DENVER -- When it comes to finding excitement, you don't have to travel very far. On this one-tank trip, Bill Clarke found a free chairlift ride and some adventures that will take your breath away -- all of it just a little more than an hour away on Interstate 70 at Copper Mountain.

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One Tank Trip To Copper Can Be Filled With Adventure

Bill showed up early for a different sort of ride down the mountain -- by way of a paraglide. Calling the ride exhilarating is like calling the Grand Canyon a hole in the ground.

It's about a four-second burst of energy followed by minute after minute of views few people will ever see. It's amazing to fly on the same plane as the red tailed hawk or an eagle or another paraglider, Bill said.

To occasionally look straight down and realize that a couple thousand feet of cold air separate you and Mother Earth can be breathtaking.

Summit Paragliding has certified pilots pulling the ropes that move the lightweight craft from one air flow to another and they help you eventually land back down near the village at Copper.

Like most ski resorts, Copper Mountain chills out when the weather turns warmer but there's always something for the athletically inclined.

The climbing wall there is the biggest of its kind, they say. But because you're tethered, it's fairly safe.

The quad jumps are part of an adventure package for kids and adults. It's not free but not very expensive either.

The chairlift to the top of the mountain is free, but you have to stop by the adventure desk to get a ticket. It's the only free lift in Colorado this summer and on the ride up, Copper's Jamie Wilson had some good advice if you're mountain-bound this summer.

"Bring extra layers. Always bring a raincoat, sunscreen. You are at high altitude and just take it easy your first few days up here," said Wilson.

Copper's West Lake may be the smallest in Summit County, but it's the right size for a small radio-controlled sailboat and a pro like Mark Ryan from Giggleworks, who rents them out by the half-hour.

You'll definitely need the wind currents that lifted you up to paragliding glory earlier in the day, though. So water, wind and a free lift are all in a day's travel on this one tank trip to Copper.

Bill's Travel Tips:

Next weekend, July 9, July 10 and July 11, 20 of the best paragliders in the country will be flying over Copper Mountain for cash prizes. If you want to see paragliding from the ground up, you couldn't pick a better place to be.

In fact, Copper's a great place to escape any weekend this summer. It's a kind of a cool, quiet place: ideal for chillin' out, without being too far from civilization. Granted, it doesn't have the jet-set buzz that Vail has and at the tender age of about 30 years, it's about a century newer than nearby Breckenridge. But it's a quick drive to each of those places, and a lot more that Summit County has to offer.

Best of all, the money you save on lodging at Copper Mountain is money you can spend any way you want. And the people here are still very small-town friendly.

The food at restaurants we visited in the Village at Copper was good, and like everything else here, it was value priced. Our breakfast at the Columbine Cafe almost had us ready to race up the mountain. Okay, maybe it wasn't that powerful. But it was good. And the portions were huge. The full skillet meal looked like it could easily feed two people. Even the half portion was huge!

After paragliding, we joined the pilots and their passengers at Endo's (think "endorphins" maybe?) for lunch. Good eats, great prices.

Those rental radio-controlled sailboats at Giggleworks go for $10 for 30 minutes. And Mark, the owner, may have the best hot chocolate in three counties -- ideal if you get caught in the afternoon monsoon that sometimes blows through these hills. One thing's for sure: he knows his market. One tap is hot, hot for adults. The other tap is warm hot for kids.

Now for a word or two about Summit Paragliding and Gary Walker. At $185 a trip, tandem paragliding with one of Gary's certified pilots isn't cheap. And the 10-minute climb to the launch point atop Hallelujah Ridge, 2,600 feet above the resort, is a tough one. But there are packages that combine a stay at one of the lodges at Copper with a soaring trip and they start at $189 a person. Those are booked through Copper's Web site or reservation system.

The skills and regard for safety the pilots showed our crew indicated we were in good hands. Even the rookie passengers who flew with us that day were at ease as they approached heights above 15,000 feet, and told us honestly they'd do it again. Gary Walker is a paraglider because he loves the sport. He runs his business that way and it shows.

More Information:

Summit County is loaded with attractions for your summer visit. The best overall source is SummitChamber.com for the Summit Chamber of Commerce.
CopperColorado.com is the Web site for Copper Mountain. The chairlift rides are free, but you need to get a ticket at the Mountain Adventure Center. You'll pay a modest fee to haul your own bike on the lift to go mountain biking. But Copper has an Adventure Pass which costs $34. That includes equipment hauls on the chairlift plus unlimited access to a whole bunch of fun things including the diggler bikes and the quad power jump.
SummitParagliding.net connects you with Summit Paragliding and Gary Walker. He's quiet, but he's great.
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