Copper Mountain…my first mountain, my love…my only.  The serendipitous mountain where I learned to love skiing, fell in love with a boy and then married him on the hill. 

Ask me…why Copper is such a special place? This mountain is a place where everyone knows your name…from the lifties to the friendly green coats (Ambassadors), to the top of the line Ski Instructors.   Copper sports about 200 OHG members who spend 12 months of the year playing together on and off the slopes. It is also the home to the very rad “Woodward”…an action sports center both on and off the slopes and used by a myriad of athletes boardsliding, border crossing and corkscrewing off of rails and in pipes and inside the Woodward Barn on and off season.

You’ll love Copper Mountain too. The boutique size of the mountain with only 140+ runs and the uniquely natural design of the slope layout makes navigation safe. The runs progress from steep to steepest as the mountains flow south making run selections for ability easier. 

I could probably tell you a story about every run on Copper Mountain.  

My first time off of the magic carpet..not so charming…up Kokomo, down and then back to the lodge.  Lodging was my favorite ski activity for the first years in all honesty.  

I joined Women’s Wednesdays Club to learn to ski better  and one morning led my crew down Kaboom…which since has become my nemesis.   And I remember spending many mornings alone traveling up and down the R lift while watching the experts make turns on Buzzard’s Alley.    My first ‘black’ run was Rosi’s Run with my ski pals, Tom and Bonnie during which my knees never stopped tremoring. 

Did you know that the longest run at Copper is Collage?  It is 1.7 miles long and in the direct middle of the run, about ⅓ of the way down is a petrified tree. The steepest run is Double Zero and the newest lift is Three Bears, making Tucker Bowl accessible to all skiers via a lift instead of only by snowcat. 

Copper is only 75 minutes from DIA and easy to navigate away once away from the base.  The lines are short the farther uphill you travel so getting around the hill is fun.  Regrouping with family and friends is easy at any of the lodges dotted around the slopes.

One of my favorite runs is Copperopolis on the Nastar Course…they have it set up to time your fastest run ever complete with racing gates and a clock. You can improve your skills on the snow by hauling down this course everytime you ride up the Eagle from Center Village.

You don’t have to rip down the Nastar Course to get the adrenaline pumping…Did you know that Copper has its own Tubing Hill? Fly screaming down the tubing hill and end the day with a hot chocolate or take the family up the on-hill roller coaster for some bumpy crazy laughs. 

Not an adrenaline junkie?  Copper Mountain has 26 acres of nordic hiking, skinning or snowshoeing . Snowshoeing out into the dark wilderness during a full moon is the best way to admire the lovely luna during Copper’s Moonlight Snowshoe event. 

As an Ambassador, I got to lead snowshoe tours during the day, and it was fun! The tours enabled our guests to hike into the woods without wandering lost resulting in a post hole hike back to their condo.  

For a fun filled ski day…you’ll love my Copper Mountain.  So much to do…so little time.