Mar 13, 2010

Copper Mountain, Colorado

Condo rental perfection!

By Lisa T. Bergren

It’d been years since we skied Copper Mountain. When my girls were young, we popped them into Copper’s ski school—at the time, one of the ten best in the country—and had a blast under blue skies and amidst spring temps. Now that I’m an adult, I don’t willingly do frigid cold skiing; I’m a fair weather skier girl who favors blue slopes to black. I’m out to enjoy the day–not conquer much of anything.

In recent years, a failed business attempt has kept the ski budget strings more tightly tied; we’ve gone to Winter Park for the day or Monarch on a family trip with the church–where we all stay at a camp to keep costs down. Last winter, we skied at Blacktail in Montana, which was shockingly affordable, especially since we could lodge with my parents. But this year, I was hankering to return to Copper, and after Copper Condos graciously offered to comp us a condo for a long weekend, we planned on a family getaway.

I love trips into our nearby mountains. It reminds me of the natural wealth we have in Colorado. Too often I ignore it, settled into life in suburbia with all its accompanying M-F demands. Every time I’m out, gazing in awe at ice-hewn peaks against sea-blue skies, or watching fat snowflakes gently fall at onto thick frosting layers across hillsides, I’m reminded of how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place.

So we packed up crates of food (a serious cost savings for a family of five on a ski trip), all our ski clothing, rented skis and boots from Breeze (25% off if you do it online before you go), and drove the 2.25 hours from Colorado Springs to Copper (a little over an hour away from Denver).

The first night, we lugged our provisions up to the condo, marveled at the slope-side location (truly ski in, ski out!), then headed off to go tubing. (Don’t miss tubing at Copper–serious fun, and kids 36″ tall or bigger can do it!) Then we returned for some dinner and a good night’s sleep.

Day One & Ski School

The next morning, we retrieved Emma’s 5th grade ski pass and settled my six-year-old into ski lessons up at Union Creek. It was a beautiful Sunday in March, so they were swamped. The beginner crowd was big, and it took them a while to get them out to the magic carpet. The instructor seemed to need a couple more to help him; it took half an hour for adequate help to join him. There weren’t GPS units on all the kids, as promised. If I hadn’t had a 50% off coupon for the lesson, I would’ve been irritated. But about an hour into it, they seemed to get it together and I left to ski with my girls.

At the end of the day (lessons run from 10-3), I picked up Jack and the instructor told me they’d been a bit late, getting to the chair lift (because of all the kids) but they’d still managed to get in four runs after lunch. Jack was elated–he’d done great, and moreover, he’d had cheeseburgers and soda for lunch. (For him, skiing and burgers in one day makes it a great one.) When you’re a parent of learning-to-ski kiddo, when they end the day smiling and ready to take a run with you to show you what they’ve learned, you can count the day as victorious.

We returned to the condo and had dinner, then watched a movie together. If you’re looking for a great place to stay and have two or more kids (this one would sleep a family of 8), I highly recommend this place, Copper Junction 201. Ski lift is within 100 steps, ski lockers downstairs, right on the Central Village square…because it’s in an older building, the entire condo is much bigger than other units, and they’ve done a nice job updating it. You can read a more detailed review from me on their site, in the comments section.

Day 2 & Family Ski Day

The next day all five of us set out. It’d been snowing all night, giving us six inches of fresh snow, and continued through the day. Lift lines were short and the slopes were perfectly groomed.

We had a great day, and after it was done, the kids and I headed over to the Athletic Club for a swim. Cost was $5pp to enter (I think it’s free if you rent through Copper). It’s a nice center–but it was a bummer that the pool was about five degrees too cold and the kids weren’t allowed to get into the jacuzzis (15 and older). That’s a fine rule if your pool is warm enough to distract them…Since the women’s room was empty, I let them slip into the hot tub to warm up and then we dressed and headed back to the condo for another great dinner and to watch the snow continue to fall.

Day 3, Back to Ski School

The girls skied alone this day while I packed up and got some writing done and my hubby headed down the mountain for work. They left to hit the lifts as soon as they opened and skied almost until they closed…a real benefit of being so close. Over the weekend, they’d learned that Sean White (snowboarding gold medalist) had recently been at the resort for an event, and on the lifts, they’d met a ton of kids from around the country who were at Copper to compete to go to Nationals. Copper has clearly “arrived” as a world renowned resort.

Jack did another day of ski school, graduating to the “green flag” with the kids who had graduated to more sophisticated lessons. They cascaded him through three different groups over the course of the day, at one point, sending him on a snowmobile to another group (which he thought was very cool). But I was left to wonder–could they not figure out where he belonged earlier? Very confusing. Still, Jack was happy when I picked him up and he had obviously progressed, making nice turns and able to come quickly to a stop, something every skiing mom wants to see ASAP in her child.

All in all, we were sad to leave Copper and return to Real Life. The sleepy, cozy village is welcoming and engaging, with great restaurants, ice skating, and cute little shops. The mountains shoot up all around you, so you feel you’re nestled into a mountain retreat. It was a lovely family getaway–one we’ll be eager to do again.

Disclosure: Copper Condos graciously housed us for this ski weekend and Copper Mountain kindly gave us five lift tickets. But trust us when we say it doesn’t affect our review. What you’ve read here is what we’d tell our BFFs.

Click HERE to read our Copper Tubing Report.

Click HERE to read our teen’s report on Copper.

Click HERE to read about why, as a mom, I ski, when I’d really rather read.

Have YOU skied Copper Mountain? Or do you have a favorite Colorado ski resort? Please comment below!