Conditions were still early season, with lots-o-rocks and scrapin' goin'on.
I skied at Copper Mtn on December 14th and Keystone on the 15th (1997). Had a good time, even with such shallow bases.
Copper Mtn Skiing
Actually, come to think of it, Copper was quite disappointing. Only 1/3 of the mountain was open, and none of that included my
favorite areas there - Spaulding and Resolution Bowls which provide nice long runs and absolutely no lift lines (on the Resolution Lift...Storm King can get backed up), and Copper Bowl which I have not skied yet because it was opened after I moved from Colorado.
The A-lift blacks were open and we skied a couple of runs on Far East, but the snow was
too crusty (for me) to ski well on my first time out for the year. We pretty much ended up skiing the blues under B, B-1, and American Eagle lifts because of the limited terrain, and one of our friends was snowboarding and preferred the blues. I usually don't like to just cruise, but I did gain a new appreciation for my 2-year old skis (which I still think of as new). Man, do they hold up with
speed! A few times I got that uncontrollable grin as I was zooming down the mountain - You know what I'm
talking about!! :-)
The top map here is the trail map for the front side. A-Lift is on the left.
We also skied a couple of runs on the Excelerator lift before breaking for lunch.
After the late lunch, 2 of our friends decided to call it a day, so Rob and I ventured over to Union Peak. We skied Revenge - a good run, but this time it was more like a rock quarry. The black terrain in the Union Peak area is really good but the runs are pretty short and all were rocky that day. We didn't feel like rock-dodging again, so we zoomed back to B-lift for the last run of the day. This run is nice and long, covering most of the 2600' vert and spreading most of the width of the ski area. We skied it pretty much non-stop and as fast as we could - gotta make that last lift, you know!! We made it by a minute or so and enjoyed one last run on Andy's Encore and Ore Deal before calling it a day.
Once nice thing about Copper is that it does have great views, such as this view across the valley and this one looking underneath the B1 lift (I think).
Keystone Skiing
The next day being Monday, Rob went to work, in Colorado Springs, but I, of course, stayed to ski Keystone.
Keystone had much more terrain open than Copper, although about the same amount of snow. Most of the mountain was open, although the bump runs I wanted
to ski on North Peak (Geronimo, ...) were closed :-(
I took the new Summit express lift (right next to the gondola - gondola was not running and the Summit lift sent you through WET snowmaking! I was kinda peeved) over to the top of Keystone Mtn and skied Mozart down to the Santiago Lift and the top of North Peak, then down Spillway to the Outback Express.
I decided to ski the Outback South Bowl (trail map link) next - I took the pic after doing a little hiking to
increase the vertical (since it is such a short run anyway.) I ended up at what looked like an "almost" cliff about 10'
high - really too steep to turn on, but it wasn't really a 90 deg drop (it was holding snow). There was
about 10" of virgin powder below (as you can see in the prev pic), so I thought that if I wiped after the jump, I'd be OK. So, I jumped - and wiped. BUT, WHAT A RUSH!! That was the adrenaline fix I needed and I was psyched! I got myself back together and started the rest of the way down, but I really stunk trying to ski the heavy, sun baked untracked snow. Couldn't float up out of it...got very frustrated, but...oh well, any skiing is better
than none. The cover was so thin under the powder that when I would push into the snow to get back up (after falling - many times), I would sometimes feel the rocks below, or hear my pole scrap them. And, of course, I had to endure the long traverse back to the lift.
I skied the Outback (trail map - same as the South Bowl one) for a while on Timberwolf, Bushwacker, and Oh Bob (which was bumped up a little). Conditions were ok as long as you dodged the sticks and rocks. One thing I like about the top of the Outback is the view of Breckenridge.
