Colorado Skiing Can Still Be Affordable

Martin Luther King’s birthday is an important event on the Colorado ski calendar. With thousands of kids getting a day off school just after the snow really starts to get good, it’s no wonder. This weekend we ventured up to Ski Cooper, a small, family friendly resort where the ticket window price is still only $42 ($33.25 at King Soopers!), and ski rentals only $15. Less than 3 hours from the Springs, it is one of the only resorts that are on the Arkansas River watershed side of the Continental Divide, and also one of the only resorts that does not make any snow. Not a problem for us yesterday, the snow was great, and despite being a Sunday on a holiday weekend, it was not very crowded. I liked this a lot better than Monarch, a similar sized resort to the south, mainly because the lift setup seemed much more efficient, the runs seemed longer, and the scenery was amazing for the relatively small size of the resort.
We chose this smaller resort of mostly green and blue runs mainly because my wife had just decided she wanted to try skiing again after taking almost 15 years away from it. With equipment advances, she had been hearing how much easier it is now, and she was not disappointed. She was “cruisin the blues” with confidence by the days end, and we can now enjoy MY favorite sport together again! I’m sure we’ll visit this little gem of a resort again, especially if we’ve got any newbies with us, or if it is another holiday weekend.
We came back to some really warm weather, and it looks like we are in for a few days in the 60’s this week. January is not normally a big golf month here (it can be hard to spot your ball in the snow… :-), but I’m guessing the courses will be busy, especially today, the official MLK holiday.