A-Basin 5/11

[mrksn]

Date Skied: 5/14
Resort or Ski Area: A-Basin
Conditions: Spring
Trip Report: 2nd warm day in a row as the trails softened up to spring. I got 3rd chair on Pali and went back to the bowl as the zuma cornice was open for the 2nd day in a row. By noon it got sloppy wet so I hung out down at the beach with some friendly locals

Date Skied: 5/15
Resort or Ski Area: A-Basin
Conditions: Powder/Spring 3" new
Trip Report: Snow showers overnight filled in bare spots and provided another day of fresh turns in the morning. East wall opened after being closed the day before as I dropped in for some ankle deep pow. Warmer temps came in the afternoon again as the high sun baked the slopes soft. Took the next day off to check out Rockies v Giants at Coors field.. little did I know the best skiing was to come later on in the week.

 

[powbmps]

Nothing like gray skies and s**tty conditions. Colorado sucks.


:grin:



Looks awesome. More pictures coming?

 

[snoseek]

Wow, amazing. It looks soooo filled in. 07-08 was my deepest year living there (it was damn good) but no way was it anywhere close to that in may. Good move on the bonus pass, best value in skiing anywhere i think. Damn you hit it good

 

[mrksn]

Date(s) Skied: 5/17
Resort or Ski Area: A-Basin
Conditions: Spring
Trip Report: Started out partly sunny then got mostly cloudy later on. Was pretty tired as it was day 6 of 7 on the hill. Snow quality was soft as it was the 5th warmer day in a row. Hit up West Alley on jimmywilson's recommendation and it was massive mogul mania, good run. Then hit up groomers and bumps to finish out Tuesday.

West Alley

Another West Alley shot

Date(s) Skied: 5/18
Resort or Ski Area: A-Basin
Conditions: Powder/Spring 3" new
Trip Report: Overnight showers brought some new snow and a wintry mix throughout the day kept things fresh and covered. Very fun later in the day as snow built up hitting stashes in the trees.

 

[jimmywilson69]

glad you enjoyed the west alley. There is nothing like skiing the expert terrain off of the Pali lift. It's so challenging and fun! with as many days as you had out there, you've probably skiied the entire mountain, which has so much to offer.

 

[mrksn]

Dates Skied: 5/19-5/21
Resort or Ski Area: The Legend
Conditions: Powder 8" new Thurs, 3" new Fri, 6" new Sat
Trip Report: My last 3 days at A-Basin were just remarkable. The weather turned colder and the snow was light and fluffy. Each morning I was in line for opening and got fresh turns all over the place. My original plan was to packup and head back to Denver Saturday but with the strong non-stop snow showers all day Friday I decided another 3 hrs of powder skiing were in order before my flight that evening. I'll let the pictures do the talking..

Myself off the Zuma cornice

No lines at all

 

[mrksn]

5/21 Saturday Pow Shots..

Sundance

Exhibition

The Gulch

Gentry.. Face Shot!

All in all I lucked out with snow falling on 6 of the 10 days I was on the hill. The last 3 days were mid-winter conditions with locals exclaiming "Welcome to May-uary!".. "We'll probably never see these conditions again in another May".. "Best season since '95".. "Today has been the best powder day ALL SEASON (Saturday 5/21)".. Checking the weather reports leading up to this trip prepared me to expect spring conditions the whole time but nevertheless I hit a jackpot with the snow A-basin got this La Nina year. As of today the mtn is planned to stay open until June 5th, then on weekends of 6/10-12, 6/17-19. Pali just closed this past Sunday 5/29

 

[snoseek]

Wow, unbeleivable! You just hit the best May skiing there ever. Looks as good as I've ever skied A-Basin any time of the year. Damn!!!!!!!


All that and I bet i-70 was empty and just wet or slushy.

 

[jimmywilson69]

thanks for the reports! I agree with snoseek that the conditions look as good as they have any time I have skied there.

unfotunately they have started to scale back operations due to spring thaw and number of skier visits. I mean I guess that's okay considering they didn't close the Pali until Memorial Day!!!!!!!


