A-Basin May 26-27

I coach with one of the local ski clubs here in Colo. We've been running 'camp' days for a few weekends as a team but this was the weekend I was up there for the first time in a while. As Winter Park and Copper are both doing significant construction on the mountain this summer, A-Basin was/is hosting teams from all over the west in May. Most don't know that the other two resorts typically re-open for a few weeks for race/mogul/snowboard, etc... team training. Usually via uploading/downloading a lift to get to the training lift/area (timberline or "e" lift depending on resort).

A-Basin has pretty good snow cover for this time of year (compared to the last decade anyway). About 4 feet at mid station and about 50% of the mountain open. No East Wall, no Pali of course - too avalanche prone for wet slides (though both looked quite ski-able coverage wise). But most of the upper bowl and much of the lower runs down to the base are open too (frequently in recent years they get down to a narrow 'lane' of snow from mid-way to the base by now).

Snow was excellent on Saturday with frozen solid groomers to start and ending up with just a touch of soft up top all day. None of the complete mush you might expect this time of year. Excellent for free skiing with a soft layer, but only the thin top layer being soft.

Sunday was a different story. Frozen only very early in the am (setting courses a touch prior to opening for the public). And then a typical/expected summer like day. Much warmer temps, thick mushy snow (except where salted), and HUGE crowds. The Exhibition lift broke down for almost 45 minutes early in the am too - from about 8:45 till 9:30. The lift pen was full on Exhibition all morning and into lunch hour and both upper lifts had full chairs - no real lines on the upper mtn, but both lifts had almost every chair full of people.

I figure they have enough snow to stay open well into June if they wanted. But they are currently looking at a June 3rd closing so that they can build their new Montezuma Bowl lift on the backside. So Lift served North American skiing will very soon become just Hood and Whistler. I guess Summer is finally here.

I also did note a LOT of very recent tracks on virtually all the peaks surrounding A-Basin/Loveland pass area as well. Even peaks with a couple miles of hiking involved had multiple lines down them.

-KG

Great report/photos, EMSC! That's the kind of post that I love to see around here. As Tony noted recently we seem to have a dearth of reports from CO, which is surprising given the population on the Front Range. I hope we see the benefit of your contributions often.

Admin":2w1jszkt said:

Great report/photos, EMSC! That's the kind of post that I love to see around here. As Tony noted recently we seem to have a dearth of reports from CO, which is surprising given the population on the Front Range. I hope we see the benefit of your contributions often.

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What Admin said...
=D>

Thanks from an Canadian lacking knowledge about skiing in Colorado.

We do need more FTO reports, and from multiple locations. Colorado is a big place with as much mountainous terrain as the entire Alps. Thus there are numerous climate zones with different weather and snow and we'd like to know about as many of them as possible.

Thanks guys.

We'll see what I can do. Historically I have been just far too busy (been lurking/reading other's posts here for a couple of years). But I am starting to drop off my race coaching hours and spend a bit more time on other things.

If you've got any specific Colo questions of the moment, let me know. Each season in Colo can be quite different and often each part of the state can be very different from each other. Fortunately my 'home' area had a great snow year - Eldora. Lots of upslope storms this year.

Oh and a couple more Basin pics too. Not as good resolution - from the cell phone instead of the good camera.

-KG

We ski the Summit areas a lot since we have property at Keystone. Next season I'll start posting CO TRs over here, with plenty of photos.

Thanks, EMSC, for showing what we missed at the Basin while skiing Mammoth's closing weekend. I have to admit that this year you had better coverage. We had skied the Basin in mid-May and were surprised that they closed June 3. If they had stayed open another week we would have been back to ski on my Bday, June 4.

Looking forward to that new chairlift.

I am quite convinced that in most seasons Mammoth is a far better bet for the late season than A-Basin.
1) Pali closes earlier in the spring than the intermediate runs, and they will be gunshy about keeping it open after that wet slide accident a few years ago. In normal years Climax, Wipe Out, Drop Out are open at Mammoth's closing, even Hangman's has lasted to July in a few seasons.
2) This May 27 report is not the first I've heard of significant late season lift lines at A-Basin. Mammoth's lift capacity in the Main Lodge area is enough to keep people moving. Which is important when the window of good snow is 3-4 hours.
3) That window is shorter at A-Basin because they don't salt the groomed runs.

