Arapahoe Basin ( ? - RAP -? - hoh ; often shortened to A-Basin , or just The Basin ) is an alpine ski area in the Rocky Mountains of the United States, in Colorado's National White River Forest. The Arapahoe Valley is known for the long season - it usually stays open until early June, and sometimes until early July, while most of the other northern ski areas close in early April. Arapahoe Basin is located south of Loveland Pass on U.S Highway 6 in Summit County.
Video Arapahoe Basin
Geography and climate
The Arapahoe Basin East Wall has a peak height of 13,050 feet (3,978 m), which is one of the highest ski fields within the boundary in North America. Due to its high elevation (in the tree line) and mostly from north to northeast, the ski season in the Basin is much longer than most resorts in North America. Often it first opened mid-October and last closed in June.
Arapahoe Basin is located just below Loveland Pass and offers views of the Continental Divide (adjacent) from the lift. From the top of the East Wall and the Arctic, there are views of Lake Dillon, Breckenridge, Keystone, Montezuma, and Loveland Pass.
The Basin is located about 68 miles (109 km) west of Denver, where Loveland and Eldora ski areas are somewhat closer, at 53 and 45, respectively.
Maps Arapahoe Basin
Ski area information
Lodges
A-Basin has a three day lodging. At the base is a full cafeteria, bar, and coffee bar. There is also a grill outside for a warm day. At the top of the Norwegian and Lenawee lifts is a Snow Plume shelter, a warm hut with tables and toilets. New for the 2010-2011 season, Arapahoe Basin opened its first high speed quad lift called The Black Express Express . The Black Mountain Express takes its place from the Elevator Exhibition , which retired at the end of the 2009-2010 season and runs on almost the same track. At the top of Black Mountain Express, Black Mountain Lodge sits down, serving an Alpine Bistro style menu. Terrain
Arapahoe Basin is mostly known for its sophisticated and expert terrain, but also has runs for beginners and intermediate skiers, as well as children's programs. The Black Mountain Express , Molly Hogan , and Molly Hogan's Magic Carpet lifted the easy running service. The Molly Hogan is a slow elevator running over rabbit slopes, for use by those who are just learning to ski. Black Mountain Express services green, blues, and four blacks: one named for the elevator, The Gulch running parallel to Black Mountain Express, "Lower Standard", and "Lower International" which can be accessed from the standard race track.
The Exhibition runs features of bumps, steep terrain, and fair jumps. The Pallavicini lifts most of the black and double black terrain on the west side of the mountain, though it's possible to pick up some hard blues back to the base. The Pallavicini confronts itself, a group of moguls running very steep and seemingly endless, judged double extreme black diamonds. The Lenawee and Norwegian lifts take skiers to the top of the mountain, where they can access blues, blacks, and East Wall . Across the Eastern Wall is a blue named Run Corn where skiers can jump from the wind-blown cornes, though sometimes visibility may be a barrier. Arapahoe Basin opened the Zuma lift during the 2007-2008 season, which serves black, black and double tracks at the rear of the Arapahoe Basin at Montezuma Bowl. The country's largest terrain expansion for the 2007-2008 season marks an 80% increase in the terrain for the Arapahoe Basin. The Montezuma Bowl offers everything from intermediate to sophisticated cornice runs.
The East Wall contains the most difficult terrain in Arapahoe Basin . The Lower East Wall is rated black diamond and can be achieved without hiking. Open primarily in late winter and spring, Upper East Wall is ranked in extreme black diamonds and accessible only on foot. A 30-minute hike will take you to North Pole , a very steep landing through a rocky terrain in the avalanche area. Along the ridge before the North Pole is a group of launches accessed via a notch on the cliff of the band. A parachute actually needs some rock downclimbing to reach snow that can glide, an exciting experience in ski boots while holding a pair of ski boots. These launches often only have as wide a ski width and require mountain skiing skills. Most of the area is prone to avalanches and is regularly pounded by ski patrols before they declare the walls open. The Lower and Upper East Wall are split by long East Sound Traverse and access many areas that are hard to reach from above and below, leaving the prime snow conditions available to those willing to travel. The Eastern Wall is not prepared and should not be taken lightly since evacuation by the ski patrol in this area is a tough job.
History
Larry and Marnie Jump and Sandy Shaufler embarked on Arapahoe Basin in 1945. The first year opened for skiing was 1946. Since then, it has expanded to cover 105 lines served by 8 lifts.
Arapahoe Basin became the first ski resort in the United States to open for the 2006-2007 season on October 13, when it opened one elevator and one-way road. This is the first time in seven seasons that the Arapahoe Basin defeated the Loveland ski area in the race to become the first ski area which is open in the country. This is repeated for the 2007-2008 ski area by opening at 9:00 am on October 10th. It was the region's earliest opening in 61 years and the earliest opening in North America for the season.
