Last weekend we spent it at Copper Mountain, Colorado.
It was not as enjoyable of an experience as it was in the
previous years at this time. The crowds were way too thick and Patrol didn’t do
its job in my opinion.
When we got there Friday afternoon, we skied two runs before
we decided that it was better to go back to our room and enjoy the rest of the
afternoon walking around.
On both Saturday and Sunday, we skied for 2 hours early in
the morning before we called it the day.
Patrol could have done a better job of speed control. I don’t
mind people skiing fast when they are under control and it is not terribly
crowded. But seeing people, skiers and snowboarders alike, going down full
speed without even making a turn to control speed was insane.
On Saturday we even decided to go to the green side to see
if it would be less crowded (no black terrain was open.) What we found was a
Team Summit snowboarding team of probably six athletes and a coach. They were
all going downhill next to each other occupying the width of the run at full
speed. I know that when the ski teams train in public terrain only one athelete
goes down at the time. But not these guys, they were going down together.
Overall, not a great experience. One could say to me that I
should had expected not enough snow or terrain open at the beginning of the
season and I would 100% agree. But what really disappointed me this trip was
the lack of control from Copper Patrol. I mean even the head of mountain
operations got plowed by a snowboarder and had a dislocated shoulder on Friday.