Snow, Festival of the Brewpubs, Summer Pass

When it comes to The Basin these days, we have a few things to think about.

The skiing and riding for this time of year is outstanding. We had nearly a foot of snow earlier in the week. The forecast the next several days looks good for that much or maybe more. Lots of good skiing to go.

Festival of the Brewpubs is coming up Sunday, May 26. This is a sweet day to catch up with friends, ski your heart out in the morning and sample Colorado's finest craft beers in the afternoon. With live music in Mountain Goat Plaza, you won't want to miss this day.

Lastly, we have added the $199 Summer Pass. This pass gets you a full-day Via Ferrata tour, an Aerial Adventure Park (AAP) season pass, two AAP buddy tickets for your friends, unlimited summer lift rides, 5 yoga classes, all our trail runs and wildflower hikes and a bike pass. On top of that, the pass offers access to Festival of the Brewpubs, Summer Beer Fest and Oktoberfest. This is a $879 value for $199.

So, if you were planning to spend $40 for Festival of the Brewpubs, think about bumping that up to $199 for a full summer of fun.

 

8 Inches New

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.

Winter In May

We had a few inches of snow overnight. It looks like it will snow all day and we are in store for wintry week.

Saturday Was Stellar

As this image from the Il Rifugio deck attests, Saturday was stellar.

 

From The Continental Divide

A buddy of mine was hiking on the Continental Divide near Loveland Pass this morning. He shared this image he took of The Basin.

Snow Management and Spring Runoff

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.

Dick and Gerry Are Retiring

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.

Gerry Dorsey, Bunny Terrill, Scott Buell, Francie Dreyer, Dick Dreyer

Gerry, Dick, Scott

Upper East Wall At Its Peak

The snow conditions andcoverage on the Upper East Wall are at their peak right now. We did a couple of hikes skiing East Vertical Cornice and Booger. Both were really soft with a bit of fresh stuff on top. With a little snow forecast for Thursday and Friday, it doesn't look like it really warms up until the weekend. I think we have at least several more days of peak ski conditions up there. If you have been waiting, now is the time.

Hiking to Little Lenawee Peak

At The Top of Booger