March 19, 2018 Copper Mt

A storm arrived at Copper last night, but it was only 2''. It is about 12 miles from our parking site to Copper - not bad. They have a shuttle bus system that has buses for black lift/trails, blue lift/trails, and green lift/trails. The buses are very efficient, and it is only about a 100 feet walk to the village and lift. We used our MAX Passes and you do not need to get a separate lift ticket; just put the MAX Pass in a jacket/pants pocket. It was a groomer day with a bit of fresh powder on some of the edges of the groomers. The mountain is setup to get the skiers in the areas that meet their skill set, most of the time. We skied the Copper Bowl and there was fresh powder, but it has a south face and you want to ski high and not get enticed into going lower as the rocks were showing. We used the Blackjack lift which is painted "copper' and is probably from the 1980's and is a 2-seater. The snow pack is fine if you don't get excited about some of the lines without a skier/snowboarder having been there first. You need to be cautious when you don't know the area. We didn't have enough time (or energy) to ski Spaulding Bowl. There was a brief snow shower, sun, and some clouds. They will be on the new Ikon Pass in 2018-2019. The Epic and Ikon Passes are starting a marketing game, and it will be interesting to see how things settle out, i.e. which ski areas go where.