Vanquished to the Front Range, without a mountain home, I set out to find my new stash in early December 2010. With the Epic Pass as my mountain meal ticket, I began my search. Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone and Beaver Creek are fun mountains, but lack that certain something that I had become accustomed to while living in southwest Colorado. I yearned for the type of thigh burning, face shot producing turns that had become my norm in the steep San Juan’s. The answer, it turns out, was nearer than I knew.
Arapahoe Basin, “The Legend”, is a big, cold, gnarly, steep mountain. It is a no frills, local friendly badass sentinel appropriately located away from the nearby tourist traps. Though I am just getting to know my new mountain home, I can share with other newcomers a few good words of advice. Lap the Pallavicini lift early on powder days. The skiing is consistently steep in the zones served by Palli. You will find your stash somewhere between Gauthier and 13 Cornices. After ripping Palli, go to the Black Mountain Lodge, order a pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries and transport yourself from central Colorado to western North Carolina.
Jason Tubbs (30 months ago ) |
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