Ski Resort Highlight: Copper Mountain, Colorado

With in bounds cat-skiing, the most acreage in Colorado’s famed Summit County, an organized layout that benefits skiers of all levels, and a new indoor park training facility, Copper Mountain has plenty to keep any skier busy. Located 75 miles from Denver, in the middle of all of the I-70 ski resort madness Colorado has to offer, Copper Mountain and its 22lifts and 126 trails still manages to shine.

Copper’s 2,450 skiable acres include 21% beginner, 25% intermediate, 36% advanced, and 18% expert. Its unique layout that separates skiers of different levels by putting beginners on the west side, intermediates in the center and experts on the eastern side, sets a standard for North American ski resorts.  If you are just learning, or are looking for classic burners for a warm-up, don’t miss the wide groomers under American Eagle and American Flyer quads.  Want a little more challenge? Head straight to Spaulding Bowl or Upper Enchanted Forest. And if you are looking for even more, this locals’ favorite has plenty of double black diamonds and bowls on the 12,000-feet plus peaks, Copper and Union. If you head out on weekends, take advantage of the free cat-rides on Tucker Mountain, in Copper Bowl

Copper, which gets an average annual snowfall of 282 inches and has a vertical of 2,601 feet, was opened in 1972 by the famed ski resort conglomerate, Intrawest. It has three base villages, East Village, Center Village, and Union Creek, providing tons of après activity, hotels, restaurants, bars, and shopping.  Copper’s new and ground-breaking indoor park training facility, called Woodward-at-Copper, is the first of its kind in the U.S. and puts this local’s mountain on the map with park rats and jibbers. This resort is family friendly with a great ski school and plenty of beginner terrain, provides enough challenges for the best of skiers, and has a neighborhood village feel, making Copper Mountain definitely worth the trip.

You can find Copper Mountain lift tickets on Liftopia.com

By Katherine Matteson