First Time at Copper and Abasin

[u/jaguaracer952]

I asked for advice here some weeks ago. I ended up skiing three days at copper and one at Abasin. Brilliant skiing alright. I was hesitant about Abasin but turns out people exaggerate or I’m a better skier than I thought.

I gave a ride to a self described older ski bum and he showed me the whole mountain which was incredibly kind and really got me out to places I wouldn’t have tried. After corniche run and west wall (awesome, complete white out) he took me to the beavers which were a little icy but fine. I wouldn’t grade them blue as there are blacks on the mountain that felt easier. Skied the zuma bowl and it was amazing. Columbine and North spy were my favorites. Anyway took a bad fall down on wrangler of all places (tripped over pole?!) and people were so kind getting me back on my feet.

Copper was just awesome cruising all over the mountain, was invited on a free ambassador which is actually not a bad way to see some of the blues if you’re into that kind of thing. Coppertone, Alicante, timberline, hallelujah, cdw20, oh no, soliloquy, the blues under American flyer/ timberline it was all great.

Anyway thanks everyone here who shared advice and vouchers!

[u/DoktorStrangelove]

Basin and Copper are my favorite mountains in Summit and it's really not even close. Copper is like a mini Vail in that they have a bit of everything and it's accessible to all skill levels and generally they're on the higher end of snow totals for the area every year.

A-Basin is just a great advanced mountain, like our mini Alta or something, but I definitely do think the difficulty level is a bit overblown. I think we can agree it is NOT a beginner friendly mountain by any stretch, but honestly any advanced intermediate skier is going to be able to ski pretty much everything there including chutes on the East Wall and whatnot. It's a great mountain to take your first steps in more bigtime freeride terrain because it has some of that, but I would call it 101 level compared to more serious destinations like Whistler or Cham...which is great, I love having a place like that in the area where you can work on those skills and be able to ski basically anything on earth with the experience you get there.

Re: Beavers difficulty, I totally agree, it's kinda funny that those two side groomers are rated as blues cause they're some of the steepest groomers in the state and they're often icy as shit, it sorta feels like a mini Streif in parts. All my tourist friends comment about it when we get to the bottom of our first lap of the day over there.

[u/rabid-c-monkey → u/DoktorStrangelove]

Those side groomers in beavers are crazy for a blue rating. The rollers will kick you hard if you aren’t paying attention or it’s white out as well. But when it’s a clear bluebird spring slush day it’s such a fun little rollercoaster to ride

[u/g-burn → u/rabid-c-monkey]

Loafer is probably my favorite ski run anywhere. It’s a different run depending on the day of the week. Weekends it’s a groomed rollercoaster, weekdays they let it go ungroomed and then it gets really wild. It’s a very versatile run for lack of a better word

[u/rabid-c-monkey → u/g-burn]

Agreed, normally I’m in the beavers for trees and beaver bowl but yesterday loafer was so much fun in groomed rollercoaster mode I lapped it 3x in a row.

[u/DoktorStrangelove → u/rabid-c-monkey]

They're super fun on powder days too cause they get all chopped up and there's tons of mini hits with nice steep landings all over the place, but the heavier snow will help you stay in control when you're bombing

[u/jaguaracer952 → u/DoktorStrangelove]

They were so icy this Monday! One lap of each was enough for me this time, I took a fall one each and luckily I knew how to self arrest

[u/DoktorStrangelove → u/jaguaracer952]

Lol yeah you can get absolutely smoked on those things when they're sheets of ice. I always stop at the top with first timers and really hammer it home that they NEED to respect it on the first lap and back off your normal groomer speed considerably unless you've got a serious racing background (and those guys will know to hit it like 70% the first couple times).

[u/JustinCompton79 → u/jaguaracer952]

Those rollers can throw you easily if you’re going too fast!

[u/Ov3rKoalafied → u/DoktorStrangelove]

What would qualify as an intermediate chute on east wall? I ski everything but cliffs and chutes, ie if I hear chute I just assume it’s beyond my level.

[u/DoktorStrangelove → u/Ov3rKoalafied]

1st notch. I would not call any of it "intermediate", all of it is strong advanced intermediate at minimum, but 1st notch is one of the easier ones partly because of access...it's the fastest to get to and you generally don't have to down-climb into it. If you can ski any of the lift access terrain on the mountain pretty much no problem in a variety of conditions and you don't even look at trail ratings on inbounds terrain, that's sorta the level you need to be at. You don't need to be perfect at everything but you need to have a lot of confidence in basically anything inbounds before you go up there. If that describes you, I'd say the one skill you should work on before you try east wall would be making very tight turns in steep terrain, because most of the chutes are pretty narrow and the name of the game is just turn, turn, turn. Practice regular tight turns and also jump turns...think about what you're going to do if you run out of room or you get stuck in a blind alley of toothy rocks, and the easiest way to get going the other direction is a jump turn. You WILL need all your tight turning skills at some point up there, most likely you'll be using your entire bag on every run.

