Colorado's high country is already renowned for its world-class skiing, but one resort might be about to get a whole lot bigger. Copper Mountain has announced plans to expand by more than 500 acres and add several new lifts.
On February 27, White River National Forest approved a master plan that aims to increase the Summit County resort's capacity and help skiers move around the mountain more easily.
To achieve this, the resort hopes to increase its skiable terrain by 14%, bringing the total to 4,154 acres. It also intends to add six new chairlifts to its existing count of 24, including a 5,900-ft four-person chairlift to the top of the 13,211-ft Jacque Peak. If plans go ahead, that would be the highest ski lift in North America and access terrain within the Tucker Gulch drainage.
The proposal also suggests upgrades to eight existing lifts and aims to increase intermediate terrain at Copper, which it says is low relative to other comparable resorts.
The upgrades will mean Copper, which has been in operation since 1972, will be able to handle significantly more skiers than years past, while spreading skiers out better across the terrain. Currently its capacity is 11,870 skiers, but with the new lifts and terrain in place, it will be able to load 15,360 skiers per day, which could cut down on the number of front ranger skiers continuing over Vail Pass.
The resort has more potential growth on the horizon, too. Copper's Special Use Permit still leaves over 3,000 acres of undeveloped terrain after this expansion that the resort hopes to use in the coming decade.
"In the next ten years, CMR’s goal is to capitalize on the tremendous potential of the resort’s existing Special Use Permit Area (SUP) to meet the ever-growing demand for developed recreational skiing as a regional and destination resort," states the plan. Looks like it's time to clean up in REI's end-of-season ski gear sale.
Copper Mountain Resort is owned by Park City-based Powdr, which also owns Eldora, Snowbird, Mt Bachelor and Silver Star in BC. It recently announced it will close for the 2024/25 season on May 11, making this season the second longest on record for the mountain.