A-Basin's main spring advantage is its snowfall pattern, which averages 53 inches new snow in April and 29 in May, vs. 32 and 9 at Mammoth. But the max base depth at A-Basin only averages 81 inches, so it tends to collapse quickly in years when they don't get that April and May snow.

You should have seen the lift lines at the Basin in late October!

I agree that Mammoth is a better bet for all the reasons you mention, Tony. This was just a weird year - hope next season is average or above!!!

Tony Crocker":16906pbf said:

I am quite convinced that in most seasons Mammoth is a far better bet for the late season than A-Basin.

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I agree with most of your post, but this year, when we most wanted to go to Mammoth, we went to Whistler instead--with great results. And, a week later I skied at Lovelan/A-basin in great conditions. The key is to look for snow and go there. Perhaps, Mammoth will work out this next year, but we might end up in S.America instead. Either way, I'm beginning to think more about skin'in' up for my snow fixes.

Jeff

Jeff, you should end up in S. America next month and maybe in CO or Utah in February or March, then if it's a good season come to Mammoth in May for some great spring skiing.

You didn't miss much by skipping Mammoth this past season, although there were plenty of good days - just not as many as usual. Whistler and the Pacific Northwest got above average precipitation and were definitely a better bet, as was Loveland late last season.

The season before Mammoth had record snowfall and conditions were fabulous well into June, and not bad on closing day July 4.

If you're skiing up, perhaps you should end up in Kicking Horse, Panorama, or other Canadian areas next winter. Follow the snow. And hope there's lots of it next season!!!

I skied A-Basin the last weekend of April in 1987 and 1991. Both were great: mostly winter snow, lines not too bad, Pali open and all skiable.

April is good in general in Summit County. Copper was open those same 2 weekends and it was pretty good too. Once you get into May and A-Basin is the only game in town, then you have the weekend liftline problems. Once Pali closes, then I question whether it's worth a fly-in trip for A-Basin.

Mammoth and Mt. Bachelor usually offer much more variety in May skiing, until Powdr Corp closes Bachelor of course.

look'n4powder is correct. Flexibility to chase the best snow will produce consistently good results. The reality of dealing with the airlines can make this objective more difficult to achieve.

Speaking of A-basin, they have a very atractive price for a super season pass including 5 days at Breck or Keystone (inc. 1 at Vail) for $309. This would be especially tempting if the new lift is open for Montezuma Bowl. The website says it will be open in the 2007/08 season, but gives no target date. The lack of specificity makes me a bit suspicious. Has anyone seen how the construction is coming or have any better information?

I still think the better pass deal for Front Range skiers is the 'Colorado Pass' with unlimited A-basin, Keystone and Breck plus 10 days at Vail or Beaver Creek for close to $400 (I forget what my renewal was this year; just over that I think).

I've been stuck in the foothills and flats since this coaching trip so no idea on the lift construction - though I'll be up mtn biking Summit County in a couple weeks and might get an update on it from local friends.

As for some of the 'where is spring skiing best' question posed by others above, I would tend to agree that late spring/early summer at Mammoth is typically better than Colorado (I lived in Tahoe for a while at one point). But, I'd take Colorado through about early May. I've had some phenomenal powder days through late April till about 1st weekend of May at the Basin or other Summit County areas.

Personally my favorite Memorial weekend/early June skiing in Colorado is Winter Park. But then that's for race/mogul, etc... camps only - no public. They usually run Timberline on Parsenn Bowl. Upload/download to get to it at all though. Let me tell you how much fun that is with full race gear/equipment hauling for the team - yuck. No great steeps, but a lot of excellent high speed groomers laid out and then ducking into the lower trees (plus we salt lanes so it lasts till about noon). They are putting a new lift in up there this particular summer as well so everyone headed over to the Basin for lanes instead.