A few images of skiing Wednesday's storm.
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
6" New
Now that is a treat. We reported 6" of new snow this morning. As we approach noon today, it is still snowing. It snowed very heavily before and after dusk last night. The snowcats created some incredible skiing on the groomers. It is definitely winter here today with a temperature of 17 F at mid-mountain right now. That said, this is a Spring storm. It started a little wet and dried out as the night progressed. We often do well with orographic lifting this time of year. The forecast looks unsettled for the next week. It is Spring time at The Basin (which can mean lots of snow).
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
75th Anniversary Party
Arapahoe Basin is 75 years young. Back in 1946 I think Larry Jump and his friends were on to something. This weekend, Friday night through Sunday we will be hosting the 75th Anniversary Party. Activities include a 1946-Themed Dinner, Bump and Bash, Party in the Park, Plaza Apres Party, Uphill and Chill and East Wall Scavenger Hunt. I look forward to Friday's dinner in the 6th Alley and Saturday afternoon's skin to Black Mountain Lodge for a beer and pretzel. Come celebrate 75 years of skiing The Basin. For more details go to.
And BTW, it is dumping at The Basin right now.
Friday, March 25, 2022
Cruisey
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Spring The Next Couple Days
Monday, March 21, 2022
Taos
Sunday, March 20, 2022
Saturday, March 19, 2022
Thursday, March 17, 2022
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Monday, March 14, 2022
Phat 2 Inches
We are in for another beautiful ski day. We had 2 inches of snow on the stake at report time this morning. We had another inch or two fall after that which is making for really good skiing. Today should be mostly sunny with highs in the 20's. That is my kind of perfect ski day.
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Steilhang Hut Deck
Saturday, March 12, 2022
East Side Beaver Bowl
Thursday, March 10, 2022
Employee Ski With Friends
A few times a year we do an after hours employee ski running Black Mountain Express for another hour just to let the employees have some fun stepping out of their work roles enjoying the mountain and their friends. Earlier this week we did combo party that was part employee ski, part going away party for our Argentinean friends and team members and part "Welcome to A-Basin" party for our new Ecuadorian friends and team members. We are lucky to have such a wonderful group of people at The Basin.
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Afternoon Mini Powder Ski
Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Monday, March 7, 2022
My Favorite Place
Sunday, March 6, 2022
West Vertical Cornice
Saturday, March 5, 2022
Steilhang Hut
Not only is it snowing, but we are in the home stretch to getting the Steilhang Hut completed. The tile and flooring are done. There is a tiny bit of plumbing to go. The kitchen equipment is being installed. The wall treatments are in progress. The outside is done including a very groovy sign. I am longing for my first bratwurst there.
Friday, March 4, 2022
State of The Basin - Numbers and Comments - Volume 2
On March 3, 2020 I did a blog post that was an update on our journey to change things up at Arapahoe Basin. Our objectives then and now are to reduce crowding and improve the guest experience. Two years ago I said that by every measure we have improved the guest experience. That has only gotten better since 2020.
During this journey, negotiating COVID has been like negotiating a mine field. The 2020-21 season was just bizarre. The demand by skiers and riders to get outside was much higher than we anticipated and from a business perspective, we did OK. One of the greatest challenges we had was limiting actual skier numbers to meet operating requirements from local and state regulators. We did that primarily by limiting the number of season passes and daily tickets that we sell and by requiring all tickets be purchased online and in advance.
During our first season with Ikon, we did have some days that were too big and we caught some negative feedback for that. Using lessons from COIVD to better manage peak days in 2021-22, we continued to limit the number of season passes and daily tickets that we sell and we required all tickets be purchased online and in advance.
Comfortable Carrying Capacity (CCC) is a planning tool we use with the Forest Service in our planning process. It considers the size of our parking lots, acres of terrain, number of toilets, uphill lift capacity, number of dining tables and a variety of other factors. At The Basin, our most limiting factor is parking. The actual capacity of our lifts, terrain and other facilities is much higher than our parking capacity. CCC is not finite like the capacity of a water bottle. The actual comfortable condition can vary widely. For example, over the Christmas holidays families come with many people in a vehicle and we can actually park many more people than our CCC would indicate. On a Spring powder day Saturday, more people show up one person per car and parking can overflow when we actually have far fewer people than our CCC.
The CCC at A-Basin is 4,140 skiers per day. On a day when the parking lots are just full and we don't go to overflow parking (The Whiskey Lot), the number of visitors is very close to the CCC. As a guide we try to just fill the ski area parking lots and not go to The Whiskey Lot. Using our CCC and limiting pass sales, having Ikon Passes be good for only 5 or 7 days, and limiting ticket sales, we have been very good at coming close to the CCC. In fact, this season we have only exceeded CCC one day and it was by 114 skiers. That day was Sunday, February 27 and from about noon until 12:30 we had to limit the parking lots to "one in and one out." The real objective, of course, is not about precisely hitting the 4,140 CCC number. The real objective is about making incredible guest experiences, not overflowing the parking lots and letting people have fun.
Season to Date (STD) skier days through February 2022 were 62% of STD skier days through February 2019, our last year with Epic.
STD skier days through February 2022 was 93% of STD skier days through February 2020, our first year with Ikon.
For the 2022-23 season we are going to continue to limit pass and ticket sales. Despite that, we do have some soft spots to work on. Looking forward we will be developing products and programs to boost the quieter times. The early season has plenty of room for more skiers and riders and next season there will be a $99 Fall 3-Pack and a $279 Fall Pass. Some of you noticed the holidays were kind of dead. We are going to eliminate the Ikon blackout days. We have realized we don't need them and we can control visits better by limiting ticket sales.
We are very happy with the environment our guests and staff have created. We have been open 141 days and we have had 30 minutes when the parking lots were completely full. The result has been minimal lines. The atmosphere has been laid back, fun and easy. On a daily basis, guests reach out to us saying they appreciate the new atmosphere. People are simply enjoying themselves and their biggest frustrations are gone. I think that is good.
We are laser focused on making this journey an incredible success for our guests and our staff. Season passes go on sale March 10. 2022-23 Full Season Pass holders will continue to get days at Taos, Monarch, Silverton and Bluebird Backcountry. I am super psyched about the addition of 3 days at Bridger Bowl. The number of passes for sale will be very similar to what we sold last season. I don't know when we will sell out, but we will sell out.
I think we are heading in the right direction. Thanks for joining the ride.