Copper Mountain, Colorado

Copper Mountain first came to life as a ski-resort back in 1971. In the succeeding years, the resort has grown into one of the top Colorado resorts, successfully appealing to a wide range of skiers.

Beginners will enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the Union Creek area, which makes an ideal learning ground with long, gentle, wide runs. After you've mastered the basics, there are two huge runs to be tackled - Roundabout, off the top of the Timberline Express chair, and Coppertone, reached by the American Flyer chair.

Parents will appreciate the specially designed family zone trails, fenced-off and closely monitored by ski patrols to ensure they are kept as slow skiing areas.

There's lots of cruising blue runs to satisfy intermediates. A whole host of exhilirating runs are based around the American Eagle and Excelerator chairs. Improvers can test themselves with the 'soft touch' blacks Crosscut and Highline (use the Resolution chair).

Better skiers will find the hardest skiing on the East side of the mountain. The back-side has some really fantastic bowl skiing in Copper and Spalding bowls.

Super half-pipes, terrain parks and a board xc-course make Copper a popular destination for boarders.

In the ski village, everything is in easy reach of the available lodgings, including the day care center, ski school, ice rink, restaurants, bars and more than 30 shops. You can also use the swimming pool at the Copper Mountain Racquet and Athletic Club free of charge (assuming you're staying in the resort) .