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A-Basin and the East Wall...any thoughts?
Posts: 1991
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Karma: 14
I'm heading out to Colorado the 19-27 with a few friends of mine, and we plan on skiing all around Breckenridge, Vail, Arapahoe Basin, Copper and Keystone. We'll decide whether we want to go to all of them as the week progresses or just explore some mountains more in depth.
We are definitely going to check out A-Basin though, one of my friends has gone and says the skiing is intense. I noticed that the East Wall is now open, and I want to know if this is the sort of skiing that warrants skiing with avy gear or not. I know it is inbounds, but I heard a story of a slide that was triggered last year or recently out of bounds and slid in bounds near the East Wall.
So for all you Colorado skiers, is the East Wall the sort of skiing that we need avy gear for, or is it safe to just hike from the lifts and ski? Thanks for the input.
Posts: 469
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no avy gear for the east wall but unless we get some more snow its kinda shitty right now, on a fresh day its sick, i prefer the palivinci(sp?) glades at A-basin.
Posts: 1991
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Karma: 14
The forecast is showing that Tues-Saturday will have snow in that area, so maybe there will be some better coverage. Thanks for the input.
Posts: 707
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There is both upper and lower east wall. Upper East Wall is probably what you are referring to and it isn't open that often. It is hike to terrain and they do avy control on it so they only open in when you shouldn't need a beacon. You will not be able to ski it unless they open it while you are there.
The inbounds slide you are referring to was a freak accident and not on the East Wall.
There is much much better hike to terrain at the other resorts you mentioned, but no one is going to tell you where. No offense, but that means less pow for us.
Posts: 1991
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Karma: 14
Thanks for clearing that up. I understand what you are saying about the stashes man, I'm not looking for you to give up any secrets.
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im going to a basin in late march. I wanna hit that shit up then
Posts: 14
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The east wall is really fun. Up top, its hike-to chutes. They are realy lung killers (its 13 000 feet, and you're limbing at 40+ degrees). I hit one called Wiley's Wide or something twice last year when I went to A-Basin. They arent open every day though, and can go for a while without being open. Lower east wall is fun too though. Its not that steep at all, but has a lof of progressive terrain features- cornices, upchutes, rocks, straightlines, etc. A couple drops up to about 10 feet too. Palavachini is also really fun. Its steep, gladed, and takes only one lift to get to it. Its by far the funnest terrain I've ever skied that only takes one lift and no hiking to get to.
Avi gear is not needed, but if you have it, no reason not to bring it. A man was killed a year or two ago in the spring in an avalanche on Palavachini (but I think he died on the ride down, so beacon wouldn't have helped). There is a lot of very accessable backountry around A-basin too.
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Vail and Copper are really good too. Unless you are looking mostly for park, I'd skip Breck and Keystone. They just arent as good for big mountain as vail, copper and abasin are.
Posts: 1991
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Karma: 14
No park skiing, we have plenty of that here. Thanks for the heads up too.
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Posts: 173
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Um, East Wall is nice... Can be some of the sickest terrain in Colorado at times. Pali is nice, and thats where the wetslab broke last spring... Try to hook up with some locals, if you are nice to them, maybe they'll show you some nice stuff.
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werd.
i have skied pretty much everything in that area a couple times, and i have had the sickest days at A-Basin, i love the atmosphere. With Vail then Copper nipping close at it's heels, there better cause there is alot more terrain.
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The basin is awesome. Its so so chill. You can normally just pop some beers in the lift lines or on the lifts and nobody cares about the drinking or how old you are and I know some guys who just chill out on the patio at the base and smoke several times a day. Nobody cares. As for steeps at A Basin, you can spy so many good lines right off the chairs and just go hit it. Don't worry about in bounds avalanches, its not gonna happen again anytime soon. They bomb everything so much, especially the upper east wall. It is the runoff from the UEW that keeps the lower east wall covered. Hopefully the upper east wall is open when you get out here.
Posts: 1991
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Karma: 14
Excellent, I keep hearing good things about A-Basin, the terrain and the atmosphere. Thanks for all the input guys.
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make sure to do it when the snow is good cuz I went up there once and it was icy as a hockey rink
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the pali wall is better, its so much fun...if you're in that area you should also hit up loveland and loveland pass
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Yeah that slide last year was actually sometime in may, and was just a freak accident. i guess because it had gotten so warm, the rocks under the snow heated up causing it to slide and i guess it killed a 50 year old guy. There is no reason to take avy gear they do a really good job with contorl, it was just a freak accident. I would definitely check out Winter Park...one of the dopest mountains in Colorado and if you ride park, it is definitely top 3 in the state...also some good steeps out in the cirque and just a chill mountain
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sweet! we need snow...but that slide was on pali last year, and as far as the east wall, it can be sick if you go to the right runs, the majority of people get off the lift and start hiking, instead of going to the traverse, and than skating over for awhile than hiking up the staircases
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there is some sweet runs that ends near the road on skiers left of the mountain.
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