Forest Service

Most of Arapahoe Basin is located in the White River National Forest. We have a long term Special Use Permit with the Forest Service to operate the ski area. We work closely with them to follow all the rules, regulations and laws related to operating a business on public land. We pay a fee to the federal government based on our revenues. Thursday, Tony C and I had the honor of touring several USFS staff members including the Forest Supervisor, District Ranger and Winter Sports Specialists. We skied The Beavers and spent a lot of time discussing how that project went. It is a pleasure working with these guys with an objective of delivering so much fun stuff to you.

Getting Close To Spring

It was an "almost spring" kind of week. Most of the days have been bluebird gorgeous. We had some watery spots show up in the parking lots. There was a little bit of slush in Lower Montezuma Bowl. I saw three shirtless guys skiing on Sundance. Tomorrow we go to Daylight Savings Time. And tomorrow we have a little snow in the forecast. Getting close to Spring.

2 Days At Silverton

2020-21 Arapahoe Basin season passes are now on sale. In addition to unlimited skiing at The Basin, 3 days of skiing at Taos and 3 days of skiing at Monarch, 2020-21 Arapahoe Basin pass holders will get 2 days of skiing at Silverton during their unguided season in March and April. One of those days can be used for the unguided season in 2020. The other day can be used for the unguided season in 2021. To fully understand Silverton's unguided and guided programs go to their website, Silverton.

I think Silverton's snowy big mountain unique character is a perfect compliment to Taos' southwestern Bavarian charm, Monarch's Colorado, comfortable, local feel and Arapahoe Basin's special culture and vibe. These are four great mountains.

To learn more about or to purchase A-Basin passes, check our website,  Arapahoe Basin.

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COVID-19

There has been one case of COVID-19 confirmed in Summit County.  Specific information can be found at Summit County Government.

We have been working closely with Summit County and the State of Colorado governments and are following their recommendations. There has been no specific risk identified at Arapahoe Basin. Our greatest concern is for the safety and well being of our guests and our employees. While the risk of contracting this disease is low, we strongly encourage everyone to educate themselves on COVID-19 and use preventive measures recommended by the Center For Disease Control (CDC). Information can be found at CDC Coronavirus Information.

Arapahoe Basin will continue to be open for normal ski area operations. We hope you will take the time to read and understand this illness. Thank you for being part of A-Basin.

Why You Should Ski This Week

I think this photo pretty well explains why you should ski this week. Conditions are excellent. Sunshine is forecast through Saturday and snow is forecast for Sunday. What more could someone ask for? This is a good week to be at The Basin.

State of the Basin - Numbers and Comments

A year ago we started on a journey to change things up at Arapahoe Basin. While our actions had many objectives, two of those objectives really stand out. First, we wanted to reduce crowding, hosting 20% fewer skiers in 2019-20 than we did in 2018-19. Second, by reducing the crowding, we wanted to offer a much higher quality guest experience. 

By every measure, we have improved the guest experience. Both face to face interaction and survey data tell us that people clearly are having a better time this season.

Regarding guest visitation, it has been a story of two seasons. We were slow from opening through MLK weekend. Starting on MLK Monday, visitation has picked up substantially, but still much less than last season. Here are the facts.

Season To Date (STD) skiers through January 2020 were 39% less than STD skiers through January 2019.

STD skiers through February 2020 were 35% less than STD skiers through February 2019.

Month To Date (MTD) skiers in February 2020 were 20% less than MTD skiers in February 2019, almost exactly what we planned and budgeted for that month.

STD Ikon and Mountain Collective skiers through February 2020 were 69% less than Epic skiers through February 2019.

MTD Ikon and Mountain Collective skiers in February were 51% less than Epic Skiers in February 2019.

Visitation from Ikon and Mountain Collective has been much less than visitation from Epic.

Looking at individual days, we have been open for 142 days through February this season. Only 6 of those 142 days were busier this season than last. A notable day was Saturday, February 22. It was our busiest day of the season so far. Last season there were 6 days busier than that Saturday.

Since MLK Day, weekends have definitely picked up. Sundays are still very pleasant with only one day needing overflow parking. Saturdays have been busier requiring overflow parking all days except MLK Saturday (Ikon was blacked out). 

We certainly have influence in shaping how business flows for the season. Individual days are sometimes very hard to manage to. Often the biggest days are driven by very short term weather events. Saturday, February 22 was a near perfect, warm bluebird day with great skiing. Those are the kind of days when everyone wants to go skiing. The flip side of Saturday was three days later Tuesday, February 25. The temperature never got above 0 F. It was cold and bitter and very, very slow. Would I have liked to transfer 800 of Saturday's skiers to Tuesday? Of course the answer is yes, but that is not really possible.  People ski more when the weather is favorable and they ski more when they have free time on weekends, especially Saturdays. 

Even though weekends this year are much slower than last year, I still suggest arriving early or late. Avoid late morning arrivals. Carpool. Ride the Summit Stage. With just a little pre-planning, it is very easy to avoid the busier times.

Looking forward, if March, April and May could be similar to February we would be ecstatic. We have some work to do early season. Next Fall we will be generating some new products and promotions to help the early season pick up.

This season is nothing like last season. The numbers speak for themselves. The experience is way up. The skier days are way down. Ikon, Mountain Collective, Taos and Monarch are great partners. We aren't quite where we want to be yet, but we are heading in the right direction. It has been an awesome season and Spring looks very promising.

I look forward to your comments.

Tramway Board

All nine of our lifts at Arapahoe Basin are licensed and regulated by the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board. Each Fall we go through a rigorous, scheduled licensing inspection reviewing all of our equipment and record keeping. The inspector pokes, prods, twists and turns just about everything he can get his hands on. He spends a great deal of time reviewing all of our maintenance records making sure we have all of things done that we are supposed to have done. Once we successfully get through that process, the state issues us a one year license for each lift.

One or more times during the season, we have an unscheduled, unannounced inspection of all nine lifts again. We don't know when it will happen until the inspector arrives that day. This time the inspector will do much of what he did in the fall as well as spending time with our lift operators, lift mechanics and ski patrollers. This inspection focuses on staff, staff training, systems and procedures. While the whole process can be kind of challenging, it is a great system that keeps all of us on our toes. It serves the people that ride the lifts well and it serves the people that own and operate the lifts well.

Today was our unannounced, unscheduled inspection.

Camel Speed Skiing

A few weeks ago I received a very cool package and letter in the mail from David Guenther. David had spent time working and hanging out at Keystone and A-Basin in the 1980's. That had been a very fun time in his life. He sent me this Camel Speed Skiing hat from 1984. David and I spoke on the phone. We shared some common friends and we shared a few good laughs.

The 1984 Camel Speed Skiing event occurred in April on the East Wall. While hindered by heavy snowfall and avalanches, the event stirs extraordinary memories for those that were around that year. It was my fun first year in Summit County. I was skiing every day at The Basin and working as a busboy and waiter at a restaurant down on Keystone Lake. The event featured local legend and former World Speed Skiing record holder CJ Mueller. For a great write up on the event and a cool picture of CJ click on the link below. It was also the end of an era when events like this were sponsored by cigarette companies.

Camel Speed Skiing at Arapahoe Basin