Courtesy Arapahoe Basin Ski Area
Arapahoe Basin Ski Area on Friday dropped the rope to provide public access to terrain along the ski area’s famed East Wall at the Continental Divide.
In a post on his blog Friday afternoon, A-Basin Chief Operating Officer Al Henceroth said portions of the lower East Wall opened at about 1:45 p.m. Friday. He said ski patrol has been working on terrain along the East Wall for weeks before triggering a “pretty big slide” from avalanche mitigation on the right flank of the East Wall’s Corner Chute run.
“The patrol opened the area below the (East Wall) traverse out to the Hot-Cold Closure below Corner Chute,” Henceroth wrote. “Especially in the early East Wall season, the area tends to open and close as conditions change. Another storm is brewing for Sunday and Monday that could impact conditions and the open/closed status. I squeezed in a couple runs. It was my kind of fun.”
According to A-Basin’s terrain status page, as of Friday afternoon, the Land of the Giants extreme double-black-diamond terrain on the lower East Wall was open. The terrain status page reported the East Wall’s hike-to terrain was closed.