Abasin season begins!

This weekend marks the start of my season at Abasin. I'll be there till closing day, which is "sometime in June".

Both yesterday and today I made a new thing on The East Wall. I hike to the North Pole entrance, ski down to the traverse, then hike up the Stair Case to Arizona Rock, ski Willie's Wide. It's a great workout. I did it yesterday and today, I feel great. I'm 65, quite proud of myself.

Today I got chalk on the North Pole. Willie's Wide wasn't chalk. But it was good.

The top of the Lenawee chair is 12,457.

I think the North Pole is slightly higher elevation than the top of Lenawee though.

The North Pole isn't a hard hike for me, I didn't have to stop. The Stair Case is a 750ft hike, really steep. I had to stop a couple times. I think it's much harder than the steep pitch on Highland Bowl.

Everyone I saw at the top of the Stair Case was going up even further to do the Snorkle Door. I opted out, as I'd heard the snow was hollow in spots.

Here's my trip, annotated.
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Here's the Stair Case. I think it's much harder than the steep pitch section of Highland Bowl.
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The Beach was in full swing.
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Plenty of snow on Pali still. I didn't spend any time over there, though. It was frozen all morning. Once I did my East Wall thing, I went down for apres.
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North Pole entrance
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Top of the Stair Case (Arizona rock)
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BTW. I don't know why they call it Arizona Rock. It should be called Leif's rock, for Leif Borgeson who was head of patrol for years at the Basin. Leif died of a heart attack on the steep pitch at Highland Bowl.
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Chalk on North Pole today
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There's a band every Saturday till closing. These guys were good - they played an Elvis tune!
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Burnin' Love

There's a reason why they call it The Legend. It really is. It's like no other. I love Abasin.
 
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