Summer Brewfest

Bike, Brews N' Brats. Saturday was fun. Good music. Hikers, bikers, disc golfers, dogs, climbers and all kinds of fun people. If you are looking for cool events with great vibes, but a mellower atmosphere, check out Summer at The Basin.

Four Hour BLT Mountain Bike Race

The first Beavers Loop Trail (BLT) Race is in the books. 25 riders joined us this morning and the fastest one completed four full top to bottom laps in 4 hours and 19 minutes. Afterwards, the athletes were smiling, but exhausted. Next year we are contemplating adding a second event - maybe eight hours and two person teams.

 

Kids

The mountain goats have been extra thick this summer. We have seen lots of "kids" running around. It is amazing how quick and nimble they are almost directly from birth. This is a particularly cool photo that Andrew Greene took near Steilhang Hut yesterday.

Bikes, Brats, N' Brews

Not to be confused with my favorite event of the Winter, Spring and Fall, this Saturday is my favorite event of the Summer - Bikes, Brats, N' Brews. In the morning, mountain bike endurance athletes will ride as many bottom to top to bottom Beavers Loop Trail laps as they can in four hours. This will be an exciting and grueling event. We will spend the afternoon celebrating the Summer Festival of the Brewpubs. Come sample locally made sausages and taste beers from eight Colorado Breweries. The Laughing Bones Trio will be rocking Mountain Goat Plaza. Pure Colorado. See you there.

On The Rock

I never grow tired of these images from the Via Ferrata.

 

Snowmaking Tower Guns

This is what snowmaking tower guns look like after they are unloaded from the shipping truck. We will be installing four of them on the Lower Mountain in various locations. Bill and the snowmaking team will put the equipment together. They have to dig some holes and pour concrete foundations. The towers will be set on the foundations.

Yoga

We are hosting Yoga classes on the Black Mountain Lodge deck every Tuedsay and Thursday from 10 - 11 through August 24. That deck is good for all kinds of things like eating BBQ, getting married and, of course, enjoying Yoga. There will be an extra special yoga day August 10 when the event includes brunch.

Downriver

Like so many other Colorado resorts, Arapahoe Basin sits at the very headwaters of the Colorado River. The Basin and Loveland Pass stand at the upper reaches of the North Fork of the Snake River which flows into the Snake River which flows into the Blue River which flows into the Colorado River. Many of us in the  A-Basin community are avid rafters and kaykers. Every season Kay and I head downriver to float one or more of its spectacular canyons. This past weekend we ventured to Utah to float Westwater Canyon's lively rapids, camp on its sandy beaches, share good cheer with friends and family and soak in its seemingly unreal sunrises and sunsets.

Beyond Westwater, the Colorado has carved Cataract Canyon, Glen Canyon and, the best of all, the Grand Canyon. Along the way, the river is a workhorse delivering drinking water to many communities including Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson and LA. More than 70% of its water is consumed for agriculture especially in America's breadbasket, California's Imperial Valley.

As I float these canyons and think about the cities and the farms, I never forget that a little of bit of that water fell from the sky at Arapahoe Basin.

 

Early Morning

 

Via Ferrata

The Via Ferrata is open and ready to roll. If this picture appeals to you or if you have a desire to wander around in the "High Alpine", come check this out. It is exciting, physically challenging and way cool. Check out Via Ferrata.

 

Trail Construction Begins

Construction has begun on our next hiking/biking trail. Starting at Black Mountain Lodge, the yet to be named trail will wind its way to the Summit between Lenawee Express and the old Norway lift line. Trevor has scratched out the first few hundred feet and the trail crew has started on a couple of bridges. This trail will be two-way for hiking and one-way climbing for mountain biking.

Around The Basin

Last weekend Kay and I went for a nice hike / scramble just outside the resort's boundary. For me, it is always fun to get up into the high alpine terrain above 13,000'. We enjoyed looking down into The Basin and across Chihuahua Gulch to 14'teeners Grays and Torreys  We probably saw almost 50 mountain goats including a number of really cute little, bitty "kids". Along the ridgeline we got battered by the wind, but that was part of the fun and the excitement. Summer is a magical time at The Basin.

