Shredding Ski Cooper: No Crowds, Great Value

Send us a text

Audio only, see YouTube for full video...Thanks

Ski Cooper outside Leadville, Colorado, offers an affordable, uncrowded skiing experience with rich historical connections to the 10th Mountain Division. The resort stands apart from corporate-owned ski areas, offering great value tickets and a meaningful opportunity to honor the veterans who shaped American skiing.

• Natural Medic films a ski run at Ski Cooper, experiencing ideal conditions with manageable crowds
• Detailed history of how the 10th Mountain Division trained nearby during WWII before fighting in the Italian Alps
• Monuments at Ski Cooper commemorate the 990 soldiers who lost their lives during the WWII campaigns
• 10th Mountain Division veterans went on to establish major Colorado ski resorts, including Vail and Aspen
• Cooper provides an affordable alternative to corporate resorts while maintaining excellent skiing conditions
• Budget approach to ski gear with tips on finding quality equipment at thrift stores for under $100
• Recommendation to rent equipment first before investing in personal gear

If you liked the video, make sure to give it a thumbs up and think about subscribing for future adventures of the Natural Medic.

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody, craig the Natural Medic doing a
little run on Ski Cooper outsideof Leadville, colorado.
Hope you'll enjoy seeing this.
We're gonna head out this way.
Let's check it out.
Hopefully the wind is not toobad.

(00:21):
Beautiful view guys.
Hope everybody's enjoying this.
How about a thumbs up?
This is an experiment.
Right now I'm skiing with nopoles.
I'll try to have some coolmusic.
Pretty good, almost lost itthere, alright, getting down

(00:45):
towards the bottom.
Let me tell you why I love SkiCooper.
Usually it's not very crowded.
Really good deal on tickets.
This week this is the last weekwhen I'm filming this and the
music comes back.
One thing to think about as youcome out is the 10th Mountain

(01:07):
Division.
Ski Cooper would not be herewithout the 10th Mountain
Division.
So if you want to pause thevideo and read all the whole
panel, be my guest.
But I'm going to summarize itfor you.
In World War II the Finnish Armydid a great job repelling the

(01:27):
Soviet Army.
They realized they didn't havea similar unit in the United
States Armed Forces, so theystarted figuring that out and it
really was all volunteer.
It was people that had alpineskills, skiers, mountain
climbers and survivalists thatcould survive in harsh

(01:49):
environments Just about sevenmiles north of where we're
standing.
Camp Hill was developed totrain these soldiers.
Their training was held in oneof the harshest winters.
They had further training inTexas and they were ready to go
to the mountains of Italy tofight in World War II.

(02:10):
They were one of the lastdivisions to go After the war.
The unit was utilized in a lotof different ways.
A lot of the veterans didpublic service.
Some started ski resortsthroughout Colorado, so Vail,

(02:32):
aspen, arapaho were all startedby veterans.
Virtually every major ski areahad 10th Mountain Division
veterans in it in some aspect ofits operations, veterans in it
in some aspect of its operations.
In 1985, they reactivated theunit and it saw action in
several places such as Somalia,haiti, bosnia-herzegovina,

(02:54):
afghanistan, iraq, and alsoperformed humanitarian
operations.
But going back to the Po Valley,there was defenses that the
10th Mountain fought against andthey pushed the Germans back,

(03:16):
long story short, to the Alpsand Italy was able to surrender.
Also, you had Kiska Island inthe northern Apennines, which
was a mission that theyundertook in the Aleutian
Islands, which is part of Alaska, whereas that was the only time

(03:45):
during World War II that aforeign government possessed or
occupied US territory, some ofthe Aleutian Islands were
occupied by Japanese forces.
Pretty cool history.
I definitely recommend you readabout it if you want to know
more.
They give honor to the 990comrades that were in the 10th
Mountain and lost their livesduring the Italian campaign and

(04:05):
the Aleutian Islands.
So this is all of their names.
Let's take a moment andremember them.
If it wasn't for these guys,debs, they certainly helped.
The project was completed withthe help of the 4th Infantry
Division in Fort Carson,colorado Springs.

(04:25):
This one right here is calledthe Norwegian Monument Because
of the heritage of Minnesota.
You had lots of Norwegiandescent people in the 9th
Infantry Battalion.
This is a monument to them.

(04:49):
It's a difficult tablet to readin the light here, but it's
talking about the OSS and theski troopers and the liberation
of Norway.
That happened in 1945.
This is the entrance to Cooper,where you also have the
Tennessee Pass and the SanIsabel National Forest which Ski

(05:09):
Cooper is in.
If you look over here, you havethe Continental Divide, which
is at 10,424 feet and is amemorial to the 10th Mountain
Division called Tennessee Pass.
The armed forces of our nationhave done a lot for us and we

(05:30):
salute them, accomplish themission their leaders send them
to World War II was a pretty bigdeal.
I have my poles in my right hand, filming with my left.
Hopefully we'll be able to seeall this.
What a beautiful view of themountains.
The snow is pretty icy, which Ikind of like.

(05:57):
It's definitely a lot easier toski on.
I did unfortunately fall comingoff of the lift.
I was riding with a 79 year oldgentleman from Wyoming.
I think our skis got caught upa tiny bit and I fell on my

(06:18):
right hip.
I feel okay, I probably willfeel that one in the morning.
I'm just taking it easy becauseit's my first run of the day.
I typically use my poles tobalance.
I have them in one hand becauseI cannot balance to balance.

(06:43):
I have them in one hand becauseI cannot balance very well,
holding both of them.
Getting a little softer towardthe bottom here.
Those top parts of this runWere a little hard, especially

(07:04):
when I fell.
Well, while it's nice to gofast, I prefer to be in control.
But my humble opinion, you'd behard pressed to find a better

(07:27):
value ski cooper, one of the fewin Colorado that is not run by
a large corporate entity.
So that's pretty freaking cool.
Haven't been in many years, butI'm really enjoying my time
here, the last cusp of the skiseason for spring, so there'll

(07:50):
be more to come.
Stay tuned.
I always recommend that you putyour lift bar bar down.
They do want you to do it hereat Ski Cooper.
If you fall out of these lifts,you're going to be in a world
of hurt and you could die.
With that in mind, it's prettycool riding these lifts.

(08:11):
I've been to Ski Cooper.
Probably this is my 7th or 8thtime.
My first in several years.
The last time I was here waseither 21 or 22.
First in several years, thelast time I was here was either
21 or 22.
Cool thing about being here atSki Cooper is it's affordable.

(08:33):
It's never seems to be superbusy, at least the times I've
been here during the week.
I couldn't speak for it on theweekends.
If you have any questions orcomments about this place, leave
them below.
Thanks, let's talk aboutequipment that you need.
Obviously, you need a helmet toprotect your noggin.
I have never worn a helmetuntil this ski season.
Shame on me, but I found onereally cheap at a thrift store

(08:53):
in Tucson when I was in Tucsonrecently.
Additionally, it came with somegoggles, but you can just use
regular sunglasses if you want.
I was very lucky to pick up apair of boots these are
Rossignol, I'm probablymispronouncing them.
I got them at a second-handslash thrift shop in Durango.
Dropped about 100 on them.

(09:14):
It's probably too much.
And recently, on the way uphere to Leadville, I obtained
some Salomon boots which I haveto readjust my bindings for 25
bucks.
I've got a neck gaiter herethat I got on clearance at REI.
This outer shell jacket is acheapie from Timu.
You definitely want a shell onyour outside.

(09:36):
I have a soft shell jacket thatI got several years ago, but
pretty much any warm stuff willdo.
Just dress to your comfortlevel and realize you might get
warm throughout the day.
Let's look at the bottom.
Here For pants, I have actuallybibs on by a company called

(09:58):
Ardix, one I can link to.
I will link to.
Have actually bibs on by acompany called arctic's, one I
can link to.
I will link to.
The skis I have are the apacheranger from k2.
Not sure of the length.
You can look up online whatsize you need.
I happen to look up.
Look upon those in moab andthrift store 15 bucks.
Of course, you can rent allyour stuff.

(10:20):
Poles are important.
These poles I got from the sameguy I got the boots from.
They are Kerma Inferno polesand they are pretty nice,
especially for $10.
That pretty much covers all ofthe gear that you need.
So let me know if you havequestions.
So let me know if you havequestions.

(10:40):
I would certainly recommendrenting and making sure you're
going to like it before youinvest a lot of money in ski
gear.
Apparel can be rented.
Certainly gear the skis, theboots and the poles can be
rented.
Any ski town probably has a skirental shop.
I live in Farmington.
Even though it's not a ski town, it's close to ski towns.
I believe we have a ski rentalplace in Farmington.

(11:01):
Even though it's not a ski town, it's close to ski towns.
I believe we have a ski rentalplace in Farmington and
sometimes you can find bargainsthere.
They might be selling some oftheir old gear.
You can pick it up at a reallylow price.
If I incorporate my other boots,I'm going to have to adjust the
bindings to fit these skis.
So if I count those, I've gotless than $100.
Actually, I have less than $50invested in ski gear.

(11:24):
As far as the actual equipmentto ski with.
If you count these boots thatI'm wearing, which the skis are
already adjusted for, then I'min over $100, but really not
much over $100.
And if you're going to goskiing every year, live close to
a ski area, then that's a greatinvestment in my opinion.
But definitely rent first, trythe sport out and then buy later

(11:48):
.
Oh and I will make thisdisclaimer Probably when this
video comes out, which may be acouple of weeks before it comes
out ski season's going to beover, but bookmark this one,
send it to your friends, etcetera, so that you're prepared
for next season.
Okay, thanks.
If you liked the video, makesure to give it a thumbs up and

(12:10):
think about subscribing forfuture adventures of the Natural
Medic.
Thank you.