Today was a weekend day and with 6″ of new snow in the last two days it ended up being pretty busy. While it wasn’t that bad around opening time, the lines consistently increased in length throughout the morning. Parking ultimately reached capacity today. The weather also ran through the full spectrum from a beautiful cloudless sky to full overcast with light snow. The snow on the ground was a bit hard and crunchy in the early morning but got nicer as it softened up. It was definitely better than the conditions prior to the recent snowfall!
The above photos are from the Black Mountain Express, a high speed detachable quad lift that goes from the base area to mid-mountain. For most of its path, it travels above the well named Exhibition, a black diamond trail infested with some serious looking moguls! It’s always fun to see people skiing down below. Later on, things level out as it approaches mid-mountain as you are treated to a spectacular view of the upper half!
The lower half of the front side has a variety of trails ranging from easy, or what qualifies for easy at A-Basin, to difficult with moguls as well as some short tree runs. I’ve never done anything involving moguls or trees!
The Lenawee Mountain Lift is a triple that runs from mid-mountain to the almost the very top. The views from this lift are spectacular, particularly once you clear the tree line which happens relatively quickly. The lift isn’t very fast so you have lots of time to rest, enjoy the scenery, and people watch as you can see many trails down below!
It’s impossible to tell from these photos without pixel peeping but early on in the morning, there were many ice crystals in the air that were reflecting sunlight. A very cool effect that is very apparent in real life but unfortunately doesn’t really show up well in photography.
A-Basin’s maps are a bit confusing at times, particularly above the tree line. I think I did West Gully for the first time today. I basically just followed the groomed snow down! Part of this trail is visible from the Lenawee Lift and looks a bit intimidating. And it does look rather steep from above but it really wasn’t that bad. Though my assessment would likely change if it wasn’t freshly groomed!
The upper half of the mountain has many blues and a range of difficulties. A great place to be! And the views are as awesome as the skiing, particularly from the very top.