Snow Patches

With the cool wet weather for much of June, the snow was kind of slow to melt. There are still quite a few patches out there, but you can see them shrinking and melting every day. More and more flowers are starting to blossom and we are heading into the peak "beauty-time" in the alpine tundra zone.

Summer Trail Scenes

It is a very nice time to enjoy the summer scenes on the Halfmoon Trail

Beavers Loop Open

The Beavers Loop mountain bike trail is open for the season. This is a purpose built trail designed by IMBA with pure, alpine fun in mind. Bikers can climb the newly modified Argentine North Fork Trail to Black Mountain Lodge. From there they can ride the summer road to the Summit where they pick up the Beavers Loop Trail. They will have a beautiful descent, much of it above timberline, traversing The Beavers and Pali on their way to BML. That is followed by a sweet ride on Hot Wheels to the base area. I am not sure there is a trail quite like this anywhere. Enjoy.

 

Steilhang - Open Summer Weekends

Starting this weekend, the Steilhang Hut will be open Saturdays and Sundays through August 13. Our staff will beerving sausages and your favorite beverages from 11 AM to 3 PM. Hikers can ride Black Mountain Express and hike to Steilhang Hut. The walk is just under a mile with an ascent of about 550 vertical feet. Check out the views from the deck while chomping on a bratwurst and sipping a Steigl. 

Mountain bikers can also start on the Argentine North Fork Trail and ride to the hut.

 

This Summer's Trail Project

This summer our trail crew will be working on the final leg of our bottom to top to bottom loop trail. In the next week or two, the team will begin building a single track trail from Black Mountain Lodge to the Summit. Loosely, the trail will zig zag its way to the top between the Lenawee Express and the old Norway lift line. The new traill will be for two way hiking and uphill biking. Upon completion, hikers can get to the Summit on a single track and mountain bikers can ride an incredible loop going up the "Argentine North Fork" and the new trail and down "Beavers Loop" and "Wheel Up" trails. It is going to be fun.

ANF Switchbacks - "Game Changer"

The Argentine North Fork was built over 2 or 3 summers starting in 2009. It was always been a great hiking trail. As a mountain bike trail, it has always been good, but some of the switchbacks were pretty tight. We have been steadly working to improve that. Late last Fall and this Spring, our trail crew put a lot of work into widening several of those turns. 

This morning I spoke with a regular A-Basin mountain biker who was climbing ANF for the first time since September. She described the work on the switchbacks as a "Game Changer." She is a very good rider, but said, in the past, some of the turns were pretty tight. She raved about the improvements, saying she easily rode to BML without struggling or stopping on any of the turns.

Alpine Turning Greeen

Most, but not all of the Upper Mountain snow has melted. Flowers are starting to pop out and the plants are starting to green up. This is a really nice time wo wander around the mountain.

Sunny Day In The Park

Today was a beautiful sunny day for the 30 or so folks that joined us in the Aerial Adventure Park.

Hiking, Biking and Disc Golf

Yesterday I had a beautiful walk up the Argentine North Fork Trail and down Wheels Up. Wheels Up is not a trail for walking, but we were giving it a final look prior to opening it up for mountain bike descents. And it is open today. It is almost all dry. There is one minor detour near the top. Mountain bikers can now ascend the Argentine North Fork Trail and descend the Wheels Up Trail. Argentine North Fork Trail was already open for hiking and is now open for mountain bike ascending. Hikers and bikers can continue up the Summer Road from Black Mountain Lodge to the Summit. The Beavers Loop Trail will open as more snow melts.

On top of all that, the A-Basin Disc Golf Course is now open for the season. Grab the bike, grab the disc bag, grab your runners or hiking shoes and kick off the A-Basin summer.