I just had a couple of great ski mornings, today and yesterday. Tomorrow is June and the temps warm quickly each day. While the snow is firm early, it softens quickly as the sun hits. An ideal first run is the West Wall as it faces East and gets the sunrise directly. As the morning progresses move to more northerly facing trails. Start with High Noon on the Lower Mountain and move to Norway on the Upper Mountain. Conditions today were ideal summer skiing.
We all need a conversation about mental health. Feel It All is a film created by Summit County's own Drew Peterson. As a youngster, Drew was one of those young groms ripping up the North Side and the East Wall. The film is about his struggle with mental health, his journey through skiing and running and creating lasting cultural change around mental health and suicide.
Join us Wednesday, May 29 at Summit High School for the World Premiere of his film. Doors open at 6:00 and the show begins at 7:00. Entry is free. See you there.
At least today will be mostly sunny. We should have warm temps all week with a chance of afternoon showers most days. I know the first day of summer is still a few weeks away, but after Memorial Day, I describe our conditions and atmosphere as "Summer Skiing." Today is the last day for Montezuma Bowl this season.
No sign of Lake Reveal yet.
While we often celebrate this weekend as a kickoff to summer, Memorial Day is a time for us to honor and mourn US military personnel who died while serving in the US Armed Forces. It is also a good time to honor all who have served. A-Basin' founder and first president, Larry Jump, served as a mountain trooper with the 10th Mountain Division in Italy during World War II. We should be thankful for the extraordinary sacrifice so many soldiers have made for us.
Yesterday afternoon I parked at the hairpin above The Basin to check the place out (which I do fairly regularly). For Memorial Day weekend I think The Basin looks great and we have a lot of good skiing to go. Not to mention tomorrow we host Festival of the Brewpubs.
With continued great conditions, A-Basin will stay open until at least June 9. We will be open seven days a week through June 2. We will close Monday thru Thursday and then re-open Friday, Saturday, Sunday, June 7, 8 and 9. If conditions are still good, we just may go for another weekend.
Today is the last day of the season for Pallavicini Lift. The Pali terrain is already closed. Similar to closing The Beavers, there comes a time in the Spring to "let it go" until next season. Additionally, Pali has significant avalanche terrain and there comes a time to close for those concerns. Since my favorite run on Planet Earth is "The Spine," it is always hard for me to shut her down. We had a great season on the North Side, but it is time to let her rest.
Another super fun Pride event at The Basin. There was lots of great skiing, a ripping dance party on the BML deck and an overall awesome A-Basin vibe kind of day. We are so happy to share this place with so many people having so much fun.
Today the temperature at mid-mountain hit 50 F. This is a very fun and very different time of the year. As temps warm up further, the snow gets even more slushy and playful. Personally, I like skiing almost first thing in the morning, just after the sun touches the snow and the top inch or less is just barely soft, but very carve-able.
Many of the folks skiing this time of the season show up at The Basin year after year. They come from ski resorts all across the country. I enjoy seeing their familiar faces and their never ending passion for skiing. This is a good time to enjoy our special place.
While I didn't stay up to watch the Northern Lights, Danny Cheresnick shared these two photos he took at A-Basin and Loveland Pass Friday night.
So the plan for the day had been to lounge around and have a Mother's Day brunch with the family. When Kay woke me up and said there was 10" new at The Basin, that plan fell apart. We got to A-Basin early, found first tracks on every run and had the time of ours lives. Nothing like skiing Spring powder. I think we are in for a very good week with temps in the 30s and 40s, some showers and some sun. Spring time.
And the brunch became a late lunch.
We have definitely been experiencing the moody storm days of Spring. We move quickly from sunny and warm to stormy and snowy. Sometimes all within a few minutes. The skiing can change from corn to slush to powder. Always fun and always unpredictable, I love these days.
Tomorrow, Sunday, will be the final day of the season for The Beavers. And it has been a very good one. Since the snow started piling up out there in mid-January, we have had nothing short of spectacular skiing and riding. We all have our personal favorites. I seem to be growing fonder and fonder of the Western Glades especially Bighorn and Dreamcatcher.
Many of you have asked me why is it closing when the skiing is so good (and the skiing is really good). The transition to summer has begun. Many of our seasonal employees are heading towards their summer work. The number of people skiing each day has started to drop. More and more of our skiers are focusing on skiing the core runs of Black Mountain Express, Lenawee Express and Zuma. While we still have several weeks of fun, fun skiing to go, the winding down of our ski season has begun. Thanks for helping us enjoy another soft and fluffy year in The Beavers.
Yesterday's storm was a favorable one. We reported 8 inches of new snow this morning with very favorable, mostly West winds. I didn't get out yesterday, but I heard some excellent reports about skiing The Spine. We should see unsettled weather all week. If this keeps up, we could end up with a pretty long ski season.
We had a few inches of snow overnight. It looks like it will snow all day and we are in store for wintry week.
A buddy of mine was hiking on the Continental Divide near Loveland Pass this morning. He shared this image he took of The Basin.
If you have been around The Basin in the Spring, you might have noticed that we push a lot of snow around. We do that for a couple reasons. One reason is to make snow last longer in a certain area. Pretty simply, deeper snow takes longer to melt. To preserve a key area, we may pile the snow deeper there so it is skiable longer. The other reason is to manage Spring runoff as the snow starts to melt. In the picture below you can see we have consolidated snow on the bottom of Wrangler. Once the snowmelt begins, the area in this picture captures a lot of water that melts from Wrangler, Sundance and High Noon. There are water bars on these trails that carry water off the trails. The snow work opens some of those water bars, keeps the water flowing which prevents water from pooling on the Lower Mountain and keeps the base area skiable for a longer time.
Last night we celebrated the snowcat driving careers of Dick Dreyer and Gerry Dorsey, A-Basin longest serving employees - EVER. Both are retiring this Spring. Dick came up from Keystone in 1978 after Ralston Purina purchased The Basin. Gerry joined him the next year. A few years after that, Scott Buell joined them (he is not retiring). All three are know for their mastery of their machines, putting snow where it needs to be and leaving the most perfect corduroy. By nature, these gentlemen are creatures of the night and not always known to other employees and guests. A-Basin would not be the place it is today without them. Since 1978, no one has done more to impact the quality of the skiing than Dick, Gerry and Scott. It is an honor to have worked with them.