My buddy out there has had it with winter, he's been going to the desert every weekend to mountain bike. I guess when winter is close to 8 months long, It probably gets a little old!

 

[snoseek]

I think pali closes earlier now due to wet slide conditions in the spring. They had a big one several years back.

 

[jimmywilson69]

they did have a wet slide, and it killed someone.

 

[massbmx]

Wow I love living vicariously through this thread.

Is that a snow bike getting ready to get on the lift in that picture? Do they allow them out there? It would be a lot of fun on a real mountain, but super dangerous if they're not really really good at it.

 

[ALLSKIING]

Sick!!

 

[Trekchick]

Hi mrksn, (and the rest of the AZ-ers)
I just popped in to say hey, and saw this thread. As some of you know, I'm such a fan of A-Basin and go on a few pilgrimage's there during the season, but mostly I go there every year for Mother's day weekend, which was just prior to the start of this thread.

We had a good snow day and some great Spring Skiing days there this year......just before the next round of powder days, which you got! YAY mrksn!!!

I'm not going to complain because my day(s) at Abasin were some of the only corn I got this season, because Tahoe is still getting hit with snow.

Did I mention.....moving west and being a ski bum is treating me well!

Mrksn. glad you got after it!!!

A few pics of the spring conditions we encountered:
Me and my friend TheBuff(Dee) doing our Suzie Chapstick impression

The Beach Party!
Philpug manning the grill

 

[Warp Daddy]

Hey Nice to see you are doing fine ! Great shots BTW

 

[Trekchick]

Hey Nice to see you are doing fine ! Great shots BTW

You know you always have an open invite to stay with us if you want to hit Tahoe.
What's stoppin' ya!
Ask Wa-Loaf.....he took us up on the offer and had a blast!

 

[Nick]

Where did that guy grilling get the "I am a skier" t-shirt from?

 

[Nick]

Man those are some cheap season passes out there.

2011/12 ADULT (AGES 15+) BONUS PASS - $369
2011/12 CHILD (AGES 6-14 YEARS) BONUS PASS - $279

Unlimited, unrestricted access to A-Basin for the remainder of the 2010/11 season and the entire 2011/12 season
5 days can be used at Breckenridge or Keystone, one of which can be used at Vail or Beaver Creek. Vail/Beaver Creek days restricted 11/25 - 11/26/2011, 12/26-12/31/2011, 1/14/2012 & 2/18-2/19/2012. Bonus Days valid during the 2011/12 season only
One $40 Half-day Class Lesson with the A-Basin Snowsports School (for pass holder only)
10% off Food and Beverage (excluding the 6th Alley Bar)
10% off retail at Arapahoe Sports
5 unrestricted days at Bear Valley, CA for the 11/12 season
Discounted tickets for friends and family
$10 off performance tune (valid all season)

 

[Trekchick]

Where did that guy grilling get the "I am a skier" t-shirt from?

He got it at Start Haus. Its a T-shirt design by Line Skis. Sumthin tells me he has connections in the ski biz

Man those are some cheap season passes out there.

I had the Abasin bonus pass for several years and made many trips to Colorado to ski from Michigan. It paid for itself time and time again.
This past year I(we) got the Epic pass because of the move to Tahoe and the purchase of Northstar by Vail Resorts.
The Epic Pass(as you may already know) is 629.00 for unlimited skiing at all Vail resorts with no blackout dates, and A-Basin, though not a VR, is included in their package due to a deal they have.

This year we're getting the Epic Pass and adding the Squaw Bronze Pass which is Squaw with black out dates for 399.00.
Since Squaw is in a negotiation to buy Alpine Meadows, we may be able to ski AM as well(if the deal goes through)
So, yeah, 1028.00 for skiing at Northstar, Heavenly, and Squaw (possibly AM) and making trips to Colorado on occasion...........That's good skiing on the cheap(ish) budget.

 

[rocojerry]

Nice report! I want mid-may skiing like that someday