No show, just snow at Ski Cooper

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jan 24, 2002 | by Deb Acord

There are no outlying parking lots at Ski Cooper. No shuttle buses. No parking garages. No ski-in, ski-out condos crowding the base lodge. No pounding of construction hammers. No construction. No roar of snowmaking machines. No high-speed quad chairlifts. No terrain parks or half-pipes. No pretenses.

There are free refills on coffee. $3 pizza slices. The hiss of practical brown Carhartt canvas, leg to leg. White- and silver- haired World War II veterans who ski free. An exhibit of massive plank-like skis they used here 60 years ago.

Ski Cooper is one of Colorado's smallest ski resorts, and one of its most unique. Its trails were cut into Cooper Mountain in 1942 as a training area for the Army's 10th Mountain Division, stationed nearby at Camp Hale.

The men were preparing for the brutal winter and mountain conditions they could encounter in Europe. The elite troops kept the mountain busy, but when they left for the war, skiers from the Leadville area took over.

A Lake County recreation board oversaw the mountain for years after that, until 1978. "That was when the county set us up as Ski Cooper," says Anne Dougherty, Cooper spokeswoman.

The county determined Cooper would be run as a not-for-profit company, with a board of directors. "We pay our people, and any profits we make, we put back into the business," Dougherty says. Winter Park is the only other Colorado ski area run that way.

Cooper is laid out entirely on U.S. Forest Service land, in the White River and San Isabel national forests. Since there is no private land near the base lodge, there's no real estate.

And since there's no real estate, Cooper relies mostly on day- trip skiers and boarders from Colorado Springs and southeast Colorado.

"We do draw some from Denver and Boulder and Fort Collins," Dougherty says, "but skiers are more inclined to come to us if they don't have to drive past other ski areas."

Cooper employs 100 people, and relies on about 60 ski patrol volunteers each season. Only seven people work for Cooper year- round, as the resort is open only in winter.

Cooper advertises itself as a "kinder, gentler mountain," Dougherty says. "People come here because they have a better comfort level. They don't have to worry about their kids getting run over. They can work on their skiing or boarding. There's no pretense."

Indeed, some say Ski Cooper should be renamed Ski Carhartt, for the variety of unpretentious snow gear people wear there. The resort offers the cheapest tickets in the state - $30 for adults and $20 for children - and a new discount card offered takes that down to $20 for adults and $15 for children, not much more than a family of three can spend at a movie theater refreshment counter.

But Cooper is more than affordable and small. "There's an atmosphere at Cooper that's unique," says ski school director Franci Peterson. "People who come here say it feels like their private club. In the middle of the week, they can have a ski run entirely to themselves."

Cooper isn't one of Colorado's steepest mountains. It offers mostly beginner and intermediate terrain. But anyone who thinks there aren't challenges there hasn't looked up. Chicago Ridge looms, broad and high, as a backdrop. The ridge, which peaks at 11,700 feet, is the location for Cooper's popular backcountry Sno-Cat tours and Women in Powder Clinics.

"There aren't any cliffs to jump off up there, but it's a great backcountry experience for people who might not have skied backcountry before," Dougherty says.

The backcountry tours are open to strong intermediate and expert skiers and boarders. The Women in Powder clinics are designed for intermediate women who haven't skied in deep powder or hesitate to try it alone.

For those who never make it to Chicago Ridge, Cooper's runs remain wide and uncrowded. "This is the place to go when you want to feel like a better skier," Peterson says.

GET YOUR GEMS CARD

A free Gems card from Colorado Ski Country U.S.A. lowers the price of a lift ticket to Ski Cooper to $20 for adults and $10 for children ages 6-14.

The card also offers that discount at Arapahoe Basin, Loveland and SolVista, also Gems resorts.

Card-holders receive $7 off for adults and $5 off for kids at Monarch, Sunlight and Powderhorn.

Lodging savings include 10 percent off at the Buena Vista and Salida Super 8 Motels and Gazebo Country Inn Bed & Breakfast and a $99 rate for two including lift tickets at the Holiday Inn Grand Junction.

To register for a Gems card, complete a form online at www.coloradoski.com or call (303) 837-0793.

ALL ABOUT COOPER

Ski Cooper is nine miles outside the town of Leadville; about 135 miles from Colorado Springs.

Hours, closing date: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. daily; closes March 31.

For information: (719) 486-3684 or (719) 486-2277; www.skicooper.com.

One-day lift-ticket price: Adult, $30; ages 6-14, $15; younger than 6 and older than 69, free; 60-69, $18. $10 off adult and $5 off child tickets with free Gems card (see box at right).

Nuts and bolts: Three lifts, including a double, a triple and a surface lift. Base elevation/highest point: 10,500 feet/11,700 feet. Four-hundred skiable acres; 26 trails; 30 percent beginner; 40 percent intermediate, 30 percent advanced.