Arapahoe Basin
For many years Arapahoe Basin had the distinction of having the highest lift-served terrain in the U.S. At least until Breckenridge bested them. Still, Independence Mountain's 12,615' is nothing to scoff at.
Back when I lived in Colorado, A-Basin was the place we would go in April and May after Winter Park closed. It usually involved several vehicles and maybe a keg. We would hang out on the beach below the Pallavachini lift and watch people either shred or be shredded by the double black diamond terrain it serves.
Back to the present. Kayla's Epic Pass works at Keystone, Breck, or A-Basin. She wanted to go to A-Basin. Moreover, she has been working on Dylan to stay for the rest of winter break since we arrived last Friday. Dylan inquired about season passes at Keystone; they don't sell them to people who weren't previous passholders at this time of the season, and if they did it would be close to $2,000. Without a pass, there's no way Dylan was going to shell out $100 a day to ski.
A-Basin isn't that corporate. It still has the local ski hill vibe. Better yet, a season pass is only $309. Dylan was waffling about purchasing one and wanted to wait until we got back to Denver to work out his travel arrangements and decide. At $74 a day, I suggested that he might be better off purchasing it now and getting a day towards paying it off--which would take five trips to the hill. So he got his pass and saved me $15 on mine. He was stoked to be committed and ready to ride.
It was cold at A-Basin today. I'm guessing it was approaching 0 degrees at the top. Certainly colder than we are accustomed to in Oregon. That didn't slow Dylan down--he kept running his hot laps.
The cool thing about A-Basin is that half of the mountain is above treeline. It gives the place a very European alpine feel.
Kayla and Dylan pose in front of Black Mountain Lodge.
Stylin'
Kayla and Dylan preparing to shred at the top of Independence Mountain.
Ruthanne joined us for today's excursion.
Yes, it was cold. We didn't get too many runs in before Kayla announced she was going to the lodge because her feet were about to fall off.
Brrr, my toes are about to fall off...
Maybe if they had mittens they wouldn't.
We finally got back out. Kayla leaves contrails of snow as she shreds down Ramrod.
Ruthanne shows great form for a senior citizen--or for anyone for that matter. She did an amazing job of keeping up! I only hope that I'll still be going that strong when I'm her age.
Kayla shows off her smooth style.
Dylan got a GoPro this summer. A GoPro is a small digital video camera that you can mount just about anywhere. He's got a helmet mount (see previous post for the tubing excursion). When we were shopping for holiday gifts on Tuesday, he got a chest mount. Somehow I ended up wearing it and doing a bunch of point-of-view videos of Dylan. Here's one of me chasing him down Dercum's Gulch. It's an except from a 3 1/2 minute video of us going nonstop from top to bottom. Two-plus miles and nearly 2,000 vertical feet in just of over three minutes. Fun!
Well, Colorado was a blast. I wish I could stay with Dylan, but I have stuff to do and am ready to go home and see Diane. With any luck it will start snowing soon in Oregon; at this rate there's no way The Pass will be open by Christmas.
Happy holidays!
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