Reliving our pandemic Colorado ski trip at Copper Mountain

Our extended weekend at Copper Mountain - about an hour west of Denver along I-70 - has been a perfect escape from the post-holidays doldrums. We arrived late Wednesday night after an uneventful day of flying from BWI and got to ski Thursday through Sunday, with a morning of skiing still ahead tomorrow before flying back late into BWI.

Being back at Copper helped us relive the month we spent skiing there during the heart of the pandemic - in December 2020 and January 2021, but that time we stayed a 15-minute drive away and this time we were at the base of the mountain. The two-floor condo was as close at it gets to the Super Bee lift and Christy Sports, where I demoed possible ski choices to replace my ancient but beloved ones. It provided a comfortable and very pleasant setting for my family, our neighbors the Jones’, and my son’s friend Caio.

We didn’t see much of the teens, who were off on the hardest runs and the terrain park and also went to the Woodward skate and scooter facility. These videos show what my son is up to. Meanwhile, I took it pretty easy most of the time, as a casual but proficient skier who mainly likes to do the groomed blues, a few black diamonds, and good helpings of trees and moguls, especially with my 10-year-old daughter, who is a bit of a daredevil herself.

It’s nice to have a great condo because after skiing each day, there’s not much you want to do but eat, drink a little beer and whiskey, and veg out. That said, we also hit the ice rink, dinner with friend Sasha at JJ’s next to our condo, the snow maze, a beer and pool playing one night at the pizza joint in Center Village, and ample candy buying.

I’m already getting excited for our return trip to Copper in the spring.