On October 2, the snowmaking crew at Arapahoe Basin ran a test of the system. The crew wrote on the area's blog that temperatures still had to fall before it could make snow in earnest. Six days later the blog reported afternoon showers and a little natural snow around 13,000 feet, along with a warning that the forecast was hard to read. As of October 12, the homepage gives the opening date as "ASAP."
This is the season A-Basin turns 80. It is also the first season that every Ikon Base Pass carries unlimited access to the mountain. The birthday deals, the pass change and the parking rules all point in one direction. The Basin wants more skiers on Wednesdays and in the early season, and it relies on weekend parking reservations to hold everything else in check.
Waiting on opening day, with four new guns on the hill
Recent history gives a reasonable window for the opening. A-Basin opened on Oct. 17 in 2021, Oct. 23 in 2022, Oct. 29 in 2023 and Oct. 26 last season, as reported by the Denver Gazette. The 2024 season was a late one, with lifts starting on November 2. The area lists October 9 as its earliest opening ever.
Last year's first day ran on High Noon, served by Black Mountain Express. The plan was to open Lenawee Face and Dercum's Gulch next, working toward the summit. The new snowmaking this year is aimed at that same terrain. In September, A-Basin added four tower guns at Lenawee Face, Dercum's Gulch, Lenawee Traverse near the bottom of Lenawee Express, and Sundance. A bigger project is still at the proposal stage. It calls for 65 more acres of snowmaking, two new lots totaling 400 spaces at Moose Hollow and Upper Upper Last Chance, and a pedestrian bridge over Highway 6. The Denver Post reported that, if approved, snowmaking work could begin in summer 2027 and parking work in 2028. None of it will be built this winter.
Elsewhere in the county, Copper Mountain and Breckenridge are both scheduled to open November 6. As of the Denver Post's September 29 roundup, Keystone still had no firm date.
The birthday calendar, mapped against the season
| When | What A-Basin has announced | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| November 1, 10 a.m. MST | Parking reservations open | Booked through Park A-Basin |
| November, midweek | $50 lift tickets | Off-season midweek pricing |
| Dec. 4–6 | 80th Anniversary Weekend | $80 tickets all three days |
| Late December through April | $80 Wednesdays | Every Wednesday except Dec. 30 |
| Jan. 2 to May 2, 2027 | Weekend parking reservations | Required 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
| May, midweek | $50 lift tickets | Off-season midweek pricing |
The $80 Wednesday deal is the most-discussed piece of the anniversary. The Denver Post laid out the rules. The price applies on peak-season Wednesdays from late December through April. Dec. 30 is excluded because of holiday crowds. There is no cap on how many people can buy at that price. Anyone born in 1946 skis free every Wednesday all season. In its October 6 preview, FREESKIER also described an 80-day pass-scan challenge, with a heli-skiing trip among the prizes, and said the exact dates for the $50 early- and late-season tickets had not been set yet.
Three days in December, hour by hour
A-Basin's anniversary event page describes the weekend as a mix of "fan-favorite events and some all new parties." Here is the schedule as posted:
- Friday, Dec. 4, 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. Uphill and Chill. Skin or snowshoe to Black Mountain Lodge before the lifts start for a chef-prepared breakfast. The area expects it to sell out.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free ski and snowboard demos in the base area. Bring an ID.
- Saturday, 3 to 6 p.m. Don Fuego plays après at The 6th Alley.
- Saturday, 7 to 10:30 p.m. The 80th Birthday Celebration, a Moonlight Dinner at Black Mountain Lodge.
- Sunday, Dec. 6, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Another full day of free demos.
Every day of the weekend brings $80 lift tickets, giveaways and birthday cakes, a gift for the first 500 guests, $80 "Tune-Ups" through the Ski and Ride School, and an extra 20% off 80th merchandise at Arapahoe Sports.
Saturday night's dinner will be the hardest ticket to get. You can skin, snowshoe or ride the lift up to mid-mountain for a multi-course dinner. The evening includes the premiere of the anniversary film, a live band, food themed to the decades, gifts and the burial of an A-Basin time capsule. The posted dress code is "1940s ski lodge." Check-in runs from 6 to 6:30 p.m. at Guest Services. The 6th Alley Bar & Grill serves cocktails until the chairlift starts at 6:45 p.m. Reservations are required, and A-Basin says it will announce later when they go on sale.
What 1946 explains about this winter
A-Basin's own history says Larry Jump and Sandy Schauffler, former racers and 10th Mountain Division veterans, put $25,000 into a ski area below Loveland Pass in 1946 with a single rope tow. In its 75th-anniversary story, Summit Daily added that the pair brought in Dick Durrance, and that Max and Edna Dercum and Thor Groswold helped get the area running. It also reported that the tow ran from mid-mountain to the summit, so skiers were driven up to the start of it. A chairlift arrived for the 1947–48 season. In 1953 came what A-Basin calls the first Poma lift in the United States. The original ticket price depends on which account you read. Summit Daily's 2022 retrospective gives $1.25, while its 2006 anniversary story gives $3.
The anniversary page frames the whole season around that history. It says A-Basin has stayed "grounded, community-focused, and unapologetically itself," with the same "no-frills ethos" it started with. That self-image has shaped how the area handles crowds before. In 2022 the Colorado Sun reported that A-Basin capped pass and day-ticket sales after crowding problems. COO Alan Henceroth told the paper the mountain went over its stated comfortable carrying capacity of 4,140 skiers only once that season.
The pass change, and the lever behind it
Ikon access to A-Basin has opened up in steps. Summit Daily reported in 2024 that the Base Pass included five days at A-Basin and the full Ikon included seven. For 2025–26, the full Ikon became unlimited. The Base Pass stayed at five days, plus an early-season window of unlimited access that did not count against those days. This season, according to Summit Daily's report on Alterra's pricing, the Base Pass, priced from $949, includes unlimited A-Basin access.
When the full Ikon went unlimited in March 2025, Henceroth explained the reasoning to POWDER. He said the resort wanted more visits during slow early-season and weekday periods, and that parking reservations were its most effective tool for managing arrivals on busy days. Summit Daily covered the same change. It quoted a local worried about weekday crowds and reported Henceroth's view that the change would not alter A-Basin's culture. A-Basin has not published any estimate of how the Base Pass expansion will affect crowds this season.
Wednesday tickets are $80. November and May midweek tickets are $50. The heaviest days are governed by the parking rules on the Park A-Basin FAQ:
- Weekend reservations are required in every lot from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., Jan. 2 through May 2, 2027.
- General reservations cost $20 per vehicle in Early Riser, High Noon, Last Chance and Upper Last Chance.
- Cars with four or more people still need a reservation, but it is free.
- Weekday general parking stays free, and so does parking after 1 p.m. on reservation days.
- The Beach requires a reservation every day of the season at variable rates, now booked through Park A-Basin.
- The Admin Lot costs $40 a day all season and needs a reservation on weekends starting Jan. 2.
Reservations open November 1 at 10 a.m. MST. That makes November 1 the first date on this season's calendar with a fixed time attached. The opening date, whenever it comes, will be set by the weather.
If you're planning which days to spend at The Basin this winter or thinking about a place closer to Loveland Pass, Christina Watson knows Summit County through the ski calendar as well as the property records. Schedule your white‑glove consultation, and we'll talk about life near the mountain, from the November parking rush to the last $80 Wednesday in April.
