Copper Mountain, CO

Copper Mountain was another unexpected stop. As we were driving away from Fruita we pulled over because we knew my great aunt and uncle were visiting Copper Mountain which was only two hours away from Aspen. We gave them a call, and ten minutes later we were heading in a completely different direction. We got there at about six o clock and found them in a clothing store. We managed to get my mom out before she bought things we couldn’t fit in the truck, and went to a restaurant for the happy hour. Unfortunately there was an hour and a half wait for a table. The next place we tried was full as well. Finally we got a table at a Mexican restaurant called Mi Casa. After diner we went back to the house they were staying at and went to sleep.

The next day we went to Copper Mountain and instead of skiing we snowboarded. Even though we hadn’t snowboarded yet this year my great aunt and uncle both snowboard, so we thought we might as well. Actually my mom ended up skiing since she doesn’t know, and

doesn’t care, how to snowboard, but my dad and I both learned a few years ago. One of the most notable things about the place was the cold. It would have been about 15 degrees out, but with the wind chill it felt like 0. Due to this we couldn’t stay on the mountain for more than four or five runs at a time. Aside from the wind the boarding was pretty good. We had to stay on mostly blues and greens since we hadn’t snowboarded in so long, but at the end we went on a double black diamond on which I spent more time sliding on my stomach than my board. 

After all that sliding we packed up for the drive to Aspen hoping that we didn’t have any more unexpected detours.

st Zippity and passed by Zippity Do Da. After the Zipitys we went down Joe’s Ridge and came off on the bottom half of Kesssel Run.

The next day I just stayed home and worked on school work while my parents went biking. At about noon we packed up and left. Luckily we are planning to come again in about a week on our way to Telluride, so we can explore more of the trails. 

Fruita, CO

Our visit to Fruita was very unexpected. Our original plan had been to go straight from Alta to Aspen. Instead we decided to make a stop in Fruita because it was on the way, and the mountain biking there is famous. When we arrived we checked into a Comfort Inn, got some food from a nearby Chinese restaurant, and passed out.

The next day we went out biking. The trails were amazing in most places, unfortunately they were on a pasture most of the time, so sections of the trail there were riddled with holes from cow feet.  Our first trail that we took was called Prime Cut. Prime Cut is a trail that goes to the top of a hill. Off the top there are a lot of flowy trails coming back to the base of Prime Cut. After going up Prime Cut we came down Kessel Run because I really like Star Wars. Everyone brace yourselves because if you don’t know Star Wars this will be confusing. In episode 4 “A New 
Hope” Han Solo says that he made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. This alone is confusing because the Kessel Run is a smuggling route that is a fixed distance, and a parsec is a unit of distance, but right now that doesn’t matter. My point is that 12 parsecs is equal to 230,100,000,000,000, or 2.301e14 miles. In the Star Wars universe that was the record. My run was only 2.3 miles. Take that Han Solo. After Kessel Run we took Prime Cut up again and went on a trail called Pumps, Bumps, and Rollers. The joke behind that trail is that the initials are PBR, as in PBR beer.  The only bad thing was that on PBR I got a BUI (Biking Under the Influence), then I was all like OMG totes no fair.  After PBR we went a completely different direction. This time we went on West Zippity and passed by Zippity Do Da. After the Zipitys we went down Joe’s Ridge and came off on the bottom half of Kesssel Run.

The next day I just stayed back and worked on school work while my parents went biking. At about noon we packed up and left. Luckily we are planning to come again in about a week on our way to Telluride, so we can explore more of the trails. 

Alta/Snowbird, UT

Euphoria is the only word I can use to describe these places. I had the perfect conditions to use my Soul 7s, and Cater and his dad came to ski for a few days. Even

Henry was at Jackson for a day and we tried
for a meditation position on the trampoline.

better we had an amazing place that we were staying at. This place had an indoor basketball court and trampoline, along with a pool table and a hot tub. Needless to say I was never board.

