Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin is celebrating its 80th anniversary with $80 lift tickets, free skiing for 80-year-olds on select dates and a birthday weekend packed with events. The mountain, which opened in 1946, will mark the milestone throughout the 2026-27 winter season, with its main celebration scheduled for Dec. 4-6.
The three-day birthday weekend will bring free equipment demos, live music and an anniversary dinner to the mountain. A-Basin is also giving passholders a chance to win a helicopter skiing trip through a challenge that rewards time spent skiing and riding.
$80 Lift Tickets And Free Skiing For 80-Year-Olds
The $80 lift tickets will be offered every Wednesday throughout the winter season and during the birthday festivities. Guests who are 80 years old can ski free every Wednesday, plus Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 5-6.
A-Basin has also announced $50 early- and late-season tickets, although the announcement does not specify the dates covered by that pricing. The resort’s lift ticket policy requires tickets to be purchased online in advance, with quantities potentially limited to manage the number of people on the mountain.
A Birthday Weekend With Demos, Music And Mountain Dining
The celebration begins Friday, Dec. 4, with an Uphill & Chill breakfast at Black Mountain Lodge. Participants will skin or snowshoe to the midmountain restaurant before the lifts open, with breakfast check-in times at 7:30 and 8:30 a.m.
On Saturday and Sunday, free ski and snowboard demos will run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Mountain Goat Plaza. Participants need identification and a valid lift ticket or pass, so the complimentary equipment testing does not include free mountain access.
Saturday afternoon’s festivities include Don Fuego at the 6th Alley from 2 to 5 p.m. The weekend schedule also lists birthday cakes, giveaways and a commemorative dashboard skier for the first 500 guests each day.
That evening, the 80th Anniversary Dinner at Black Mountain Lodge will feature a multicourse menu inspired by different decades of A-Basin’s history, a live band, an anniversary film premiere and a time capsule. Guests can reach the lodge by skinning, snowshoeing or riding the lift, and reservations are required. Vintage ski clothing is encouraged, with the dinner’s suggested theme drawing on a 1940s ski lodge.
Passholders Can Win One Of 80 Prizes
The celebration extends beyond December through A-Basin’s 80-Day Scan Challenge. During the first 80 days of the season, guests who scan an A-Basin Pass or Ikon Pass will automatically be entered to win one of 80 prizes.
Additional days on the mountain mean additional chances to win. Prizes include gear and experiences, with a trip to Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing as the grand prize.
Eight Decades Since The First Rope Tow
A-Basin’s history began below Loveland Pass, where founders Larry Jump and Sandy Schauffler invested $25,000 in the fledgling ski area. It opened in 1946 after five months of preparation with a single rope tow, becoming the oldest ski area in Summit County.
The original Pallavicini lift arrived in 1978, with later terrain expansions adding Montezuma Bowl, The Beavers and The Steep Gullies. This winter’s celebration will revisit that history through the anniversary film and time capsule, while giving another generation of skiers and snowboarders reasons to spend more days at The Legend.
