Although this story is more than a few months overdue I found myself sitting at work becoming quite nostalgic of our little alternative Valentine's getaway to the quaint little village in the heart of the Colorado Rockies, otherwise known as Copper Mountain.  So being that I couldn't stop day dreaming about our skiing trip although the weather is becoming warmer by the day, I just had to finally break down and write the story of our montain adventure for all to read. Enjoy!

The idea of a ski-week trip began late in January as I was just winding down from a 3 month long traverse to 20 or so cities across the country for a work project that was just wrapping up.  Because of the great absence that I am sure was felt in our apartment with my presence clearly gone (try not to get TOO emotional thinking about it Damon) we decided what better time to make up for lost time than the month of "love"  (we are not typical "valentine's day gift-giving celebraters" i should note) which just happens to fall right smack dab in the middle of ski season.  Well, my boredom got the best of me at work, so I began researching and bringing home an agenda or two every other day to show my beloved roomate what kind of "deals" we could conjure up 13,000 feet above sea level.  After a week or so of deliberation, we decided on staying in a quaint little room at Copper Mountain Valley Resort, complete with ski package, and rentals to boot. 

Fast forward a month.

So it's finally time to go, we're all packed (I should mention here, that i managed to only bring 1 suitcase while my spiky haired compadre had to bring, ahem, two), ready to go, up at 3 a.m. to catch our flight and begin our week of fun in the sun!, er snow heh.  It's probably also worth mentioning that I had woken up the day before with what i believed to be strep throat/tonsillitis/or mono.  One emergency call to the doc and a trip to the pharmacist later, I had my meds in tow. 

After a couple hour plane ride, some waiting for our shuttle, and a nice, beautiful ride through denver and slowly up through the mountains,where we drove right past that house they blew up in the Charlie's Angels movie we arrive to a blizzard in the heart of the Rockies and some time to kill before we check into our room.  Perfect opportunity to scope out our surroundings, get some cold/altitude drugs and have a nice mountain lager while adjusting to the altitude (p.s., drinking while in high altitudes = cheap date)

So after checking into our room (which was small, and nothing like the picture we were shown) shopping a bit, and playing some Ms. PacMan (that's Damon's score, not mine) we decided to call it a night and rest up for our first day out on the slopes.

7 a.m. MONDAY

• Health status: miserable
• New Snowfall: 15" +
• Estimated size of living quarters: -500 sq. feet
• Outside temperature: 15 degrees

After a phonecall to find us a room upgrade STAT, some altitude/flu/energy/allergy drugs and a good 1/2 hour of whining, we finally made it outside to go collect snow on our tongues and ski equipment to mosey on up to grab ourselves some Tucker Mountain!

I'm going to let the pictures below speak for themselves.  Needless to say we were very sore after our first run and needed some good R&R the following day which consisted of lounging around the fireplace in our new upgraded townhouse digs complete with outdoor hottub and door to mountain access to the slopes!! Yahoo!!

On now to day 4, which would be Wednesday at this point and we were all set to get back up the vertical mountains and hit those slopes up for an all day skiing adventure.  At this point  i was feeling better, however my once healthier bunkmate was now coming down with a case of the sniffles and didn't look so hot, however after seeing that gorgeous periwinkle sky, and sun splashing down on the 30 inches of powder that fell the last 2 days he just couldn't resist staying in.  He was then especially grateful for the decision since he got the opportunity towards the end of the day to see me fall off the one-man lift in front of about 40 other eager double black diamond skiiers.  The lift as you can see pictures of below is not what you're picture a "lift" to be, but nonetheless it was rather treacherous, especially at 12,441 ft!  Oh and then it was stopped for a good ten minutes while we were left to be pelted with sub-zero winds and stinging snow...yuck!

Our trek on the expert side of the mountain though was worth it.  Damon was crushing slopes left and right and even managed to try a 360, and my technique was starting to get rather good.... except the clumsy forward flip I experienced on the bunny slope skiing back to our lodge hehe.  Today certainly tuckered us out but we weren't about to let a little sleepiness deter us from getting "Tuckered" the day after. 

Day 5:

Damon is still sick as a dog at this point, but we are both determined to make our last day of skiing a memorable one and make it up to the king of all mountains, Mt. Tucker, which one can only be accessed via Snowcat.

Well, we gave it a good shot anyway.  After traveling from our place, up 5 (yes, 5) lifts and waiting for 30 minutes for the SnoCat to come pick us and 12 other awaiting experts (yeah, I'm not an expert) up in the 18 degree weather, I tug ever so hopeful at Damon's coat and ask if we can maybe go back.  Although there was a bit of dissapointment on his end, Damon did agree to go find some whiter pastures for my sake to explore and make Tucker a feat to be conquered in 2009.  To finish off our day we treated ourselves to a yummy dinner, some deep tissue massages and movies with popcorn by the fire.  

The last day in Copper consisted of more picture taking for you to admire below, some shopping in Frisco, a few hours of jewelery making, and much deserved rest for our journey back home.....although we had our fair share of "rest" in the airport waiting for our standby flight to finally let us on as the very last 2 passengers. 

Well, there you have it folks!  Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them!  Let us know if you have any questions about the resort that we could help answer and of course give us your comments below!  Enjoy!