Those who have biked uphill at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area know how challenging it is to climb Upper Summer Road in hopes of getting to the summit.

The rocky access road, which begins at Black Mountain Lodge at mid-mountain, often forces the most conditioned mountain bikers to hop off their bike and slowly walk their way to the Snow Plume Refuge at the top of the ski area at 12,456 feet. 

After seeing so many hikers and mountain bikers struggle up the road throughout the ski area’s brief summer season every year, A-Basin has continued working on a new trail that will provide an easier way of getting to the top of the mountain. 

“If you are a 58-year-old guy, it is really hard to climb” Upper Summer Road, Arapahoe Basin trail crew member David Singleton said. “If you are a 25-year-old, it may not be that bad.”

“We still describe (Upper Summer Road) as the ‘harrowing summer road,'” A-Basin communications manager Shayna Silverman said. “We understand why people are so stoked about this trail build.”

Named Up at Arapahoe, the new two-way hiking and uphill-only biking trail will begin near Black Mountain Lodge and then criss-cross its way through A-Basin’s scenic, high-Alpine terrain to the summit of the ski area. 

Although the first third of the new trail was constructed at the end of the 2023 summer season, A–Basin’s trail crew team has been hard at work over the past few months, making significant progress and inching closer to the summit.

“This last year, we started coming uphill,” Singleton said. “There was already a trail that went from the bottom to the Black Mountain Lodge. Last fall, we then began building the trail that goes from Black Mountain Lodge to the top of Jamie’s Face.”

Since resuming work on the trail this summer, A-Basin’s trail crew has managed to extend the trail from Jamie’s Face to above Lake Reveal which sits under the shadow of the ski area’s Lenawee Mountain.

The trail has been constructed with the experience of the user in mind with portions of the trail being meticulously hand built by the trail crew.

In order to make the laborious climb to the summit easier for mountain bikers and hikers, A-Basin has made sure that Up at Arapahoe sticks close to a 5% average grade throughout the entirety of the trail. The lower pitch makes it so all users will have a more enjoyable experience than climbing the steep sections of Upper Summer Road and will hopefully result in more people being able to make it to the summit without a major breather.

Beyond the slope, A-Basin has also made sure to keep an eye on the overall aesthetics of the trail. Whether blending disturbed earth back around the newly established trail, creating scenic sitting spots or creating paths through jagged rock fields, the A-Basin trail crew has wasted no time in making sure the trail is a sight to behold.

“If you go to the top and go to Montezuma Ridge, you can see where we did this like two years ago,”  Singleton said about blending disturbed earth. “It has grown back out, and there are flowers coming out of the berms. That is what we are trying to do. That is what we are hoping to do, so we are not distributing stuff willy-nilly and just leaving it. My goal is to have it as close to it always being there as possible.”

On a particularly rocky section of the new trail located at about the midpoint between Black Mountain and Lake Reveal, Singleton was tasked with sticking small rocks in between gaps after A-Basin’s slopes maintenance manager Trevor Mathes cut a path through a robust pile of rocks.

“Mathes had to build the trail on the rocks, and he had to basically pave it with rocks all around the corner,” Singleton said. “He put in the big rocks with a mini-excavator. Then the hand crew came back in and filled in the gaps so it looks like it is all finished all the way out to the edge.”

In total, Singleton estimates that he spent three weeks on his hands and knees, wedging rocks between groups of secured rocks. The result of Singleton’s and Mathes’ handiwork is a section of trail that takes guests through a mostly smooth rock field that looks out over Loveland Pass and A-Basin’s Alpine environment.

“For me, that is what we are trying to do with the whole trail,” Singleton said. “Make it super sweet everywhere. … What is super cool is that you go around the corner and you are facing out toward the Basin and the Pass.”

With portions of the trail open for hiking and mountain biking, A-Basin and its trail crew has already received a hefty amount of positive and encouraging feedback on the build, especially the paved rock section. 

“The feedback that people are giving us as they come riding by are people talking about how awesome the ‘rock thing’ is,” Singleton said.

A-Basin plans to complete as much of the trail as possible in the weeks leading up to the start 2024-25 winter season but does not have a firm opening date for the full trail.

Those wanting to ride or hike the completed and open sections of the trail can visit Arapahoe Basin Ski Area from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.