Archive for the 'snow dance' Category

Copper Mountain Ski Resort 2011 Opening Day Approaches

Friday, October 14th, 2011

It’s just a few weeks until Copper Mountain opens. The official day is November 4, 2011. They usually are making snow in October, just to get the slopes ready. Copper Mountain is one of the best resorts to take new skiers. Most people look at where the challenge is, but I find it fun to get new people excited about skiing. Copper Mountain’s lumberjack lift has a plethora of slopes that help beginners relax and improve skills. The lift can take a while, but gives you a chance to check email, enjoy the scenery, or have a good conversation with your newfound ski buddies. Can’t wait!

Copper Mountain Opens Nov. 14, 2008

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Copper Mountain is usually one of the first Colorado ski resorts to open, and Nov 14 is a respectable opening date. I was kind of hoping they would open on October 14, but I guess life isn’t always fair.

Tonight I will perform my snow dance, as I think we are all ready for it to start snowing. And who knows? Maybe “Winter season starts Nov. 14, 2008” is more of a suggestion than a hard and fast rule!

Snow Rage: Don’t let it happen to you

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

This morning I saw an article about “Snow Rage” happening up in Quebec, Canada: That’s right, the French speaking ones. People sometimes get so busy trying to get from home to work and work to home, that they forget how wonderful snow is. We at skichicken central headquarters have devised a 4 step plan to help our readers respond to feeling of snow rage in appropriate ways:

1. Launch your body into the air toward a snow drift
It will lighten your mood and remind you of the thrill of being airborn. Snow was actually invented just to be a slippery cushion of fun. It’s in the Bible: Look it up. It’s somewhere in the front.

2. Go skiing or snowboarding in Colorado
Colorado has the freshest air, and the best snow for skiing and snowboarding. Your feelings of snow rage are actually from breathing city air and taking your life too seriously. It’s time to get back to nature. It’s time to purify your body, starting with crisp, clean mountain air. You need breathtaking views, slippery snowy goodness, and the experience that IS Colorado ski country. Find some remote part of Copper Mountain Ski Resort, or Snowmass, and just ENJOY.

3. Snow dance
Hey – you’re not going anywhere any time soon. Might as well enjoy yourself. Dance to celebrate the snow, or it’s melting. What you are snow dancing for is up to you – just break out in a snow dance and let it improve everyone’s mood!

4. Chill
Stand there. Slow down – no one expects you to be on time with that storm. Take your time, examine a few snowflakes if you need to. They’ll be gone before they know it, and so will you.

Holy Cow – There is snow!

Sunday, October 21st, 2007

I just got back to Thornton from Breckenridge. How Cow – there was a bunch of snow. We BARELY made it back over the continental divide. Many cars – including ours – were spinning their wheels trying deperately to get over the pass. I had better traction on the side of the road, but found our short little car could easily bottom out it I wan’t careful. Through careful twisting of the wheel back and forth, the occasional grain of sand(hey, I’ll take what I can get), and a lot of luck, we made it back over the pass and through the Eisenhower tunnel.

Even after the tunnel it was slick. It’s rare for me to see weather on both sides of the tunnel, but we saw it today. Some cars were exiting the tunnel way too fast, and one nearly went off of the road to the left! I got behind a nice dark horsetrailer with blinking lights and we made the white knuckle journey down the other side of the mountain. I was surprised to see SUVs behind me moving at the same snail’s pace. Maybe we all had a little more excitement than we needed that day. Snow is WONDERFUL to ski on, but horrible to drive through. Visibility was pretty minimal for a good part of the journey down the mountain. From Georgetown onward, it was clear sailing.

I have met the snow of the 2007 Colorado season, and I have this to say:

  • It’s slick
  • It’s fluffy
  • It’s wonderful
  • It makes me giddy
  • I miss it already

First snow of 2007: Spotted!

Monday, September 17th, 2007

The Denver weather folks just showed snow over the Eisenhower tunnel, up at the Continental Divide. Loveland ski area is up there, but I don’t think they’ve started the lifts. I may check their website just to be sure. Has anyone notified Copper Mountain Ski Resort?! I’d like to think there is a crack team of lift operators scanning the horizon for snow, their hands poised upon a giant power lever. At the first hint of a snowflake, they pull the lever when sounds a horn and starts the lift. If I ran a ski resort, that’s exactly how it would work.

Anyway, the snow dance is working. Despite protests from neighbors with small children. And good taste.

Snow dance begins

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007

Summer is clearly over in lovely Thornton, Colorado. There is a certain nip in the air that makes me start to jones for snow. The heat has been excessive this summer. No one in the Denver Metro region has said “Gee, if it could only have been hotter”. They never do. Of course, they don’t really talk like that anyway.

And now begins the time of year I perform my snow dance. It’s an eclectic mix of hip hop, funk, and goof ball. Just enough to get the snow’s attention in that upper atmosphere. But not enough to make anyone want to call the cops. It’s directed skyward anyway. “Yeah, I’m talkin’ to you, SNOWFLAKES”. They zoom overhead watching, waiting to fall on Colorado’s ski country. A good dance – well, a dance anyway – is what makes them want to land.

If you feel the urge, and I know you do, help out and do your own little snowdance.