The weather for the start of the trip from Chicago's Midway Airport Wednesday was beautiful, and the 25 of us enjoyed a relatively smooth flight that arrived on time in Denver. Collecting luggage at the Denver Airport and loading the bus for Copper Mountain also went without a hitch. Even with the longer than planned for stop at Applejack's and King Soopers to stock up for the weekend, we still arrived at Copper Mountain Lodging ahead of schedule. This resulted in the only glitch for the week, since porters had to be rounded up to get our luggage from the bus to our condos. The delay in getting our luggage wasn't too long and only 1 pair of skis and 1 bag were delivered to wrong rooms. Most of us managed to get to our welcome reception for drinks and appetizers, and we got acquainted and obtained our lift tickets. The ski and luggage mix ups were straightened out soon afterwards, and participants who didn't need rest at the end of the travel day found a good variety of locations for more food and drink near by. Our lodging was in Copper's Center Village in the middle of the resort's restaurants and bars and near the Center Village lifts. Two of the 3 who drove to the resort arrived in time for the reception while the 3rd arrived for afternoon skiing the next day.

Thursday's weather was mostly sunny and temperatures reached the mid forties (great for getting familiar with the skiing terrain) though it was a bit windy at the top of the mountain. Some transplanted Chicagoans who were more familiar with the Copper area joined us for the ski day.

We got a couple of inches of new snow over night and a dramatic temperature drop for Friday. With temperatures only climbing into the low 20's, we skied in snow flurries all day. The Solitude Grill at the top of the American Eagle lift was good for a mid-morning coffee stop or a quick lunch stop to warm up. After skiing, there were a lot of restaurant and bar choices for dinner in the Village. Our condo chose the Casa Sanchez for an excellent Mexican dining experience.

Saturday morning brought hopes of powder skiing in the snow from the previous day and overnight, but it only totaled another couple of inches at the base. The day started off cold and overcast, but the clouds broke up later in the morning and we had sun and intermittent clouds for great skiing conditions. The crowds showed up for the closing weekend Sunsation festivities which included a live band and RedBull SlopeSoaker pond skimming for entertainment at the mountain base. We found excellent ski conditions in the Timberline lift area after some of us took the challenge of skiing the Enchanted Forest to avoid the American Flyer lift line on our way to the Timberline chair and then to some more great skiing in the Sierra Bowl. At the end of the ski day there was live music at the base by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

Sunday gave us an inch of new snow overnight and temperatures warmed to the 40's. It was one of those beautiful blue bird ski days. We again tackled the Enchanted Forest – this time with a little more insight into where we would end up. Some of us were too busy skiing to fully experience Copper's Retro Shred-A-Thon event, but there were some strange outfits on the mountain. The beautiful weather was great for ending the day listening to the live entertainment at the base provided by the March Fourth Band, stilt walkers, hoopers and Vaudeville-style dancers.

Everybody agreed it was a fun weekend of skiing and partying – a great way to end the ski season.

Larry Douglas, Trip Leader