The first day of skiing was at Snowbird. As we expected it was amazing. Undoubtedly that was the best snow I had ever seen in my life. It was exactly as it is usually advertised by the mountain. The snow was called champagne powder, and it lived up to its name. It was light and fluffy, and in some places I glided over it noiselessly. My mom had been talking for days about the famous Utah powder, and she finally got it. I’m glad the snow was this good because two years earlier my dad,

Carter’s dad, our friend Bob, my uncle Peter, and uncle John had come out to Alta/Snowbird and the snow was awful. Now at least Carter’s dad and my dad have skied the powder.  We found a bunch of trails covered with powder and a small terrain park with decent sized jumps.

Waiting for everyone.

The second day we tried Alta. There had been a small storm overnight so the snow had been replenished and there was plenty of powder. That day we mostly focused on a place called Cathrine’s area. In Catherine’s area there were mostly steep powdery slopes. They were in good condition all day because they took a bit of a hike to get to, and from the base they didn’t look great.

On day three we went back to Alta because we decided that it would be too chewed up at Snowbird. As it turned out Alta was pretty chewed up as well. Fortunately an area called Ballroom opened. It had been closed for the past few days, so there was plenty of fresh snow. We had to hike a lot to get to the best snow because within five minutes of Ballroom being open the bottom had been completely skied off. On our first Ballroom run I decided to hike up farther than anyone else in my group. It was a long hike, but it was totally worth it. I did the hike three times and found patches of untracked, six inch deep powder. After those runs we went down to the lodge for lunch. After lunch we took a few more runs then went back to the house to start packing for Aspen. Overall Alta/Snowbird was great. The snow was amazing and the people were friendly.  If anyone ever finds themselves in the area I would strongly recommend going, just be careful, you might have trouble leaving.

Just because the puppies are awesome 

Jackson Hole, WY

Overall Mammoth had been our favorite ski resort of all. Jackson Hole was just as good, if not better than Mammoth. There wasn’t a lot of powder on the mountain, but I had just gotten another new pair of skis for all mountain, so I could carve in them. We also tried some back contryish skiing in a place that almost no one went.  In addition my friend Henry had come up for a few days, so he could try skiing in the west. Originally we were planning to ski the first day he was here, but most of the lifts were closed due to 70 mph gusts. Instead that day we went to downtown Jackson so he could buy

In the town square there were four giant arches made
of elk horns. At night they were lit up.

souvenirs for his parents and brothers. We also ended up buying a butt load of candy, and he had a sugar high.

The first day of skiing we decided “as a group” to ride the tram up. I honestly voted against riding the tram, but I got vetoed. All in all we ended up waiting in line for an hour and forty minutes. After the wait we got crammed on a tram with 100 other people. My dad has real problems with those types of situations, so he looked like he was ready to scream. On the way up one person passed out, but it was so cramped that no one noticed until we were almost at the top. After that experience we decided not to go on the tram again. Admittedly the skiing was pretty good at the top. There was a lot of powder at the top along with really steep hills, so I was happy. We also found a gully that was untracked, so we had completely fresh snow. That day we mostly focused on the middle of the mountain. The place was so big that we couldn’t ski the whole mountain in one day.

On day two we did more skiing in the middle and on the left side of the mountain. On the left side we found a few trails that were untracked. To tell the truth they were untracked because the snow was too hard to track, but I’m looking on the bright side.

On day three my parents didn’t want to ski, so it was just me and Henry on an enormous mountain. Since we hadn’t done much on the sides of the mountain we

avoided the middle and hit some of the runs we had missed. On the right we found a couple good runs and a few icy awful woods runs.  My favorite run was on the left side of the mountain. It was incredibly steep and was covered with moguls. If anyone is detecting a theme with my favorite kind of run, you are right. I really like steep mogully runs.

That was the last day of skiing in Jackson Hole. The next day we drove to Alta, UT and met Carter, but I’ll have to talk about that in my Alta post.