Mountain Sports Club Blog

Dateline December 16 & 17, 2006

Location Copper Mountain, Colorado

You can feel that the holiday season is upon us as the resorts receive the initial wave of holiday visitors. Our family joined the march for one last weekend in the Colorado central Rockies, before the holiday rush. Copper received 5 inches of new snow yesterday and they are calling for additional snow showers the next several days. It should cover the rocks starting to show on the steeper runs and soften snow across the mountain. The local paper announced that all the Summit County resorts continue to open new and steeper terrain just in time for the holidays.

After a day on the slopes on Saturday we gathered at Endo’s in the village for après skis drinks. Given we have 3 young boys and our friends had 2 as well it was key to find a place that has pool tables, video games, foosball and room for all to enjoy. Endos is conveniently located and fits the bill. Plenty of tasty local micro brews and traditional beer from which to choose ones favorite libation.

Saturday night Copper kicked off their holiday celebration with En Fuego. This celebration included fire jugglers, torchlight parade, fireworks and a variety of entertainment in the Village. The Village environment has proven to be a huge step in creating atmosphere and ambiance at Copper. With bonfires and entertainment throughout the village it was a warm and festive atmosphere.

Sunday morning we awoke to light snow showers that softened the snow and provided a very good ski day for Sunday. We have developed a pattern of jumping on American Eagle and heading straight to Sierra Chair (S Chair) to ski Union Bowl. Today was no exception. We were greeted with soft wind blown underneath with a couple of inches of new snow on top. The back side going into Gold Digger and down to Timberline proved to be untracked after several descents down different lines in Union Bowl.

Later in the morning we made the decision to hike the 10 minutes above the chair lift to Julies Vision. The run was simply great. The initial turns were broken soft powder followed with untracked lines. One section we skied had the old debris of an earlier avalanche from control work making portions of the untracked a little stickier and trickier. While we did not make it over to Spaulding Bowl, friends of our reported it was open and spectacular skiing as well. Plenty of soft powdery snow to be had for all who venture that way.

With snow and snow showers predicted for most of the balance of the week, Copper Mountain and the Colorado Rockies are a great choice for skiing and riding this holiday vacation. There is abundant snow and terrain open for everyone.

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