Black and Lenawee Mountain

While I love to see Black and Lenawee Mountains completely covered with snow, the summer views aren't bad either. There are scattered green patches of tundra among mostly rocks. With a little patience, you can often spot some white dots (mountain goats) moving around.

Black Mountain Express Weekends

Black Mountain Express will be open every Saturday and Sunday through September 2. You can ride the chair, hike down the Argentine North Fork Trail, hike up to the Summit or just enjoy some BBQ and a beverage on the Black Mountain Lodge deck. I ride it every chance I get. The view coming down is really fun.

Weddings

The Wedding Season is rolling right along. We have had plenty of fun up here and the views just can't be beat.

WE ARE OPEN - Local Band Jam Day

So we are open today. The Triple Bypass bike ride will be going over Loveland Pass. The East side of the pass will be closed from 10 AM until 2 PM. Access from Keystone and the West side will be open all day.

It is Local Band Jam Day. Come listen to Stagger Home, Old Herman, John Truscelli Band and The Frisco Funk Collective. Play some disc golf. Ride the Black Mountain Express. Enjoy the 6th Alley or Black Mountain Lodge decks. Have the kids play some yard games. Go for a hike. Bring your binos and spot the mountain goats on the East Wall. Avoid the summer crowds and enjoy The Basin.

Lots Of Helicopter Work

In addition to the "Old 105 Tower", we kept the helicopter quite busy yesterday afternoon. We flew tools and equipment into the Beavers bottom terminal to start lift construction there. We flew concrete to the top of Pali for a modification to the Ski Patrol Hut up there.

We also flew all of the Norway towers to the base area. Of all the materials in this decommissioned lift, we will either sell or recycle 99+% of it. Our next step on the lift is to rehabilitate the lift tower and station sites.

Helicopters always bring out people and cameras.

The Old 105 Tower

We pulled the "Old 105 Tower" today. It was lifted with a civilian version of the Blackhawk helicopter. This tower was part of the CDOT / A-Basin partnership for doing avalanche work on The Professor and The Widowmaker. For the late 80's, 90's and early 2000's, this was a workhorse of the program. Back then there was a 105 mm Howitzer and a few other weapons stationed there. Patrollers and Mechanics from that era spent many a very dark and cold morning driving the CDOT crew up to the tower in an old Tucker Snowcat and supporting them while they fired the weapon.

As standards have changed over the years, the tower was no longer suited for stationing heavy duty military hardware. For those of you that are sentimental, don't fret. We are re-using the tower this summer in a modification of our East Wall Avalauncher Tower.

18 Hole Course

Welcome to the Arapahoe Basin 18 Hole Disc Golf Course. Ben, Taylor and quite a few others have been hard at work all week getting the final 9 holes built. They were opened today. It is a really great, fun and exciting course........and a great walk in the woods. Basically, from where Basket 8 was last season, the holes moves West across the ski area to the old 105 Tower. From there Hole 14 is long, booming shot down Slalom Stadium. We eliminated old Hole 9 and have added another big long closing hole down High Noon to the bottom for Hole 18...............just outside The 6th Alley.

Another Good Weekend Ahead

"Maybe April" plays at Mountain Goat Plaza Saturday. Another beautiful weekend in store. Rumor has it that the back nine of the Arapahoe Basin Disc Golf Course will be opening VERY, VERY soon. Come spend a quiet weekend at The Basin.