jimk
Active member
I spent six days recently skiing Copper Mtn and A-Basin in CO, but it is the two days at A-Basin (Mar 4 and 7) that I will discuss here because truthfully they were the most memorable skiing-wise. I love A-Basin. I only get there once every five years or so. The scenery, terrain and stoke are great. It's high elevation, approx 10500 to 12500'. The lift served vertical is 2270', but it skis bigger and rowdier. And that doesn't include the extra several hundred feet for the extreme hike-to terrain of the East Wall.
A-Basin has always been a great spot for advanced skiers and spring skiers. With the various additions to the terrain over the years (including the latest - The Beavers), it's now worthy of multi-day visits. I call the main base lodge at A-Basin one of the cathedrals of American skiing. It's old school to the max and I mean that in the most complimentary way.
On Tuesday, Mar 4 I skied it in superb powder conditions. The A-Basin website said overnight new snow was something like six inches, but my group of five caught a nearly uncontested rope drop into The Beavers at 9:15am on a long, steep groomer (~1500' vertical) called Davis where the new snow skied like 16 inches. It was my "run of the year" so far.
Photos of my four friends from our rope drop run on Davis trail at A-Basin on 4 Mar 2025:
We did three more runs in The Beavers that morning and all were very fun.
Eventually we toured other parts of the mountain including runs off the Lenawee and Montezuma lifts. Here's a friend on the front of the mountain near the Lenawee lift line.
She took this photo of me in the same area. Her phone camera takes better, brighter photos than mine.
And by the way, for these glorious conditions we arrived at 840am and got third row parking 50 feet from the slopes. It took most of the day for the best "beach" parking lot to fill. This was so refreshing compared to my recent Utah experiences on significant powder days.
We were back at A-Basin on Friday, Mar 7. Being a Friday, this time the crowds were much greater, but still the lift lines were very tolerable, ranging between ski-on and perhaps 4-5 minutes at worst. The day featured excellent snow again with a couple inches of fresh on existing loose powder conditions. A-Basin was firing on all cylinders. There was a lot of talent on the hill, with numerous hot shots climbing the East Wall extreme terrain all day long. Weather was a mix of clouds and sun with good visibility for the most part.
I only had a couple friends with me this time and we skied all over the mountain, Beavers, Pali, Lenawee, and Montezuma.
A friend skiing in the Land of Giants area off Lenawee chair. Note East Wall terrain in background:
Nearby the Lenawee chair:
View from Face Shot Gully in The Beavers area:
Lower Pali area.
With a buddy above Montezuma Bowl. Keystone ski area terrain in background right.
Regarding the excellence of Arapahoe Basin, if you know, you know. If you've never been, pound for pound it is one of the most burly ski areas around. There is no development at the base. It's a ski area, not a ski resort. On a mild spring day the patio of the mid-mountain Black Mountain Lodge is one of the most scenic lunch spots in US skiing. Arapahoe Basin first opened for skiing in 1946. They call it the legend, and rightfully so!
A-Basin has always been a great spot for advanced skiers and spring skiers. With the various additions to the terrain over the years (including the latest - The Beavers), it's now worthy of multi-day visits. I call the main base lodge at A-Basin one of the cathedrals of American skiing. It's old school to the max and I mean that in the most complimentary way.
On Tuesday, Mar 4 I skied it in superb powder conditions. The A-Basin website said overnight new snow was something like six inches, but my group of five caught a nearly uncontested rope drop into The Beavers at 9:15am on a long, steep groomer (~1500' vertical) called Davis where the new snow skied like 16 inches. It was my "run of the year" so far.
Photos of my four friends from our rope drop run on Davis trail at A-Basin on 4 Mar 2025:
We did three more runs in The Beavers that morning and all were very fun.
Eventually we toured other parts of the mountain including runs off the Lenawee and Montezuma lifts. Here's a friend on the front of the mountain near the Lenawee lift line.
She took this photo of me in the same area. Her phone camera takes better, brighter photos than mine.
And by the way, for these glorious conditions we arrived at 840am and got third row parking 50 feet from the slopes. It took most of the day for the best "beach" parking lot to fill. This was so refreshing compared to my recent Utah experiences on significant powder days.
We were back at A-Basin on Friday, Mar 7. Being a Friday, this time the crowds were much greater, but still the lift lines were very tolerable, ranging between ski-on and perhaps 4-5 minutes at worst. The day featured excellent snow again with a couple inches of fresh on existing loose powder conditions. A-Basin was firing on all cylinders. There was a lot of talent on the hill, with numerous hot shots climbing the East Wall extreme terrain all day long. Weather was a mix of clouds and sun with good visibility for the most part.
I only had a couple friends with me this time and we skied all over the mountain, Beavers, Pali, Lenawee, and Montezuma.
A friend skiing in the Land of Giants area off Lenawee chair. Note East Wall terrain in background:
Nearby the Lenawee chair:
View from Face Shot Gully in The Beavers area:
Lower Pali area.
With a buddy above Montezuma Bowl. Keystone ski area terrain in background right.
Regarding the excellence of Arapahoe Basin, if you know, you know. If you've never been, pound for pound it is one of the most burly ski areas around. There is no development at the base. It's a ski area, not a ski resort. On a mild spring day the patio of the mid-mountain Black Mountain Lodge is one of the most scenic lunch spots in US skiing. Arapahoe Basin first opened for skiing in 1946. They call it the legend, and rightfully so!
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