Loveland or Copper for Friday 2/1

N

NeedhamSkier

New member
I have Friday and Saturday to ski with my wife in Summit County on the back of a work trip. Will be skiing with friends in Breck on Saturday and staying at Frisco on Friday night.

But we are driving up from Denver on Friday morning, so figure it makes sense to look at some of the resorts closer to Denver for Friday. So current thoughts are Loveland or Copper. Here's the question - snow reports (and Tony's comments) seem to suggest that the Loveland/A-Basin area is not getting as much snow as the areas further west. Copper seems (again based on their website and current weather forecasts) to have more now and have more coming during the next few days. But.... we'll be paying the walk-up price, as it seems the King Sooper-type deals seem to have disappeared, based on other posts. So the choice looks like $86 each for Copper (and better snow) or $54 each for Loveland. Quite a difference, especially since we will also be paying full price at Breck on Saturday.

Also, I've never skied Loveland and heard good things about exploring, and getting over to the area over by Chair 8. Copper I know and have always had fun on the back side and up in the bowls there.

Any thoughts or first-hand reports from recently? Is Copper snow worth the premium at the moment? Any other alternatives? - A-Basin and Winter Park come to mind as possibles.

Thanks in advance.
 
Haven't checked this year, but King Soopers deals last year were ~$5 off of full price. Not much, but worth a quick stop (~$20 for your 2 days * 2 people). Loveland is something like ~85% of normal/average snowpack and same with A-Basin. Not bad conditions by any means, but not great either.

You don't indicate if you plan to jump off cornices, ski chutes, etc... or just ski solid diamond pitches. Copper would be better right now for that due to a bit higher snowpack. Also, unless you like blue square terrain or @altitude hiking for better stuff, Chair 8 at Loveland is not too exciting.

Summary is that if interested in blue/single black terrain, Loveland or Abasin will ski just fine right now and be 30 minutes closer than Copper. If you are looking for the steepest terrain each area has to offer, Loveland and ABasin will be a bit rocky on those pitches (barring a big storm) and Copper would likely be a better choice for that.
 
There's no substitute for the local eyewitness to either back up or refute what we see from afar with the numbers. Thanks!
 
Thanks for the thoughts, EMSC. We're definitely more of the black diamond types than cornice jumpers. Very comfortable and enjoy exploring places like Copper Bowl, Vail Back Bowls etc. but not looking for the steepest chutes there.

Of course, a foot of fresh would be the ideal we're looking for, but we may not get that lucky on Friday. So it sounds like Loveland may be a better choice - enough challenge for us, particularly if we feel like hiking a bit, with only the really steep stuff a bit thin still. And from what I've heard, sounds like if there is any powder left over, we're more likely to find it there than at Copper. And $60 goes a long way towards a nice dinner at the end of the day!

I'm curious about the comment on Chair 8 at Loveland. Maybe it's just that you're looking for something a bit steeper, but what I've heard is that it's an area with enough slope to be interesting and a bunch of different lines to explore. Is that a fair description or have my friends been talking it up a bit too much?
 
I'm curious about the comment on Chair 8 at Loveland. Maybe it's just that you're looking for something a bit steeper, but what I've heard is that it's an area with enough slope to be interesting and a bunch of different lines to explore. Is that a fair description or have my friends been talking it up a bit too much?
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Well it's not completely flat, just really blue square kind of terrain from the lift. A few rather short pitches might get to black level, but not long at all for that stuff. Probably the best part of Chair 8 at Loveland is that there are so few people over there (very quiet and natural surroundings, etc...). It's a quad, but they could have put in a double and you'd have the same lack of lift line over there. So it feels rather remote from everything (moderately long traverse/in & out from chair 4; or at end you can ski down to I-70 and walk through a tunnel underneath back to the base area).
 

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Thanks for the reply - your description and the photo help out a lot. The lack of heavy skier traffic is definitely part of the attraction, but I understand now that long steep shots are not going to be found there.

Obvious follow-up question for you and anybody else who knows Loveland is whether there are any other parts of the resort worth sniffing around? Happy to hike some, but also recognize that Loveland looks like the kind of place that could be difficult to navigate if it isn't a blue-sky day.
 
Obvious follow-up question for you and anybody else who knows Loveland is whether there are any other parts of the resort worth sniffing around? Happy to hike some, but also recognize that Loveland looks like the kind of place that could be difficult to navigate if it isn't a blue-sky day.
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Very true. Just to throw some variability in to your plans, a number of front rangers follow the rule of if the wind is blowing hard or visibility sucks keep on driving past Loveland (can be brutally cold on a windy day).

Good stuff at Loveland would be Chair #1 (first chair to left standing at the base), Chair #9 - though that could be rocky in places this year, but what a view no matter what etc..., and kind of short but very good skiing usually, off of upper #2 and #4 heading into the gully where the base of chair #9 is (plus a few more shots on #4). Once did the better part of a day of skiing only the poma lift (basically the upper half of #2) into that gully where #9 starts. That was during a stormy day when I-70 was a mess so just gave up on the driving and went to Loveland...

Hate to use chair #'s on you, but you'll have to look at a trail map probably. Loveland is not Copper with very long sustained vertical. You'll get maybe 1000' of vert at consistent pitch at most (chair #1). Which is not to say it is not a fun area to visit. It can be quite good...

Not sure of anyone else, but that is my opinion on terrain at Loveland...
 
I agree with EMSC.

I really like Loveland. On a sunny day, I loved hiking/traversing for the smaller segments of powder on its steeper sections. Great fun. Open. Vast. Uncrowded.

In fact, I like this type of skiing vs. the more obvious lines at A-basin. I would rather seek out powder and have it available all day in smaller segments than session 1500 vert lines with heavy competition at Abasin.

Both are nightmares on a stormy day.

Copper has a lot of nice long bump runs. Yet grooms a few steep ones. And its bowl skiing is quite nice. And there are some good steep segments as good as Loveland. No difference in my book.
 
OK, we have a plan. Loveland if it's not windy or cloudy, otherwise we pay the premium for Copper.

Thanks so much for all the ideas and the locals feedback.
 
We just got back from Copper. The conditions were fabulous, and it was snowing like crazy when we left Monday morning. Broke our hearts to leave. :cry:

Don't know if you have time for this before you leave, but we got coupons on Ebay for Copper tix for $44 weekday and $50 weekend. If you can get the seller to send by over-night mail, maybe you could get them in time.

Also, if you feel like you could use some bumps training, there's a great combo deal -- a "bumpbusters" clinic at Copper in which you get an all-day class from 10- 3:00 for $80, or $98 including an all-day lift ticket. That's a real deal! It was a group class, but only had 8 students, with 2 insructors. The principle instructor is Steve Karp, a world-class mogul skier. He took the more advanced group of 6, who were mostly instructors looking for some kind of advanced certification I think. That left the other instructor, Rob Chuckran, for myself and another blue-black level skier, and I really got a lot out of the class. It was also hugely entertaining, since Steve and Rob were both pretty funny guys. You can find info on the Copper website in the lessons and classes section.

Have fun; I envy you!
 
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