Sunday and Monday Snow Skiing at Cooper

It's freezing

Sunday 2/25/18

We woke to 16 degrees in Salida and it was windy. We had to choose between Ski Cooper or Monarch, either place was going to be cold and windy. We decided to go to Ski Cooper because it was going to be a few degrees warmer and the wind was suppose to be lower. Cooper is about 70 miles from Salida. As we were driving we saw deer and bighorn sheep. A few deer were on the side of the highway grazing. Larry slowed down considering he didn't want to hit them. They were smart, they waited for the cars to go by and then they crossed the highway. I would have missed out on seeing the bighorns if Larry didn't point them out. They were crossing the highway and Larry pulled over to take pictures and watch them. Some of the bighorns had tracking collars around their necks. 

The closer we got to Cooper the colder it got, by the time we got there it was only 3 degrees. We sat in the car a few minutes and debated if we should ski or not. We decided to ski and were glad we did. The wind wasn't bad, it was a little busy but we expected this considering it was Sunday. When I was standing in line to pay for our lunch a young man told the cashier to put my lunch on his ticket. I asked him if he was serious and he said he was. What a great surprise. We skied until 2:00, I was starting to get tired. Our ski equipment is over twenty years old and the plastic heels on our boots have deteriorated. My heels are totally gone and Larry's decided to fall apart while we were at Cooper. On the way to the car we stopped by Cooper's Ski Shop to see if they had any more plastic heels. They had the heels for Larry's boots but I was out of luck. The gentleman that took care of us said it was no charge but Larry gave him $10.00. We had a outstanding day at Cooper. When we left Cooper it was 10 degrees. 

Driving through Leadville

Desert Bighorns

Temperature on the mountain at 2:53 11 degrees

Last night we stayed at Brown's Canyon Inn. It was an old inn, the owner remodeled the rooms and they came out great. The lodging was very clean and the rooms were very roomy. They had a good breakfast in the morning. We only stayed one night and then moved to Gateway Inn and Suites.

We got back to Salida around 4:00 and we needed to check in our new hotel for the rest of our time here.

Monday 2/26/18

Today we started out by going to the Gateway Inn continental breakfast. They had hard boiled eggs, different types of bread for toast, mini bagels, breakfast cakes, orange and apple juice, coffee, cereal, yogurt and Belgium waffles. Afterwards we went back to Ski Cooper.

On the way to Cooper we again saw bighorn sheep and deer. 

We had a super day on the slopes. The sun was shining and the wind didn't come up until noon. There was a lot less people so the slopes weren't crowded. We skied a few runs and then took a break. Then we did a few more runs and took a break for lunch. After lunch we skied a few more runs and then called it a day around 2:00. It was a lot better considering it was 32 degrees and very little wind.

The cafeteria at Ski Cooper

Styling on the slopes

A view of the mountains

On the way home we stopped by Safeway to pick up something for dinner, we ended up with a chef salad. Last night we went to Fiesta Mexican Food Restaurant which is right next door to Gateway Inn and we had their sampler for dinner. There was so much food we couldn't eat it all, we ended up taking some of it to our room. For dinner tonight we had the chef salad and leftovers from last night.