Lost ski areaColoradoFront RangeRocky Mountains
Arapahoe East
Ran 1972–1984. A small night-skiing area beside Interstate 70 near Genesee, owned by Arapahoe Basin founder Larry Jump, that ran from 1972 to 1984.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Arapahoe East sat just south of Interstate 70 near Genesee, about 20 minutes from Denver. Larry Jump, who founded Arapahoe Basin, owned it, and it opened in 1972 with a new Riblet double chair on an eight-inch base.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayThe old ski area lies within the Bear Creek Ranch property in Jefferson County, recently sold by the Medved family. (2024)2
Timeline
5 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Arapahoe East, or worked there?
Tell us what you remember, or what this page has wrong. Memories show here, credited to you, after we read them; facts are checked against a source before they change a figure.
Lost near Arapahoe East
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1958–1959 · 1.8 mi away · ColoradoA small ski hill with Colorado's first snowmaking, built in 1958 beside the Magic Mountain theme park west of Golden and gone by 1960.
- 1940–1942 · 10.8 mi away · ColoradoA one-rope-tow ski hill on Mount Legault, now part of Meyer Ranch Park near Conifer, that ran from about 1940 until wartime gas rationing in 1942.
- 1938–1977 · 10.8 mi away · ColoradoA small foothills ski area off Deer Creek Canyon Road in Jefferson County that began as Watson's Ski Hill and ran as Fun Valley from the mid-1960s.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 2 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Arapahoe East sat just south of Interstate 70 near Genesee, about 20 minutes from Denver. Larry Jump, who founded Arapahoe Basin, owned it, and it opened in 1972 with a new Riblet double chair on an eight-inch base. A Poma and a rope tow, snowmaking, a base lodge and lights for night skiing rounded it out, on about 30 acres with five trails and 600 feet of vertical. A former instructor recalled the idea: a hill close to the city for evening skiers, private parties and race-team training.1,2
Snow was often thin, as several skiers remembered. A 1978 plan for an alpine slide was refused a permit, and the area became Ski Golden in 1982 for its last two seasons. It closed in 1984 after the Colorado Tramway Board cited it for a string of violations, among them staff drinking on the job. The chairlift and its towers stood until 1996.1,2
TodayThe old ski area lies within the Bear Creek Ranch property in Jefferson County, recently sold by the Medved family. (2024)2
Sources for this history (2)
- 1Colorado Ski History · Arapahoe East Ski Area
- 2K99 (Townsquare Media) · What Happened to Colorado's Arapahoe East Ski Area? (Kelsey Nistel, March 26, 2024)
Photos
No photographs of Arapahoe East we may republish yet
Its old photos and trail maps live on the sites that collected them, and Google finds the rest.
Memories
What skiers remember of Arapahoe East, in their own words.
Facts
Location
39.6977° N · 105.2426° W · Colorado · Front Range
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1972–1984
Closed after the 1984 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 6all 6, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain