Arapahoe East LSA#4 Traditional Geocache

Micro with a view.  Short but steep hike from road side parking turn-out.

Arapahoe East  -  Born:  1972   Died:  1984

Arapahoe East is the most visible of all the “lost” ski areas.  Thousands of commuters and weekend ski warriors pass by it every day, though most do not realize it.  If you have ever looked south while speeding by the Lookout Mountain exit of I-70, you've seen it.  This cache provides a vantage point to take a longer look.  

Arapahoe East was started in 1973 by Larry Jump, one of the original investors/owners of Arapahoe Basin.  He believed an area in close proximity to Denver could be used to teach people to ski and get them hooked, so they would become customers for life at Arapahoe Basin and other areas.  His suburban hill had a 600-foot vertical drop and approximately 10 ski runs, served by a double chair and two surface lifts.  It opened in 1972 with a skimpy 8-inch base.

Jump pulled out all the stops in trying to make the area successful.  He experimented with “shift” skiing:  a 4-hour shift in the morning, followed by afternoon and evening shifts (each was $4, so you could ski for a rate of $1 an hour).  He also tried using a “pay-by-ride” model, with each lift ride requiring a 40-cent token, but this European concept was not particularly popular.  In the later years, he tried to re-zone the site for an alpine slide (1978), but Jeffco commissioners voted it down after an intense firestorm of neighborhood opposition.  In 1983 he tried to sell the area to grass-skiing promoter Mike Hansen for a sum of $310,000.  Hansen's intention was year-round skiing on specially-designed skis. Hansen failed to garner enough investors to make the venture succesful.    

Today the slopes are part of a private landholding.  There is no access, or even a decent overlook, from Grapevine Road, which was its' access road.  The cache is placed at a good overlook off Highway 40, on the north slope of the canyon.  It is located up the hill from a pull-out and you do not need to get anywhere near the edge of the road cut to find the cache and view the site.

Take a moment when you visit and imagine if Larry Jump’s dream for Arapahoe East did not die.  Would it have been sustainable, given the shorter seasons we have experienced lately?  If you visit during winter months (November through March), please take a picture and add to the gallery.