FC Mag Goes Colorado Styles
Day 2: A-Basin
02.12.04 - After a full day enjoying vail's terrain our agenda lead us to keystone to pick up Barber's friend Justin. A couple of beers and enormous burritos later, our two truck, 4 person, and 2 dog party headed to arapahoe basin. We spent the cold wintery night in the back of the two trucks knowing we would wake up mountain side and ready to rip the little bit of fresh trickling down the night sky.
When I awakened and managed to stumble out of the truck, I looked up to see Ed and Stacy pulling into the spot adjacent to me. Our party of six now came complete in the early morning before lifts were running and many people arrived. Needing some early morning preparation, Ed and myself began to walk across the parking lot towards the lodge. Suddenly I noticed that the beautiful scene of a-basin includes 360 degrees of peaks. Even better was that the early morning sunshine backlights the resort mountains creating an amazing panoramic display.
After warming up, dressing in the lodge, eating a delicious breakfast burrito, and purchasing a lift ticket I entered the lift line with our group. Once again I realized I was the only alpine skier since we now added 3 snowboarders in Ed, Stacy and Justin; our group comprised of 4 snowboarders, one tele-marker, and one alpine skier. Pretty amazing for a sport that in the past has been dominated by alpine skiing.
The six of us hopped on the exhibition lift followed by the lenewee mountain lift which took us to the highest point open. (The east wall had not received enough snow to open.) Visible from the lift, a fresh two to three inches went on top of a previous 4 inches of snow to ensure some nice soft runs for us. After a good day at vail and now another ski day followed by a patriot superbowl, I couldn't control my excitement when we reached the peak. Since a-basin's top section is above tree line, there were almost a million different routes down, but I had scoped out a particular line and hit it with confidence. My XXX's floated and plowed down through some mid-boot pow on powerline's wide open intermediate slope, till I hopped into a short, steep, and pillowy mogul field and then ran out to the lift.
On the next lift ride up, Stacy, Ed and myself took notice of the cloudy sky which appeared ready to turn bluebird in the afternoon. According to the locals, a-basin's skies generally shine bright blue unless they precipitate some happily accepted snow. After reaching the top of the lift, the six of us traversed farther over towards the west wall, scoped out a line and headed down. Ed, Justin, and myself proceeded one at a time down a nice boot deep section with some tracks on it from the previous day.
Snow covered most of a-basin allowing for some outstanding wide open runs, as well as some tight bumped up sections off of the palli lift. A-basin also houses some cliffs in tight technical areas. As I stood near the top of a four or five footer, a local came out of the trees, and went off it in stride as if to say "what are you waiting for." I followed in an unimpressive but at least I did it style.
Taking breaks at a-basin becomes part of the day's beauty. Our group parked mountain side and had all of the amenities including chairs, beers, a couple of dogs, and some makers mark. I could feel that depending on the ski conditions the focus could shift to hanging out, catching some rays, and having a couple of beers; a-basin's atmosphere could not be beaten. It wasn't long before one of these breaks became permanent, so we packed up and headed back to denver early to prepare for the superbowl. How could this weekend get any better?
~CG
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Older Archives
11.19.04 - Let's Get This Season Started
09.29.04 - 5 Tips to Skiing Better This Season
09.18.04 - Summer Meditation
07.27.04 - Pics of the PNW
07.14.04 - Line's New Line: 2004/2005
07.06.04 - Yesterday
06.15.04 - Cathedral
05.13.04 - Tech Tip#2: Post-Season Tune-Up
05.01.04 - Atomic Releases 2004/2005 Skis
04.13.04 - First Chair
04.07.04 - K2 Releases 2004/2005 Skis
03.25.04 - Redemption
02.29.04 - Big Jay on Leap Day
FC Mag Goes Colorado Styles:
02.11.04 - Day 1: Vail
02.12.04 - Day 2: A-Basin
02.13.04 - Day 3: Breckenridge
02.17.04 - Days 4 and 5: Crested Butte
02.22.04 - Day 6: The Other Vail
01.27.04 - Part 2: Champagne on New Year's Eve,
Utah Style
01.20.04 - Freedom
01.12.04 - Part 1: Champagne On New Year's Eve,
Utah Style
01.05.04 - A.P.B. - Jay Needs Snow
12.28.03 - Big Jay
12.27.03 - 6th Chair, 1st Chair, 1st Tram...A Great Day
12.08.03 - Big Monday
12.07.03 - Anticipation
12.05.03 - Opening Day
11.22.03 - 10 Ideas to Kick the Pre-Season Blues
11.01.03 - Tech Tip #1: Pre-Season Tune-Up
10.04.03 - Tenney Mountain Opens – October 4th
09.01.03 - FC Magazine Launches Online Winter Home