Arapahoe Basin

Arapahoe Basin's summit reaches 13,050 feet, dropping 2,530 vertical feet to a base at 10,518 feet across 147 runs spread over 1,428 acres near Dillon, Colorado. Terrain splits 49 per cent advanced, 24 per cent expert, 20 per cent intermediate and 7 per cent beginner, with average annual snowfall of roughly 350 inches. The resort carries Ikon Pass and Mountain Collective affiliation. Eight lifts, including four quad chairs and one six-person chair, serve the mountain alongside one double chair, two surface lifts and one t-bar.

Arapahoe Basin, affectionately known as The Legend, holds the distinction of being the first ski area to open in Colorado after the Second World War, and its genuinely high-alpine, largely above-treeline terrain has built a devoted following among serious skiers. The resort markets Colorado's longest season, often stretching from late October into June.

10th Mountain Division veterans Larry Jump and Sandy Schauffler, hired to survey Colorado's winter sports potential, founded A-Basin, with Jump investing his life savings of 25,000 US dollars. Local forestry professor Max Dercum and his wife Edna, who also owned Colorado's oldest guest ranch, the Ski Tip Ranch, joined the effort alongside Thor Groswold and Dick Durrance, purchasing an 80-acre parcel for 3,000 US dollars and opening the resort in December 1946 with a single mid-mountain rope tow after just five months of preparation.

A-Basin was sold in 1972 to Joe Jankovsky, then to Ralston Purina in 1978, before Vail Resorts purchased the resort in 1996. Department of Justice antitrust action forced Vail to divest a year later, and Dundee Resort Development of Canada, now known as DREAM, acquired A-Basin in 1997. Adult daily tickets run from 79 to 139 US dollars depending on weekday or weekend timing.