Last Saturday was a perfect Colorado day. The sky was stunningly clear and endlessly blue. The temperature was in the low 50s and there was not a breath of wind.
It was a fall day perfect for hiking or mountain biking, carving pumpkins or walking the dog.
But we didn’t do any of those things.
We went skiing. (Apologies to my dog.)
Early Season Love
When I tell friends that we spent last Saturday skiing at Arapahoe Basin, their reaction is always the same.
“No way!” they’ll exclaim, inevitably adding, “Why? Isn’t it kind of early?”
Which always cracks me up, because we live in Colorado, the state which often has “first-in-the-nation” ski resort openings.
In fact, last weekend, we had our choice of three resorts: Wolf Creek in southwest Colorado, Loveland and Arapahoe Basin, just outside of Denver.
And, yes, to answer them, it is early. But that’s why we ski.
Because we can.
Okay, so we weren’t the only ones enjoying early season skiing. But with a high speed quad, on a beautiful day, it’s all okay. More than okay!
Why We Ski Early Season
In addition to just being able to, here are three more reasons why ski early season.
Kickstart your ski season. Early season skiing is bonus time. It’s not about logging lots of vert or bragging rights for deep pow. Instead, it’s all about starting your season in a totally relaxed frame of mind.
If the weather cooperates (and it did), it’s like spring skiing in October.
I didn’t have any skis or boots to break in, but I was #tryingstuff. A Columbia shell and a helmet with an integrated visor from OSBE USA.
Check out your gear — new and old. If you’ve got new boots, a new board or new skis, early season is a terrific time to test them out. Again, because you’re in bonus time, it doesn’t matter if you have to stop and adjust your boots or if you need to take a break to get comfortable.
New gear or not, skiing in October means you can get your legs back under you and work the kinks out with no pressure. You can ski your old boards and decide whether you really need new gear.
Or, maybe just a tune.
Spoil the kids (and yourself). Our boys suggested skiing on Saturday. Left to our own drudgery-loving devices, my husband and I would have cleaned up the yard or something equally mundane. But as a ski parent, how can you resist when your child looks you in the eye and says, “I want to go skiing.”
You can’t. Because guess what? You want to go skiing, too. So why not indulge?
When You Go…
Arapahoe Basin opened on October 13, with top-to-bottom skiing on October 25th. According to those in the know, this was one of the best early openings in years.
It sure felt that way to us.
From the top, we skied Lenawee Face to Dercum’s Gulch and then had our choice of heading back to the Lenawee lift or skiing to the bottom on High Noon or Ramrod. These runs are all intermediate and while beginner learning area Pika Place is open, there wasn’t an easy way back to the bottom.
The Black Mountain Lodge’s amazing spinach salad. There’s also ribs, BBQ and more and the prices are right.
For lunch, the mid-mountain Black Mountain Lodge is open and the sundeck was packed. Down at the base, the café was open, although the big-time renovation of the Sixth Alley Bar (soon to be Bar and Grill) is still underway.
As for the snow, it’s groomed man-made, but it was surprisingly soft and was skiing really well on a 18 inch base. With new snow this week, it will be skiing even better come the weekend.
If you’re in the market for lessons, A Basin has an early season lesson program that will save you lots of money. From now until November 23, private lessons are steeply discounted, with a one-hour private for $90 (regularly $185), a half-day private for $170 (regularly $290) and a full-day private for $290 (regularly $460). Up to four people of the same ability can take a private together for an additional $25 per person.
Interested? Phone reservations are required at 888-272-7246.
Finally, the good deals don’t end at Thanksgiving. From December 1 through December 20, kids 14 and under ski free at Arapahoe Basin! Not only that, but they also get $10 off any children’s lesson.
Other Colorado resorts with pre-Thanksgiving openings are Loveland, which opened on October 17th; Copper Mountain (opening November 1st); Wolf Creek (November 8th); Winter Park (November 13th) and Eldora (November 22nd).
After that, it’s pretty much weekly openings through mid-December for the rest of the state.
Enjoy!
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Great post! We love all the anticipation that builds in watching for early season snow falls, finding reports of when resorts begin to open and just thinking of a new season and what new things we want to work on this year. And of course, we can hardly wait when we have our first trip planned! (we live in IN, so we fly out to CO several times a winter). I never really thought about why I like to plan even a trip for the early season snow..but it certainly makes sense, it’s what we LOVE to do and it’s a great way to no pressure, ease back into it! I’m 2 weeks out from my first trip of the season and I can’t wait! Thanks for sharing the stoke! 🙂
You got it Betsy! Have a great trip. Two weeks isn’t very far away! Enjoy the entire season! Ski on!
You just made my day when you said that kids ski free most of December. Time to recruit some friends to hit the hills with us!
You just made my day! Thanks for sharing and have fun in December…and all season long!
Plus you can tell which muscles you need to work out to get in shape for the rest of the upcoming season. More squats and core work for me!
So true. Squats for all! Thanks.
You’re skiing already? I’m so jealous! We’ve had a dry October, but our mountains are supposed to get some snow this weekend. Ski season around here usually doesn’t start until Thanksgiving anyway. But some friends of mine hiked and skinned up the side of Mt. Hood two weekends ago, and said they had a great ski down for about 1000 feet.