Copper Mountain is not your typical family mountain destination resort

[Travel Features Syndicate]

Family skiing at Copper Mountain Resort. Skiing is the best possible family vacation because it is an experience that is shared © 2011 Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

 

Copper Mountain in the Colorado Rockies is not your typical family mountain destination resort. It is hip, rad, happening... Cool.

 

Even grandpa and grandma look cool, strutting their stuff in their helmets and gear. Skiing and riding down slopes is a great equalizer, after all, an experience of personal challenge and accomplishment that can be shared.

 

Rather than be geared to families with the youngest children in that Disney-esque cutesy way, Copper is oriented to teens - the teenager we were, are, or want to be - and is where Baby Boomers can set aside the prospect of enrolling in Medicare and regain that exuberance they once had.

 

Copper exudes a youthfulness, a spirit, an energy.

 

That energy is everywhere at Copper - from the color scheme and typeface that evoke the 1980s, to the music that is piped into the plaza, to the on-mountain lodges and terrain parks, and on the shuttle buses. And it's infectious.

 

I mean, it is enough that the altitude, crisp, clean air, and the excitement of coming down the slopes get those endorphins going, but at Copper, they dance to a beat.

 

It's not just the atmosphere, it's also the programming on and off the slopes, most notably Woodward at Copper, which is a unique indoor/outdoor skiing/snowboarding training facility and program, (see more).

 

Then there are the teams that come from all around, its parks and pipes including a 22-foot Superpipe (new this season), and an active apres-ski and you have a really happening place.

 

It is the place that kids in the know will plead for their parents to take them.

 

And if ever you have thought of skiing the Colorado Rockies, this is the season to do it - the snow is absolutely spectacular, and with 22 feet of snowfall this season, the base will last until closing day, April24.

 

There are many things that make Copper unique (and I don't usually use the word), most spectacularly, Woodward at Copper, free Ambassador Orientation Tours of the mountain, the Noon Groomer (one groomed trail is kept closed until noon, so there is fresh powder even in the afternoon); free snowshoe tours offered twice daily (even the equipment is provided for free), free ice skating on a small pond at the village center (rentals available), and a score of special events and programs like free skiing with a Ranger, and a chance to watch avalanche dog demos with the Ski Patrol (Saturdays, meet at the top of the American flyer or super Bee lifts at 12:30 p.m.).

 

And how about this? Free cat skiing to advanced terrain on the double-black diamond terrain of Tucker Mountain.Cat skiing at most places is sold at a premium price, but at Copper, you can ride, first-come, first-served. This is as close as you can get to a back-country experience while staying inbound in patrolled terrain. Two cats, each carrying 12 people each (24 people every 20 minutes), go back and forth between 11 am. and 1:30 (weather permitting). The Cat takes you up to a spot where you can ski down, but there are those who like to hike another 20 to 60 minutes to get to even less tracked terrain. This is just for experts, though - just getting to the base of Copper Bowl, requires navigating expert terrain.

 

There are other special events that give Copper its distinctive character (as well as added value): Kid's Night Out, which is common at most ski resorts, has an interesting twist here (as well as at Winter Park): the $30 per child fee is waived when you spend $30 on dining or shopping in the village during the time your child is in the activity program, where they get pizza dinner and have activities (recommended "date night" dinner place: CB Grille, which is both upscale, sophisticated, yet comfortable, featuring steaks, chops, wild game and seafood cooked to perfection over a wood-fired grill), and live guitar music several nights.

 

On the Mountain.. ( read more and see slideshow)

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