Only If You Like Skiing Powder

So Good..............................

Snowy Morning

We reported 5 inches of new this morning. It is still snowing and we could see that much again today. The skiing is going to be good.

 

Powder Day

Today is a powder day. We reported 5 inches of new snow. As you can imagine, the skiing was fantastic. Hard to beat The Basin on a powder day. Looks like more snow coming this weekend.

First Zuma Ride

Today I took my first spin in Montezuma Bowl this season. The Cat Drivers and the Ski Patrollers have been back there quite a bit. The Snow Safety Team has been working the MGD zone. Trails Manager Trevor has been working magic with the snowcats. He has packed out most of the main travel corridors. While we aren't yet ready to open the Bowl, his works sets us up very nicely for the snow forecasted to fall over the next week. 

Not enough to get open, but enough to get excited.

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More Thoughts On Early Riser

We expected and have appreciated the feedback we have received on Early Riser parking. There are definitely green benefits to this plan, but our primary reason for doing this is to give our guests a chance to park and ski and ride at The Basin on busier days. This is a forward thinking plan and I am providing the information below to help give a more in depth understanding of parking at A-Basin.

-Beginning December 31, on Saturdays, Sundays, Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day, from 6 AM to Noon, Early Riser Lot will be free for vehicles with 3 or more people. Other vehicles will pay $20 to park there. After listening to feedback, we changed the end time from 2 PM to Noon.

-Addressing busy days, our objective remains to meet, but not exceed, our comfortable carryng capacity of 4,140 skiers per day. We were very successful at this last year only exceeding ccc three times, including on a 16" powder day May 21.

-We have taken three major steps to control visits. We have limited the number of unrestricted season passes that we sell (we are sold out this season). We limit the number of tickets we sell each day. We joined the Ikon Pass because there are restrictions to how much it can be used.

-Over the years we have continued to expand our on mountain facilities, such as Lenawee Express, The Beavers, Steilhang Hut and the Il Rifugio remodel/expansion, to address peak visitation periods and keep the quality of experience high. Our mountain ski experience continues to be tremendous.

-Over the COVID years carpooling and Summit Stage ridership declined putting pressure on our parking on the busiest days. Looking forward and to combat this developing problem, we are implementing The Early Riser Parking Plan.

-High Noon and Last Chance Lots remain free at all times.

-Early Riser Lot remains free Monday-Friday except MLK and President's Day.

-The driving force behind this plan continues to be to provide incredible experiences for our guests without exceeding our ccc.

-We think incentivizing carpooling is the best way to achieve that goal. A few years ago when we had a similar, but smaller version of this plan in the Early Riser Lot, more than 75% of our guests were carpoolers. We hope the carpooler number is higher than 75% this time. On the surface, this may appear like a money grab. It is not. We would be far better off with a nearly full lot of carpoolers versus the revenue generated by pay parking.

The themes I have discussed have been consistent with A-Basin for several years. We have a laser focus on creating an incredible ski experience. That experience includes access to parking, providing an extraordinary mountain with an appropriate lift system and offering restaurants and facilities to match. 

Again, this plan is forward thinking and will help us achieve our goal of providing the very best ski expereience.

Happy Holidays

Today was a beauty at The Basin. We reported 2" of new snow and it snowed at least a couple more inches during the day. The skiing was nice everywhere and clearly groups of family and friends were out there enjoying the snow. I had an especially fun run down The Spine and Rock Garden (my personal favorite).

From all of us at Arapahoe Basin, Happy Holidays.

Early Riser Parking Changes

Beginning Saturday, December 31, on weekends and holidays from 6 AM to 2 PM, the Early Riser Lot will be free for people carpooling with 3 or more people and cost $20 for those with less than 3 people per car. High Noon and Last Chance lots will remain free

Over the COVID period, people have carpooled less and are riding the Summit Stage less. That puts a strain on parking and is a trend we have to change. In a perfect world, every vehicle in Early Riser has carpoolers. This is not an effort to make money. It is an effort to let all A-Basin skiers and riders have a place to park, ride and have fun.  Additionally, it is a move to reduce emissions and combat climate change.

We did institute something similar in the pre-COVID years. I know this feels like a big change, but in the spirit of keeping the guest experience high and addressing our sustainability objectives, we think this is very important.

 

Nice Day

We are having a nice day. Yesterday was a little tough with cold temperatures and some big winds. Glad that is behind us. Today is 15-20 degrees warmer and the winds have died down. The sun is poking through the clouds every now and again. We might see a few snow flurries later today and tomorrow. The snow surfaces are excellent. It is simply a good time to ski The Basin.