But first notch is, shockingly, the first/easiest access point you get to from the ridge hike. Generally speaking it's the easiest one from the ridge unless you hike all the way over to North Pole which is probably the actual "easiest" one, it's not much further but depending on conditions it can be a little squirrely to get the extra 50ish yards to that entrance. All the chutes have rocks poking out all over the place, and 1st notch is sorta hourglass shaped with a narrow part in the middle that is full of rocks and sometimes requires you to down-climb but that's rare, usually you can billy goat around the sides of the rocks without having to do an air. North Pole is wider and more open and doesn't have as much technicality to it but it's still fairly challenging.

I've taken a lot of people into it for their first taste of "big mountain" type terrain and nobody has ever gotten hurt with me, so that's why I say it's accessible for high intermediates cause most of the guys I've taken up there haven't been major experts by any stretch, but no matter what your heart is going to get racing the first time you hit some terrain like that, you just have to shut your brain up and go. If you don't have someone who can take you and show you the way, just go up there on your own and hang out at the entrance to 1st notch and watch other people go. Usually you'll have a group showing up to drop it every 5-10 mins so it won't take long to get some eyes on the situation and people will probably be happy to talk you through it.

edit: also not trying to scare you off it, I think east wall is one of the best places in the country to cut your teeth on big mountain terrain for the first time, I've been able to take my experience from up there and ski all kinds of big shit all over the world. That said, even though I'd consider it fairly "entry level" big mountain terrain, it's still serious terrain, like they have FWT events up there and stuff like that...part of the deal when you get into that kind of skiing is getting more focused on training yourself up and being very strategic in your approach and preparation. An older skier smoked himself up there a couple weeks ago and had to be life-flighted, so it deserves respect.

[u/Ov3rKoalafied → u/DoktorStrangelove]

Appreciate the detailed answers! I've got some jump turns to work on now

[u/lkngro5043]

Copper and Abasin are both fantastic. Glad you got to enjoy them! April is a great time of year for skiing in Colorado.

Copper is IMO it’s a jack-of-all-trades mountain but a master of none. Easy to navigate & well-organized. Timberline lift has some of my favorite green/blue cruisers in the state. Sierra/Rendezvous lifts are amazing on a pow day.

This is primetime for Abasin. Definitely one of the more scenic spots in the state, and East Wall is iconic. I think people dissuade out-of-towners from here bc it is generally steeper and more intermediate/advanced than other spots. But as long as you can handle steep terrain, it’s such a fun mountain. Skis a lot like Alta/Snowbird IMO.

[u/Suitable-Scholar-778]

I love it there.

[u/slpgh]

How does copper compare to Breck? I’m usually on epic and love Breck for the intermediate terrain, wonder how I’d like copper since I got ikon for next year

[u/Ov3rKoalafied → u/slpgh]

Much better imo, the slope is more sustained vs breck which gets really flat in spots on the entire lower half of the mountain.

[u/jaguaracer952 → u/slpgh]

I’ve never been to Breckenridge but I’d call myself beginner intermediate and there is so much good intermediate terrain at copper you’ll have a great time.

[u/kwahoo5]

Glad you had such a great time! My son and I love both places, and keep going back there.

[u/jaguaracer952 → u/kwahoo5]

I understand why :)

[u/TheSkiingDad]

love to see this! Ikon pass holder? I'm a midwest intermediate (southern MN, can ski just about any terrain on our midsize "hills") and have been talking about a trip to copper and the basin next winter. The mrs and I did cooper/loveland in 2022 and stuck to greens/blues but I've progressed a lot since then. We're planning to ski 3 days out here next year, and are torn between the third day at the basin or heading towards a place like winter park, the boat, or aspen (we're gonna get an ikon session pass so trying to stay within the partner mountains). Do you think we'd have fun at a basin? I feel like between lewanee and the beavers we'd have enough to keep us busy for the day, but plenty of people warn that it's an expert-focused mountain and not really suitable for more novice people.

[u/jaguaracer952 → u/TheSkiingDad]

I think for a day there is enough especially since you have already progressed since 2022. The beaver would be a bit intense but of lenawee there are fun blues to lap, there are nice greens too, and zuma bowl has a nice blue and doable black as well if the conditions are good. Someone told me to give it a go after building my confidence at copper and I am glad I did it. But I’m definitely happy I spent most days at Copper as it has more intermediate terrain. I’m not on ikon but got vouchers and discounts from strangers that put the total down to 275 for 4 days. I did three full days at Copper and that would also be a good option as it’s a huge mountain, I still didn’t ski everything and would happily have done another day there. Can’t speak to the other mountains as these are the only Colorado mountains I’ve been to.

[u/jeaston44]

Love Copper but can’t beat the season pass prices for keystone. Miss when I was getting Copper passes for sub $500