During the 2007-2008 season, the Arapahoe Basin evolved into the Montezuma Bowl, with the country's largest terrain expansion for the season. Facing southwest to Keystone, the terrain offers black, black, and double black tracks with all types of terrain, including: well-laid trails, launches, glades, and cornice runs, all accessible from the grasp of Zuma's grip. Medan will open every season between late December and early January to late April, the conditions are guaranteed.
Arapahoe Basin opened for the 2009-2010 season on Friday, October 9, the earliest start in its history.
In 2010, Leitner-Poma replaced lift elevators at lower mountains with high-speed quads, Black Mountain Express lifts, the first removable Arapahoe Basin lift.
In the 2015-2016 ski season for the second time in history, the Loveland Ski Area and Arapahoe Valley opened on the same day. Loveland opens at 8:30 am and Arapahoe Basin at 09:00 on 29 October 2015. The first time the two resorts opened on the same day is the 2008-2009 season. (See comments for reference)
In November 2016, 468 hectares were approved by the Forest Service and added to the ski area. Of the 468 hectares, 329 will be open for the 2017-2018 season; 232 in the Beavers section and 129 at the Curull Gullies. Currently, terrain is accessible by climbing 30 minutes and only experts and extreme terrain. Quad chair lifts with fixed grips set to be built in summer 2018. Seats will serve all 468 hectares of terrain. The full field will include open powder bowls, tree skiing, and rocky launches, as well as two intermediate well-maintained movements served by lifts in the Beavers area.
The opening date for Season 2016-2017 was announced on Wednesday, October 19, 2016 with the First Seat at 9 am on Friday, October 21, 2016.
Statistics
Altitude
- Base: 10.780Ã, ft (3.286 m)
- Summit: 13,050Ã, ft (3,978 m)
- Vertical rise: 2,270 feet (692 m)
Path
- Ski area: 1,331 acre (5.39 km 2 )
- Path: 132 total (7% easiest, 22% medium, 45% advanced, 26% expert)
- Long run: 1.5 miles (2.4 km)
- Average annual snowfall: 350 inches (890 cm)
Lifts
- 8 total
- 1 removable high speed quad (Black Mountain Express)
- 1 quad seat (Lift Zuma)
- 1 seat three (Lenawee Mountain Lift)
- 3 double chairs (Pallavicini Lift, Norwegian Lift, Lift Molly Hogan)
- 2 conveyor lifts (Magic Carpet Molly, Pika Place)
Historic Historic Opening and Closing Date During the Snowmaking Era
Arapahoe Basin and Loveland compete annually for #RaceToOpen. Ski enthusiasts (s?) From around the world watch to see who will open first. Below is the opening date during the Snowmaking Era.
Open Date Season Date (Sunday) Date Closed
- 2003-2004 October 30 (Thursday)
- 2004-2005 October 22 (Friday)
- 2005-2006 October 23 (Friday)
- 2006-2007 October 13 (Friday)
- 2007-2008 October 10 (Wednesday)
- 2008-2009 October 15 (Wednesday)
- 2009-2010 October 9 (Friday) * Earliest opening
- 2010-2011 25 October (Monday)
- 2011-2012 October 13 (Thursday)
- 2012-2013 October 17 (Wednesday)
- 2013-2014 October 13 (Sunday)
- 2014-2015 October 17 (Friday)
- 2015-2016 October 29 (Thursday)
- 2016-2017 October 21 (Friday)
- 2017-2018 October 13 (Friday)
Opening Date and Closure of the Zuma Bowl
Season Open Date Date Close Total Day Open
- 2007-8 January 12, 2008 - May 22, 2008 - 132 Days
- 2008-9 December 30, 2008 - May 14, 2009 - 136 Days
- 2009-10 24 February 2010 - 16 May 2010 - 82 Days
- 2010-11 December 18, 2010 - June 5, 2011 - 170 Days
- 2011-12 February 24, 2012 - March 25, 2012 - 31 Days
- 2012-13 13 February 2013 - 27 May 2013 - 104 Days
- 2013-14 January 10, 2014 - June 1, 2014 - 143 Days
- 2014-15 December 29, 2014 - June 3, 2015 - 157 Days
- 2015-16 23 December 2015 - 3 June 2016 - 164 Days
- 2016-17 23 December 2016 - 3 June 2016 - 164 Days
- 2017-18 13 January 2018 - TBD
Benchmark Date
- The Latest Closes - August 10, 1995
- Installation of snowmaking in 2002 changed the opening from mid-November/mid December to mid-October.
- The Longest Season - 1994-95. The season had 245 operational days lasting from December 9, 1994 to August 10, 1995
- In the last 22 seasons (data from 2015)
- The Eastern Wall opened 6 times in January
- The Eastern Wall opened 6 times in February
- The Eastern Wall opened 8 times in March
- The Eastern Wall does not open for 2 dry years
References
External links
- Official website
- Colorado Avalanche Information Center
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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