Rocky Mountain Road Trip with Pizza and Grandma (ColoRADo - New Mexico) Part 1
Grandma in Copper Bowl
(This Snow Story was created for Liftopia in February 2018)
It happened in slow motion…
the ski patrol undid the rope for the first plunge off of the Western Union Ridge and waved us on…
“Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhh buddy!” We dropped the cornice as the sun came out and powder plumed behind us. So lit! The automatic chanting began “Copper Bowl, Copper Bowl!” as we high-fived the lift dudes.
It’s a secret private powder Monday at Copper Mountain, and we are having one.
What’s up fellow snow lovers! It’s Liz, aka Grandma and Mary, aka Pizza from Elevated Locals (the site that you are on rn).
Early February (2018) we found ourselves in Colorado on a road trip headed to New Mexico. We began with four prime resorts: Copper, Loveland, A-basin, and Winter Park. Then we hit Monarch and Wolf on our way to Taos. Here’s a taste of our adventures:
COPPER MOUNTAIN (FRIDAY)
To avoid the masses we picked a Friday and Monday to ride Copper. Our Friday was bluebird, and we took advantage of the visibility.
We lapped the American Flyer, checking out the notorious Copper parks - they have a mini-pipe, a superpipe, and four parks (including one only for Woodward Copper lessons). Woodward Copper is a super progressive freestyle year-round training ground. Schooling takes place on the hill, and at The Barn - an indoor facility with foam pits, tramps, and skateparks. We signed up for summer camp, because it’s never enough. We also saw Copper’s new Rocky Mountain Coaster off of the Flyer lift - this snow roller-coaster speeds through the forest, and is more than a mile long - whoa!
The rest of Friday we toured the whole front side of the resort - seeing everything we could see - our faves = the Enchanted Forest, Super Bee lift, and the Resolution lift.
Fun Fact about Copper: the ski scenes of Dumb and Dumber were filmed at Copper (not Aspen).
LOVELAND (SATURDAY AND SUNDAY)
Loveland is the closest major resort on 1-70 from Denver, ironically it is not crowded. Who knows why, maybe because people secretly love lines and fewer laps. To each their own! We skied the land of love on a Saturday and Sunday never waiting in a line.
We fell hard for the gloriously wavy moon hill - so much structure, so many lines to be had. We love how the lifts are numbered instead of named - easy to remember! Our local guide for Saturday was Gunnar, who grew up skiing at Loveland with ski patrol parents, Gunnar took us to the Headwall where the wind had restocked the chutes. We found that to be precisely what we needed - again and again. It was mind-blowing to ski on top of the Continental Divide (Lift 9) and then ride over the Eisenhower and Johnson tunnels (Lift 4 - Lift 8) - the wonders of nature and man. The Ridge Cat hadn’t opened yet for the season, but on Sunday, our ever so marvelous benefactor James - the raddest of the rad, was our guide. He took us to some sweet sweet snow - I mean, he skis Loveland everyday, and has since 1983, so he knows where to go. We are particularly fond of the lines off The Plunge, the North Chutes, and all the bumps off of Chair 1.
Fun Facts of Loveland:
There are four rustic cabins built on the resort with grills for anyone to BBQ - spring time party status.
Every February 14th Loveland has a massive wedding, you can come renew your vows or do it for the first time.
COPPER (MONDAY)
As we mentioned at the beginning of this snow story, Monday was one for the books.
It was the beginning of February and Colorado didn’t have its usual amount of snow (not that we care, we love all snow) but as we rode the Rendezvous Lift headed to the back side we noticed more snow than reported. Were we about to get that long awaited powder day? We also noticed we were all alone. We knew we had to be careful (they hadn’t started running the cat to Tucker) coverage was sparse, hidden by freshies - the anticipation was high as we made our way to the Mountain Chief lift from Blackjack. The ski patrol was bombing, which is always exciting. Our first lap on Matchless was cool, as suspected there was hard gnar under previous tracks, whatever.
Then it happened, the ski patrol opened that first gate…. Oh blower, untracky dream laps! Patrol continued to open the ridge, and we devoured their offerings. It was a magical day.
A-BASIN (TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY)
That night it snowed 14” at Arapahoe Basin, and the frenzy began. The morning reminded us of a long awaited powder day at The Bird - where the valley shows up for what they love. Luckily it was a Tuesday. Don’t tell our family, but even though we got there before 9 AM, we didn’t wait in the lines for first chairs. We ate breakfast. Sorry bout it - but the breakfast at the A-Frame is banging. Despite being lazy and bad - we were still staring down at Montezuma Bowl by 9:15ish, and got in a couple of delicious untouched laps. The rest of the day we powder pigged around, sniffing out the fresh.
Wednesday was our special day at A-Bae. A-Basin opened The Beavers this season, and we were stoked on it. We took our Beaver run slow, and lapped up all the goodness we could take. It was stunning - long, with a bowl and tree chutes. All alone in this unblemished land is what it’s about. Then we ate our pocket sandwiches before the hike out. It was a Palla lift party for the rest of the day. We were hooked.
Fun Fact of The Legend - A-basin throws a midnight dinner party every month. It’s a feast at The Black Mountain Lodge, and then you ski down.
