I stumbled on this really nice viewpoint from an opening in the trees between Jetta and Jaeger. I was looking across Castor and the top of the Steep Gullies with the Continental Divide in the background. Skiing this afternoon, I had loads of fun in the Dog Woods and on the East Wall. I found a lot of good snow, but the best snow this afternoon was on Black Bear back in Montezuma Bowl. It has such a consistent and mellow pitch for a black trail. Way cool.
For most of the rest of the season A-Basin is test driving a Prinoth Husky E-Motion electric snowcat. There are only a couple of these in the United States at this time. The other is at Taos. This cat isn't quite as big as our normal grooming machines, but we are checking it out and giving Prinoth some feedback as to how it operates. We are doing some grooming tasks and other on-hill snowcat tasks like supporting our on-hill restaurants. The transition to electric vehicles is a lengthy process and we are glad to partner with Prinoth to test new equipment. For more details check out the Prinoth website.
The East Wall did not disappoint yesterday. While most of the mountain was basking in Spring conditions (which is awesome), it was cold and wintry on the Upper East Wall. Kay and I worked our way up the Willie's Wide Staircase. After putting our skis on at the top, we slipped through the Snorkel Door. There are not very many ski area experiences as cool as sliding through the Door. With a few couloirs to choose from, we decided to ski down "Booger." With cliffs on either side of us, we found perfect winter powder skiing all the way to the Traverse. It was The Basin at its finest.
Yesterday was a really fun powder day, especially in the afternoon. The snow came down quite heavily for a while. We are in for some vintage, A-Basin, April type Spring skiing this week. Yesterday, snow. Today, bluebird weather. For several days, we should see mostly sunny skies. As we move towards the weekend, there may be another good storm moving our way. We are not done powder skiing just yet.
With yesterday's storm, we had some very happy powder skiers waiting for the Pali Lift to open.
It is deep and the snowfall intensity is still high. We reported 13" new and the snow is coming down. The drive up here was brutal. I think the snow plows are behind schedule. We are going to have a beautiful spring powder day, BUT, take your time getting here. Be careful. Be patient with others. Drive safely and enjoy the day. It will be one to remember.
Looking West, we have some tremendous views from A-Basin. From this point on Loafer we look down the North Fork of the Snake River which joins the Snake River at Keystone which joins the Blue River at Lake Dillon. This photos show the northern end of the Mosquito Range, the Ten Mile Range, the Gore Range and, if you look closely enough, parts of the Sawatch Range. You can even see Mt. of the Holy Cross. Today was a good day to soak all this in. And the skiing is as good as I had hoped. We'll have more bluebird weather Saturday and Sunday before the next snow storm gets rolling on Monday and Tuesday.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Today was a magnificent Spring day with a mid-mountain high of 36 F and not a cloud in the sky. The next three days the temps should get into the 40s with very few clouds. If you are a Spring skiing fanatic, the conditions could not be better. It will be a perfect weekend.
And, of course, starting Monday it may snow every day next week. Even better.
What a beautiful Spring Day to have a wedding reception. Monday, Anne Miller and Brian York, aka "Bumpy," celebrated their recent wedding with a reception at The Basin. They cooked on The Beach and enjoyed the eclipse. Kaeline Higney took this photo of the happy couple on the old Pali bullwheel just above the top of Pali Lift. Congratulations.
Not sure, but I think I have seen Bumpy wear that tuxedo as part of "Dumb and Dumber" Halloween costume.
This has turned out to be a very good storm. We reported 4 inches of new snow this morning and have probably had 3 more inches since report time. It is still snowing nicely. While it was a windy, wintry day, we kept all the lifts running all day. So far we have not seen the monstrous winds that have been forecast for other parts of the state. The concert at Red Rocks tonight was cancelled due to the high wind forecast. For us the wind is supposed to diminish further after midnight with a bit more snow falling in the morning. Today the skiing was quite good. Sunday might be even better.
I had to stop and catch my breath. Here is a slightly different image taken halfway down Snorkel Nose. The skiing was so good.
The Zuma Webcam regularly offers dramatic images. I plucked this one about 7 AM today and it is a good one.
