Thursday, March 28, 2024

Japanese Ski Resort Visitors

Yesterday, we hosted several Japanese ski area managers at The Basin. Hailing from Tomamu, Nekoma and Tanigawadake Tenjindaira resorts, they were on a fact finding / best practices mission in Colorado. After they skied almost all day, we had a wonderful visit in Il Rifugio exchanging ideas about operating ski areas in both Japan and the US. They had insightful and thoughtful questions about why and how we do things. Mostly, we had a great time and shared a lot of laughs. The beautiful snow and weather and sweet skiing only added to the fun. I am lucky to have opportunities like this.


 

Monday, March 25, 2024

Today's Light

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.





Sunday, March 24, 2024

Forecast

The forecast the next ten days is looking pretty good, especially for tomorrow.


 

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Norway Wind Buff

This afternoon I found some nice wind buff down the left side Norway Face. Looks like it is going to start snowing tomorrow morning.



Friday, March 22, 2024

Very Nice Place

The Top of Pali is a very nice place to enjoy some late day light.


 

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Passes, Parking Reservations and The Ikon Pass

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. 




Wednesday, March 20, 2024

North Pole

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.



Tuesday, March 19, 2024

East Wall

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.