Next, I took the lift up to North Peak (trail map) for a few bump runs before lunch. I was very disappointed that Geronimo and its adjacent runs weren't open, as I have never skied them. I did have fun on the other side of the lift skiing Prospector, then Powder Cap and Bullet. I had to cut through through the woods to get to Bullet where they had snowmaking operations going on. Since I was pretty much covered up, I went ahead and skied the run. It was fun skiing in the soft man-made snow - very much like spring corn. The run had small bumps on it, and I zipped right through them, sinking an edge deep into the snow every turn.
I then went in for lunch. THAT PLACE IS EXPENSIVE!! Good thing I was on business expenses :-) I had my favorite ski lunch - beef stew in a bread bowl. UMMMMMMMM!!! Of course I only took a 30 minute lunch - hey, I only get to ski a few times a year! I can eat anytime I want, anywhere I want.
After lunch, I skied Spillway nonstop back to the Outback lift then began to plan my last few Outback runs in order to get a last (of course!) lift ride up. I had to ski Wolverine because I had skied that run a few years earlier, as one of my
first runs, and it ate me up - so I had to get revenge!! I decided to ski one black run then Wolverine, then
another black afterwards. I had skied Timberwolf once already so I skied Bushwacker, to the left of Timberwolf. The bumps were sweet, and snow was generally good. I liked that run because it is a real glade with lots of trees and the feeling of being "out there", plus it got nice and tight at the bottom.
Next, I went to Wolverine. When I entered the run I skied it great, shooting through the trees...(for those Killington skiers, it is like Julio, except
maybe not as steep) - I was having a blast! Then, all of a sudden, the tracks ended. I was stuck trying to ski in about 8" of heavy powder (another south facing slope) - in the trees! I couldn't figure where all of the previous skiers had gone, so I just took the shortest route down (straight). It really was tough, and took so long that it ended up being my last run in the Outback. DANG!!!! - Wolverine did it to me AGAIN!
I took the lift back to North Peak and got in 2 more good runs on Powder Cap/Bullet and Last Alamo, being the last skier on the lift for the last one - YES!!!.
Then back to Keystone Mtn (trail map) and over to the (skier's) left side for Go Devil and The Slot, which I had never skied before. IMO, don't bother with 'em - short and boring. I took the Peru Express up and skied Schoolmarm/Jackstraw/Derculm's Dask over to the gondola base and decided to ski another (night) run. Heck, this could be my last ski day for the season. I never know how things will turn out.
I got to the top and decided, what the heck, I'll try for a top to bottom run. This was a new thing for me and I had been doing top to bottoms on the blues earlier in the day, but this would be at least 2200 verts!. I took off down Flying Dutchman/Lower Jackwacker/Derculm's Dask, and after about a minute, slid to a stop at the gondola base again. I DID IT!! About 2200 vert feet non-stop! I was so excited that I let out a "woop", and some girl standing about 10' away kinda looked funny at me %-). I explained my excitement, and talked for a couple minutes about night skiing. She said that there were bumps on Frenchman, so I, not the one to pass up an opportunity to absolutely ski my legs off, headed back up. Well, there weren't
any bumps up there, but the conditions were quite good and I skied that run plus another. I had never thought
much about skiing Keystone at night, but it's fun. I'm sure my new-found appreciation for my speedy skis
helped, as there are really no blacks open at night, but then again, no people to dodge either so speeding should not be an issue with ski patrol.
As I left on the LONG walk back to my car, I thought I'd revise my opinion of Keystone. While they still don't have squat for steeps and no REAL bowl skiing, a good time can be had in the trees and bumps. Actually, it reminds me of Killington, except for more gladed runs (with mucho more trees) and more of a
wilderness experience. My only reservation now is that they're building a new village at the gondola base,
and (for me) that kind of genericizes the experience. I really don't know why everyone is trying to copy Vail's look. Not everyone wants a ritzy-glitzy ski experience. (Long live A-Basin!!!)
A plug for my favorite cheap place to lodge: We stayed at Woods Inn in Frisco. Nice, basic, clean lodge. I like it, and prefer to stay there when I get out to Summit Co.
