The back bowls of Copper Mountain

Earlier this fall, Mark and I decided we would go ahead and make the investment in a pair of 4-packs to Copper Mountain and try to get several days of skiing in this year. Last winter, I had one 3 hour lesson and a very scary and embarrassing experience on a steep green at Winter Park that effectively ended our ski season in December last year. We chose Copper Mountain for our passes this year because the mountain has a large amount of gentle green terrain that doesn’t intersect much with faster slopes.

Last weekend, we had a fantastic two days of early season skiing at Copper Mountain. We really lucked out this year as a couple large snow storms have already blown through, and Copper Mountain had almost 40″ of packed powder base already this year. On Saturday, Mark and I both signed up for full day lessons. It was early enough in the season that there weren’t many other people in the classes. In fact, Mark had his instructor all to himself, and I had only two other people in my class.

We both had a great day and learned a huge amount. I learned to relax and use balance, not force in my skiing. I improved my trust in my turning ski (lean on it, and it will turn!). Mark learned to carve and stop with a right turn.

We cemented our new skills on Sunday and had another great day in the sun and snow. I started to bring in my inside ski for more parallel-type turns and a little bit of a sliding stop. Mark had a fantastic, cloud of snow, skis and poles flying up in the air crash on one of my greens. That was fantastic to watch!

So, now it’s Monday morning. I’m so sore I can’t hardly walk. Mark groans every time he moves. And we both can’t wait to go back.

For more shots from the weekend, check out the photo gallery.