Arapahoe Basin Gallery

Click on any picture to get a HUGE (about 200k) version.

Lift map on a different page.

I skied Arapahoe Basin on the morning of Monday, 3/1/99, then I drove to Telluride which took about 6 hours. I took the southern route of highway 50. Here are some pictures from Arapahoe Basin, and then at the end a few pictures of the journey back to Telluride.

Arapahoe Basin review: it's a dive! For a famous ski hill, it is tiny (only 4 real lifts worth riding) and the mid-mountain lodges and ski patrol houses are little burned out sheds from the 50s. It is tucked into a tiny little box canyon. But for such a small mountain, it has an alarming amount of STEEP, STEEP double black diamond terrain. The only people skiing there are locals, and the lift tickets are $40 (as opposed to $55 at Breckenridge). Arapahoe Basin is famous for being windy, and the whole top is very exposed. The day I was there was considered "calm", and the wind bit right through my clothing while I took some pictures at the top. It was worth seeing once, but I doubt I'll ever go back. It's a foul little mountain that will break your legs.

 

A-Basin random picture:

 

This shows the box canyan it is nestled in:

 

Random view looking upward (while protected in the box canyan):

 

View from the top. You can see Breckenridge runs off in the distance, just to the right of the second boundary pole from the right.

 

Same spot, different angle:

 

Random view:

 

View from the chair, looking up. Notice how exposed the whole hill is:

 

 

Now, this is driving along highway 50, on the way to Telluride. Picture taken out the front of the Sentra at 60 mph:

 

Check out this bull! He's HUGE I tell you:

 

The sun is going down, and here is a frozen lake:

 

Further along the lake, it is no longer frozen:

 

Finally, after 6 hours of driving, this is Telluride (as I'm driving in down the box canyan at dusk):

 

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