Ride report - Copper Mountain (Colorado)

Just got back from Copper today...

They only have two lifts running, and the catch is that you cannot ski
all the way down. You have to take American Eagle to Excelerator, and
when you're done for the day you have to "download" on American Eagle.
Kind of a weird experience to ride the lift back down!

They have several runs open, including Ptarmigan and Copperopolis.
But unless you're race training, the general public is confined to
Ptarmigan for now (I'm sure that'll change very soon). Still, the
snow was surprisingly good. I arrived around noon, hoping that the
snow would be fairly soft by then. I wasn't disappointed. It was
actually much better than I thought it would be, with powder/packed
powder conditions combined with some localized icy spots. Some cool
little kickers developed on Ptarmigan, which were pretty fun
in-between bombing down the hill.

Crowds were not a problem at all, in fact 80% of the people I talked
to on the lifts were local (Vail, Leadville, etc.). Of course this
will not be the case on weekends! Most everyone was pretty good, so
the typical stupidity was not present (stopping without looking,
etc.). It was nice to feel the board down there again, and if you've
got a pass or something I'd say it's worth going up for a couple hours
of fun. Not sure if it's worth a full ticket yet, but it all depends
on how desperate you are.

Sam