From: hultquist@vnet.ibm.com (Stephen S. Hultquist)
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 10:51:45 MST
Newsgroups: rec.skiing
Subject: Copper Mountain Skiing
Reply-To: <ssh@vnet.ibm.com>

                         Copper Mountain Trip Report
                               21 November 1992
                           by Stephen S. Hultquist
                    Copyright 1992 by Stephen S. Hultquist


Gang of usual suspects:
        John "Salmiester" Salmi, Jim "jym" T., your humble narrator
Honorable mention:
        Dennis "I *live* here!" Preston

As I write this from my study this beautiful Colorado November morning, I have
just finished a wonderful hot breakfast as a reward for shovelling the 6-8" of
snow off our driveway.  I am grateful to be home safe and warm -- but more on
that as we go...

Yesterday morning started early, with John picking me up in the light rain at
about 06:15, and the two of us meeting jym at 06:30 at the Bagel place.  After
grabbing some munchies and giving jym's wife Melissa our condolences for
having to work, we departed for Copper, psyched at the cold rain and
occational snow flake hitting the car here at 5400 feet.  jym had offered to
pilot his 4runner and let us ride along, for which, especially in light of the
expected snowfall (the weather people were telling us to expect 3-6" along the
front range and 6-8" in the central mountains).

John rode shotgun, and we shared histories, work, common friends,
technologies, powder skiing experiences, Tahoe snow, and everything else you'd
expect of three guys getting to know one another for the first time on a quest
for powder.  Just after 08:00, after a false start, we pulled into Dennis'
condo, and joined him for a few minutes, jym and John warming up on fresh
java while I pulled on my one-piece and boots.

After jym and Dennis spent some time on a visualization system that Dennis
runs on one of the computers in his house, we split for the mountain as fresh
flakes continued to descend on us.  We got to Copper about ten minutes after
we left Dennis' (Dennis had remained behind with his ill son, hoping to meet
up with us at Copper later), and as the lifts were warming up for the morning.
Just as we started our walk from the car, the first riders of the day headed
up the American Eagle high-speed quad, and five minutes later we were on the
lift.

As we rode, we admired the first skiers descending; obviously racers and
coaches, these skiers could carve and awesome line.  We met some of them later
and discovered that they were members of Japan's Nishizawa ski team, training
to compete in the Wolrd Cup events next week.  I'm pretty sure we also saw
members of the US Women's team.

We discovered early that the E and A lifts (which service the steeper,
eastern part of the mountain) would open after mid-day, so we ripped a couple
runs under the Eagle, grabbed the Flyer (the other high-speed quad), and
yo-yoed on the I lift (natural, rolling blues, natural snow only, a couple
steeper, bumpier parts, too) for a while, then broke for lunch.

We ate lunch at Copper Commons, *the* nicest resort cafeteria I have ever
visited.  The seats are softly cushioned and even have *backs* on them.  We
relaxed over a leisurely brown bag, then headed for the summit and the E lift.

Off the E, we ripped a couple runs on the natural snow of Murphy's Law and
Hallelujah bowl, drooling over the fresh snow in Spaulding Bowl, which they
were bombing in preparation for the snow coming this weekend.  As soon as the
A lift openned, we headed for it, blasting down Oh No and through the gate at
the top of Far East.  Wopee!  Far East hadn't been openned yet this year, and
there were but half a dozen lines on its surface!  The first dozen or so turns
were light, downy, and heavenly, even on my overworked legs.  jym ripped some
great lines, and I lost him in the cloud of snow he left behind.  After a few
turns, both John and I began to struggle, and I never did find my powder legs!
I did make it to the A lift, though, and jym ripped another run down Too Much.

However, we decided that we'd had too much, so we headed back for the I lift
and the more friendly terrain that my legs could handle.  And, as the snow
started to roll back in, we headed for the Commons and a cold brewski.

The most adventurous part of our day was the drive home.  The storm was an
"up-slope", so it got worse as we descended from the tunnel.  We passed a
couple accidents on 70, and crawled down Clear Creek Canyon at 10-15mph.  Then
the fun really started!  Highway 93 from Golden to Boulder was a skating rink,
with cars off both sides of the road, drivers showing their ignorance of
driving on snow and ice, and general chaos.  I arrived home just before seven,
after more than three hours getting home (usually a 90 minute drive)!  *whew*

Today's report shows that the storm dumped much more in the south than the
central mountains, with A reporting 5" new, 21" base, 35% open, Breck with
1.5" new, 19" base, and 196 acres, and Copper with 2" new, 23" base, and 45
trails (612 acres) open.

                           /\        /\          /\
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Steve Hultquist                    \         Integrated Systems Solutions Corp.
ssh@vnet.ibm.com                               IBM Boulder Laboratory, Colorado
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Where the earth rises to meet the sky...
Newsgroups: rec.skiing
From: speedy@speedy.demon.co.uk (Jeffrey Holdgate)