A friend that lives in Colorado confirmed A-basin is open, tries to stay open till July 4.

No idea if it would truly be worth the trouble -- BUT flights are probably pretty cheap to Denver these days, and if you have the itch...

Kevin R

Ok -- curiosity got the better of me! First here's the web address: http://www.arapahoebasin.com/inside.php3

Second, a cursory check at expedia nabbed $211 flights out of National two weeks from now for the weekend. (use ALL dc area airports in search)

Now where did I put that ski wax...

;-)

(now look somebody's got do it, COME ON, COME ON!!!!)

About seven years ago I got a call at my beach house in Dewey Beach on July 4th. It was from a friend of mine and she had just skied A-Basin that day. And I was talking to her in my swimsuit just having gotten off the beach. East meets West.

I think A-Basin is open pretty regularly on July 4th.

But Dewey Beach on July 4th ain't so bad either. And you don't have to fly there ...

Don't forget the Alps for summer skiing! The Alps boast more skiable summer terrain than all the lift served terrain in Chile and Argentina combined. The snow, however, will still be summer snow, which still makes South America the best venue for summer skiing . I checked Soelden yesterday. Right now, they are reporting 150 cms of "old snow" on the Oeztal glacier. Unfortunately, they don't open the lifts again to the glacier until July.

[This message has been edited by johnfmh (edited 05-19-2003).]

I've skied the Alps in summer a couple times. A couple thoughts:
- Pick the area carefully based on what you want. Most Euro glaciers are awfully flat. If you are only looking for a single day add-on to a summer Euro vacation, that may be fine. If you plan to ski more than one day, that will almost certainly not be fine. Only a few Euro glacier areas have terrain with real variability and real pitch. One that does (when it's all open) is Zermatt.
- Plan for mixed days -- skiing in the morning and hiking/biking/golf etc in the afternoon.
- Don't go all that way solely for the skiing unless you are in unbearable withdrawal!