dog sledding and cross country skiing are also available nearby.
I’m older and wiser now. I know what I like.
And Copper Mountain is on that list.
