It's one of those random blasts from the past that bring a smile to your face.
As I was driving into the office in the pre-dawn hours this morning, I heard an item on KYW that brought a smile to my face - and a flood of memories.
It involved a place called Arapahoe Basic, or as most everyone used to call it, "A-Basin."
A-Basin is a ski resort in the Rockies west of Denver.
But not just any ski resort.
Its claim to fame is not that of Vail or Aspen, but it has some other quirks that make it special.v
I had never been on skis before I went to Colorado. Ironically, I have never been on skis since I came back East.
One Christmas when I was home my friends - all of whom were pretty accomplished skiers - wanted to see what this newbie hotshot Colorado skier had, so they organized a trip to the Poconos.
Again, I had never been skiing in the East.
After we drove for what seemed like an eternity, I quipped, "When do we get to the mountains?"
Their response: The parking lot is right up here on the right.
To say I was underwhelmed was a bit of an understatement.
That's when I told them about A-Basin, where the parking lot is above the tree line.
A-Basin is on Highway 6 in Dillon, Colorado. Elevation: 10,780 feet. At the top of the mountain, that rises to 13,050 feet.
It holds the acclaim of usually being the first ski resort in the Rockies to open each fall. And it is almost always the last to close.
I have the distinction of saying I once skied A-Basin in shorts and a T-shirt on a college weekend that used to be called "Spring Fling." Tons of kids from the University of Colorado in Boulder would make the trek to A-Basin for an end-of-the-season blowout. Temperatures could soar into the 70s in the sun, but there would still be plenty of snow at that altitude.
The piece I heard on the radio this morning let me know that because of the unusual spring snow in the Rockies, the last day of the ski season at A-Basin will be celebrated on July 4.
Can you imagine?
I can. I remember it well.
Pass the sunscreen, folks.
Life's a beach at A-Basin, except this is not white sand. This is white snow.
Cool!
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