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.
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.
Check out the very nice view of the late day light on the East Wall. It is supposed to be Spring. I am looking out my office window and it is snowing. While we were getting into spring conditions, the weather has changed and the place is skiing like it is winter again.
Today certainly was a return to winter. With colder temperatures and new snow, the skiing was really good. Kay and I spent some time on the North Side skiing Standard, East Avenue and North Glade before doing the North Pole hike and skiing West Vertical Cornice. The light, with the clouds, snowflakes and hints of sun, gave the place an almost eerie look. Zachary Jara shared a couple of excellent photos from the day. One from near the top of Pali another from the top of the Y Chutes. Both extraordinary images. They are worth a look on a big screen. I added a third photo from West Vert.
This afternoon I found some nice wind buff down the left side Norway Face. Looks like it is going to start snowing tomorrow morning.
Our 2024-25 season passes went on sale today. Some of those passes include 3 days at Monarch and a day at Silverton in the unguided season. The Adult Arapahoe Basin Season Pass Renewal will be available for the same rate as last year, $559. Complete season pass details can be found at Arapahoe Basin Season Passes .
Until the sale to Alterra actually closes, we are still working for Dream and not Alterra. While not contemplated yet, upon closing there may be changes to Ikon Pass access.
Parking has always been our pinch point for controlling busy days. In an effort to further focus on a quality guest experience, we will be implementing an online parking reservation system for the 2024-25 season. This has nothing to do with Alterra or the Ikon Pass. We are doing this to take care of the guest experience at Arapahoe Basin. Limiting season pass sales, ticket sales and Ikon Pass access has mostly worked well to control daily skier numbers. We will continue to do those things, but as many of you have noticed, the skier numbers are creeping up again. Following what is going on in other places, we now think implementing a parking reservation system is the best and most logical next step. With parking reservations we will physically limit the number of vehicles here at The Basin and reduce Highway 6 congestion around The Basin.
Reservations will be required weekends, holidays and other peak days until 1 PM from mid-December until early May. General parking reservations will be available for $20 per vehicle. While a daily reservation is required for every vehicle, a limited number of parking season passes will be available for $150 to cover fees for the entire season. For carpoolers, vehicles with four or more people are still required to have a reservation, but the reservation will be free.
I have discussed the parking reservation concepts with several A-Basin skiers and riders. Responses from guests have varied from skepticism to immediate embracement. There is no doubt that requiring reservations will take away some of the spontaneity of skiing. That spontaneity, however, can be a major contributor to parking problems, especially on powder days. Some told me they would be in favor of reservations knowing that when they got to The Basin, they would have a parking spot. They thought reservations would reduce stress and eliminate the frantic rush to get here.
Currently, we are working to identify parking system vendors to create a reservation plan that will work for The Basin and its guests. We will be evaluating the different approaches and preparing for implementation. As our planning moves further along, complete details about the online parking reservation system, including information on how to make a reservation, how many reservations a person can have at once and the impacts to uphill access, will be released this Fall.
We are singularly focused on the quality of the Arapahoe Basin ski experience. Implementing a parking reservation plan is the next logical step to maintaining that experience.
The weather this week has been as good as was forecast. Monday, Kay and I had a nearly perfect hike up to Little Lenawee and then a ski down North Pole. The big winds of last week's storm had a favorable impact to the snow in the North Pole entrance. Skiing it was soft and carvey. There was still a rock a two, but the skiing was great. Making turns down the right lower 3/4 of the chute was so fun. Of course that was followed by a hike up Willie's Wide and a cruise down Snorkel Nose. I treasure the hiking and skiing this time of year.
Yesterday in my blog, I tried to describe the beauty of early spring skiing. The picture below may do a better job than my clumsy words.
Spring is starting to arrive at The Basin. Early Spring that is. The forecast this week has sun in the forecast every day and high temps in the low 30's. The north facing slopes should still hang on to winter conditions while spring conditions are starting to be found on the south facing slopes. This afternoon, about 1 PM, I found perfect early spring conditions on Jump. No deep slush, but soft on top. Really fun, playful turns. The mornings will still be fairly cold, but late mornings and afternoons will be ideal. This is a great week to get on the hill.
March skiing can be so incredible. Today was nearly perfect. We are coming off a big storm that has packed out nicely. There is still a chill in the air so we are not into spring slush yet. Today saw partly sunny skies. The ski surface is soft and carveable. The picture says it all.
The good news is that we received a lot of snow over the last 24 hours. The bad news was the wind. There was no way we could have operated the lifts most of the day today. Luckily the wind is dying down and is expected to be quite reasonable Friday. We anticipate an on time opening tomorrow. The back lifts, Zuma and Beavers, may come on line a little later in the morning.
Thanks for your patience today. Someone once said A-Basin belongs to Mother Nature. She just lets us use it. She took it back for a while today.
