A-Basin Avalanches

GC4AT2V Traditional Cache

A-Basin Avalanches - Gentry
Type: Traditional | Size: Micro Micro

| Difficulty: 2 out of 5

| Terrain: 3.5 out of 5

This run appears to be an unremarkable open pitch, rated Blue by Arapahoe Basin, would probably be Blue-Black at most areas.

On November 26, 1967, this slope took the life of a volunteer ski patroller, Earl Gentry. It is now named in his honor.

Through November 25, 1967, 39 inches of snow had fallen in the area, 25 of which fell in the last 5 days. On November 26, the weather was cold (-2 to 14°F) and windy. During sweep, Earl Gentry noticed a pair of tracks going into a gladed area. He and his partner split up, with him investigating the tracks, and her going down to meet above midway.

When he did not meet her at the agreed location, she continued down hoping he had gone down ahead of her. He was not at the patrol room at the bottom.

Super-sweep (two patrollers at the top patrol hut responsible for emergency response during sweep) was notified. They found tracks leading into a fresh avalanche. They found Gentry buried under about 1.5 feet of snow and attemped resuscitation. This was unsuccessful.

See the full writeup of the incident for more details: Incident Report.

While this run is rated Blue by Arapahoe Basin, you need to be a solid intermediate skier at minimum to safely approach and exit the cache area. This would be quite a hike from the base area in the summer. If the Black Mountain Express lift is running in the summer, it would be a relatively short hike.

This cache description is not intended to scare anyone. Rather, it is intended to encourage respect. Respect for the mountain (Most of A-Basin, if not controlled from first snow on, is natural avalanche terrain. High speed lifts and grooming tend to make us forget that), and respect for the Professional and Volunteer Ski Patrollers who do everything possible to make a safe and enjoyable ski experience.

*** Congratulations to 2skidivers for being FTF! ***

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Camo bison tube on a clip. Lowest tree in tree island.

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Logs

9 Logs: 6 1 1 1

05/10/2019 By TheWeakestLynx
Found it!

03/24/2019 By gttuba99
Thank you so much for the background on this trail! Really enjoyed finding this one. Silly me forgot my pen so I’ve taken a photo holding it in lieu. Next time I’m up I’ll put an entry in the log .

02/08/2019 By poosu
Caching and skiing with my caching mentor belwig. Actually he did all the ground work finding caches in the ski area. Years ago we tried for some in Utah ski areas but they weren't winter friendly. This one clearly is. I must confess here he was the one who actually made it to the cache. I'm taking advantage of A Basin's geezer season pass for a ridiculously low price, and I rarely get off the groomers. Again this micro is special and earns one. A favorite. Thanks KA&JWest.

02/08/2019 By belwig
Last ski cache for the day. This one, like described, is a bit harder than ABasin would have you think. I'm sure the folks on the Lenawee were curious what I was up to, but I got it no problem. Signed as b+p+s. Thanks

05/12/2018 By SEBA4411
#skicache. Thank you for the cache

03/04/2018 By KA&JWest
Closure is gone. Did a ski-by, and the cache is there. A bit hard to get to because of rocks and such.

01/27/2018 By KA&JWest
Behind a closure.

08/26/2017 By GentryFamily31
This was a personal favorite cache since this was for my grandfather Earl Gentry. Thank you to whomever did this!!

08/12/2017 By MountainBear
Found with Java Chip. TFTC!