Colorado Backcountry: Arapahoe Basin & Pass Smoke Shack

Arapahoe Basin / Pass Smoke Shack

Location: Arapahoe Basin / Pass Smoke Shack
People: AKD, JP, Alex, Tyler
Duration: Oct29 8am - Oct30 3pm

Arapahoe Basin/Pass Smoke Shack [Video/Snd.mov]
(parts filmed in low light - turn up brightness)
The weekend was perfect, expect for the snow. AKD and I setup camp at Arapahoe Basin early Saturday morning and got breakfast. Around 8:30am some snow started to enter the valley just as first chair was heading up. We got in line and soon we were on our way up the mountain. The 500ft of vertical or so that they have open isn't bad, but get at it early. By noon we were waiting almost 45 minutes per lap. Around 1pm we decided to head over to the bar and start drinking, ran into Mac and crew up on the balcony and had a few beers. The crowds of gapers were difficult to deal with so we decided to call it a day and part ways. I hiked up to the terrain park with the video camera to mess around and get some shots. Mac, D, Pin Pin Mark, Sarah, and JT were in the park so that gave me a chance to play with the new camera a bit.

My plans were to meet up with Alex and camp in the backcounty smoke shack up on the pass. Around 4pm, Alex and Tyler rolled into the Arapahoe Basin lot with all the gear. We made our way back toward the pass up to the shack. Thank god Alex and Tyler brought tons of fire wood cause it was cold as hell. We did 4 or 5 laps from the car up to the shack with all the supplies. 2-3 loads of wood, our backcountry gear, and a cooler filled with beer/food. We got all settled in the hut around 5pm or so and Alex started dinner. Below the new deck on the hut is a nice powder chute now filled with jibs. The small round rail and a new tree jib are set up and shredable. I had to get it done so this is how I spent the remaining amount of light. 8pm or so rolls around, we are out standing on deck drinking beer after a rad dinner.

 
To our suprise we noticed another car pull into the lot through the trees. Next, we hear a few dudes yelling up, "Your dome light is on......". Obvisously, a mission back to the trucks is in order.. so Tyler and I gear up and head down the mountain. Upon reaching the lot, Tylers truck is dead.. the 4 new dudes are kinda just hanging out asking were we came from. Seconds later it was realized they were here to camp out in the shack as well. Now 7 dudes deep, we thank them for the heads up on the car and head back up the mountain to the hut.

 
Evan, Trevor, Tavida, and Andy got up to the hut around 9pm or so.. now 7 deep in the small shack we started drinking heavily. Lucky, they packed up a 30 pack of PBR, 3 40oz of Olde E, and a bottle of Jack Daniels..we broke out the cards and stared some blackjack. Spent most of the night hanging out with our new friends, drinking, playing cards, checking out the stars from Colorado's highest altitude casino. The shack stayed a nice 55 degrees most of the night, and we burnt almost 14 hours of fire wood. We went to bed hoping for snow, the next morning we woke up to alpineglo and clear skies. No snow, we decided to grab breakfast at Arapahoe Basin and get in a few laps. We parted ways with our new friends and rallied over to the basin. It was now snowing again and the gapers were starting to pile up. Don't even know how bad the gapeage got yesterday, but we did a few laps and went home.