Copper Mountain advice

Happy new year everyone!

I am going to Copper CO this weekend.  Lodging is set through the kindness of a friend.

Any tips for good trails?  I am hoping to get into the bowls on tucker mountain.  Since I know nothing about the mountain, haven't skied out west as a strong skier, and my friend is an intermediate, I got a half day private with the goal of going back there.  I am strong skier.  Would rate myself as 8 on ski school scale.  

We are staying at center village close to the lifts.

Thanks in advance,
D

PS - hopefully me leaving and Murphy's law will increase the odds for what looks like great snow for everyone out there in the east this weekend.  Happy hunting!

Copper is sick- lots of cool bowls and trees! The layout can be a little sketchy to navigate, but great skiing (almost) throughout. The chairs from the base area (east and center village) have lots of vert, esp. compared to Breck!!

I feel like there's great stuff throughout, and the 'segmented layout' of east-expert, middle- intermediate, etc. is only true if you're staying on the groomed...

Tucker Bowl is great, but you need to take a free (?) snowcat to get out there...It picks ppl up in the flats far skiers' right, bottom of Copper Bowl. Only worth it for a short trip IMO if good snow is lacking elsewhere.

Sending you a PM with info I don't want published for all of the internet to see. If other forum ppl are interested, PM me.

Lucky you, I was just there last March.  It's a great mountain with tons of options.  I preferred the east side of the mountain, it was less crowded and the Super Bee takes you to all kinds of fun.  Excelerator is also great if you want to take short runs and get in some laps.  Of course I was there for SPD, not MLK, so the mass of humanity will be far different for you.    

For some grub and cheap beers, hit Eagle BBQ right at the base of the mountain.  It's independently owned, which is a rarity along the I-70 resorts.  

BTW, when I went last year, there was much more snow in VT than in CO.  Copper was still awesome.  

Enjoy!      

NYskiblog community,

Thanks to Gefilte and Saratoga for their advice.  Copper was amazing!  I am planning to post a TR soon, but in the mean time wanted to share a few picks from three days there.  The trip included my first venture into sidecountry/hike-to terrain, which was amazing.  

The altitude was an adjustment, as Copper has 2,700 feet of vertical from 12,400 feet to the base of 9,700 and I live at 118 feet above sea level on LI

Enjoy the pictures,
D

 

A few more pictures.  

Sorry I am not good with captions.  The first picture was near the top of Tucker Mountain, about 20 minutes into the hike.  The second is part way down a run called 'The Nacho', a double black conveniently located next to 'The Taco'.

The third is our tracks down the Nacho (in the looker's left track you can see one ski disappear; I hit a rock and my outside leg popped up, but I recovered).



The shot below is a vista including Tucker Mountain and the Nacho and Taco runs: