Early-Season Training Venue Copper Mountain Steps Up To Host World Cup
About 100 of the world's best alpine ski racers will descend upon Copper Mountain at the end of November as the World Cup makes its traditional early-season American stop.
These races at Copper will be the third stop on the 2025-2026 World Cup tour -- and the first officially scheduled World Cup event ever at the Colorado mountain.
It'll the first of two stops in the United States for the men, with a super-G and downhill at Beaver Creek the next weekend. It will be the only race for the women in the United States this season, replacing the scheduled races at Killington, Vermont, where lift construction has made racing impossible this season.
The top male competitors in the world will kick off the events at Copper with a super-G at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 27. Following day, the men return to the Copper Mountain track for two runs of giant slalom that begin at 10 a.m.
Then, the female contingent takes the stage with two runs of giant slalom on Friday, Nov. 29, and winding up the weekend with two runs of slalom on Saturday.
All the races will be contested on the trails above the East Village (those under the former B and B1 lifts for old-timers), including Andy's Encore, Collage and the precipitous Rosi's Run on the lower half of the mountain.
This is the fourth time that Copper has hosted World Cup events, but the first as a scheduled stop on the men's tour. In 1976, Copper took over for Heavenly Valley that didn't have enough snow to hold the event. In 1999, snow conditions dictated a move from Park City to Copper and, in 2001, Aspen had insufficient snow depth so Copper stepped in.
Putting Copper on the early-season schedule makes practical sense. Many of the world's best skiers are already training on Copper's two-mile two-minute speed course, as the mountain's high elevation, north-facing exposure and top-notch snowmaking capabilities gets snow down early. And, Beaver Creek is just a short ride down I-70 for the men's competition the next weekend.
The women and men who qualify for the World Cup have already run giant slaloms at Soelden, Austria. On Nov. 15-16, they both race in slalom at Levi, Norway, and then again at Gurgl, Austria, before heading to Copper Mountain. The World Cup tour makes 18 stops for both men and women -- plus the Winter Olympics in Cortina, Italy, on Feb. 6 to Feb. 22 -- before wrapping it up in March at Lillehammer, Norway.
Throughout the season, racers accumulate points from finishes in World Cup and sub-World Cup races in order to qualify to get in the starting hut for the next race. The limit is seven men and eight women per country, totally around 50 per race. In giant slalom and slalom, the top 30 after the first run race in the second run, in reverse order of finish.
Spectators get in free for the Copper Mountain events, and will be funneled to the finish line area in the East Village for all the races. No spectators will be allowed on the hill.
