ARAPAHOE BASIN — Justin Reed was not his normal self Saturday, but that’s to be expected of visitors to Arapahoe Basin Ski Area this time of year.
It’s closing weekend for the resort, which typically boasts the earliest opening and latest closing of any ski area in the state. After Sunday, skiers will have to wait until November to see the lifts move again.
To celebrate, Reed, an IT administrator during the workweek, donned his unitard Duffman costume — the mascot for the fictional Duff Beer company in “The Simpsons” — and spread a message of smiles and suds all over the mountain.
“(The costume is) getting a lot of response,” he said, “but it’s kind of hard to pee in, to be honest.”
Reed wasn’t the resort’s only costumed rider — the parking lot filled up with die-hard skiers and snowboarders who, at this point in the season, look more for laughs than for champagne powder.
The parking lot, nicknamed The Beach, was home to lawn chairs, portable grills, 30-packs of domestic beer, and skiers and snowboarders taking a break from the mountain’s 12 open runs.
“It’s the last weekend we’ll be able to ski,” said Sam Patton. “My friends were like, ‘Let’s go to the pool,’ but the pool will be here all summer.”
“I moved here to ski,” the Dallas transplant said after chugging a beer from a hollow plastic baseball bat, spinning around six times and, impressively, hitting the empty can when it was pitched like a baseball.
“It’s really cool for us when we can be the first mountain to open and the last to close,” said Adrienne Saia Isaac, marketing and communications manager for A-Basin. “We’ll ski as long as we can.”
And visitors to the Summit County resort were able to ski longer this year than last, one of the worst winters in Colorado’s recorded history.
The 10-year average for annual snowfall at A-Basin is about 350 inches. The 2012-13 winter, which brought an onslaught of late-season storms, dumped 307 inches of snow, Isaac said.
While that figure still doesn’t match the historical average, the 2011-12 season, by comparison, saw only 200 inches of snow. The relatively dry winter prompted A-Basin to shut down May 6, one of the earliest closings in the mountain’s history.
An early-June closing date isn’t out of the ordinary for the resort. Indeed, A-Basin has been open much later, closing July 4 in 2011. But after last year, it feels later than it actually is.
“When you come off a really difficult season, people want a season that finishes strong,” Isaac said. “I think we had a lot of happy employees this year.”
Nic Turiciano : 303-954-1223, nturciano@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Nic_Turishawno