For those of you not in the know…. A-Basin is a resort 5 minutes up the road from Keystone which is on the lift ticket. A-Basin is a bit higher than Keystone and opened in October and should be open for a couple of very slushy days in late May – perhaps even June (as it was last year). The 300 days a year is possible with places like A-Basin.
Next year there is a new chair going in off of the back of A-Basin – it is south facing (which is the crappy side snow wise) but it opens up some new terrain and there are some BIG CORNICES up there which could be fun. Andy, Moc and I had the idea to hike this so we could say that we skied it before they put a chair in. We also had an idea that we could ski out the bottom of the valley to the road and leave a truck on the road somewhere…. Here is Moc and I scoping the new bowl (the runs you can see cut on the other side of the valley are part of Keystone).
We weren’t quite sure if we could ski out of this thing so after mentioning this to Al over a BBQ @ 9,500 feet and -10c, Al suggested that we should do a proper recon of the area. My idea of recon involves Google Earth, GPS, a pack full of food and warm clothing and a deadline before someone calls the forestry service…. Al’s idea of recon is taking his plane and flying over the area (which eliminates that treat of bears right mate).
The thing is – after the BBQ Moc and I hit the town and got home around 5am. Al called at 9am and Andy and I were in. Hangover + smallest plane I’ve ever been in + rough flying day (so Al says) = Tom didn’t enjoy the flight as much as I will the next one. Here is me tossing up between vomitting and sticking my head in the propeller.
For weight reasons I got the back of the plane and Andy was the co-pilot. He even got to fly….
Back to the original purpose of this post… the new chair going in at A-Basin. Here is the view from the air and I’ve put in where the lift will be.
Sadly i missed out on the flight as i had already gotten up and gone skiing.