Arapahoe Basin – It’s the time of year when Gill Thompson doesn’t even draw a second glance when he drives into the parking lot here with a mountain bike and kayak on top of his pickup-truck shell.
“I’ve got all my toys with me,” said the Montana State University student, who was en route to Denver and detoured for a day of downhilling recently.
What he found at Arapahoe Basin was remarkable for this time of year: Deep snow in a scene reminiscent of mid-winter, not late May.
Pity, then, that for the first time in its history, A-Basin has announced an unseasonably early closing date of June 5, in a year when the resort probably could host skiing through the Fourth of July.
“We have some construction planned, so we have to close. Unfortunately, it just happens to land on one of the best spring seasons that we’ve had in history,” said resort spokeswoman Leigh Hierholzer.
As of Monday, the resort boasted a 31-inch mid-mountain base, although it is shrinking nearly a foot a week.
Still, at a time of year when normally only about half of the terrain is open amid exposed rocks, mud and grass, only a bizarre fatal avalanche two weeks ago – not snowpack – forced the resort to close runs this season.
The rare in-bounds avalanche that killed 53-year-old David Conway of Boulder on May 20 resulted in the closure of the popular expert-rated Pallavicini run and prompted wary ski patrollers to shut down the steep East Wall runs because of concern over snow stability amid a rapid warmup.
A-Basin, the state’s highest ski area, received 47 inches of snow in April, and another 16 inches accumulated this month.
“People just keep asking, ‘Are you sure you’re closing on June 5?’ ” Hierholzer said. “But it’s a done deal.”
In the latest of a string of improvements, the resort plans to tear down and rebuild its dilapidated rental shop, which will make a mess at the base of the mountain and cut into space for parking, she said.
With a short period for summer construction – the resort likely will reopen in late October, depending on the weather and the ability to cover runs with man-made snow – officials had no choice but to end the ski season.
“We’re trying to stress that it’s still a long season, Oct. 22 to June 5,” said mountain manager Alan Henceroth. “Summer does come eventually, even at the Basin.”
While weekends continue to draw a full crowd, making parking along the slopeside “beach” at a premium for tailgaters, weekdays are slow and hardly worth keeping the lifts running, but for dedicated skiers such as Jim Sapp, a retiree from Lakewood, it’s like having a private ski area where he can add to his hefty accumulation of 56 days on the slopes.
“It’s just something I really enjoy doing, and I hate to quit,” he said. “I’ve even considered (going to) St. Mary’s Glacier after A-Basin closes.”
Like many others, he laments that he will have to climb under his own power to get in any turns on the slopes.
“It’s great conditions, and they’re closing,” he said of A-Basin. “They could make August here. It’s terrible!”
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
