Copper, CO 12-3-17

EMSC

Well-known member
Ruh Roh, not looking very good.

Not a lot open, very warm (~40 at he base as a guess), and besides the small storm last night nothing in the forecast for new snow. At least cold weather will return for 4-5 days so everyone can blow snow.

What was open had better than expected surfaces though with one or two exceptions (the last 100 vert of the trail on the American Flyer for example). A few Hard pack 'icy spots, but mostly 1-2 inches of fluff all across the trail.

Skied from ~10a-3p once we figured out that Jr's ski pass RFID chip had stopped working for no reason and they had to print him a new pass. I snowboarded since I knew I'd be bored out of my mind on skis. First time I've ever snowboarded at the same time my son has been with me. We also choose Copper since we knew traffic on I-70 would be light and since Jr will be on the development team at Eldora - so we will get to see plenty of Eldora this year.

Biggest complaint is the massive waste of snowmaking on the 100% man-made snow piles for the half pipe, etc... (see the pics). Easily 1-2 trails worth of snowmaking used up for that before they even have much terrain open to the public (the only trail off super B is 100% dedicated to racers until mid-Dec).

At least it was good to get out and make a few turns.

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It's Murphy's Law. The 2014 half pipe qualifying was at then drought stricken Mammoth. There was much local grumbling about how snowmaking in January was being used for the pipe vs. restoring surfaces chewed up over Christmas.

I'm surprised EMSC wasn't at the Beaver Creek World Cup considering how marginal the skiing is.
 
Staley":2s62b9yz said:
hat halfpipe is for Olympic qualifying, event begins December 6.

Sounds like an event that should have been pushed out by a week or two. The Olympics are plenty far enough away yet to accommodate reality on the ground.


Tony Crocker":2s62b9yz said:
I'm surprised EMSC wasn't at the Beaver Creek World Cup considering how marginal the skiing is.

Considered it, but BC only had a single run open on a totally different area of the resort away from the race area. And I needed the exercise while Jr needed to get on skis ahead of an 'assessment' session with the development team to figure out his group assignment for the year. So, yes, we hiked and mtn biked all of Turkey day weekend (in shorts no less). So it was the first day on the hill for all of us.
 
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