So for the past 2 seasons I have coincidentally skied Arapahoe Basin the same day as their Pallavicini Enduro. I couldn’t help but want to be a part of it after seeing such an event take place twice. David Ashe and I rode Pali a decent amount this season, and we agreed early on to sign up for the 26th Annual Enduro. We signed up on the day registration opened and landed our spot on the 2015 roster!!

This beautiful fixed grip lift services only double black diamond terrain, rises 1329 vertical feet, and spits you out at over 12,000 feet. This is my favorite chair to be on for a powder day, you’re in for a real treat if you time it right.

When we had pulled into the parking lot at 6am gearing up for the meeting, it was dumping snow! There was already 3″ that had fallen the night before with some decent wind loading making for soft turns. Thirty-five teams of two toed up this legendary double chair, with intentions to ski as many laps as possible before 5pm. The record stands at 76 laps which is a ridiculous amount! David and I set our sights on 45 laps within the 10 hour time frame and the notion of skiing until we were physically unable to.

The avalanche blast came promptly at 7am signaling the start and it was a mad dash to your gear, followed by a race back to the lift maze. I was lucky enough to have iced up my boots delaying our race to the chair, it was fine however seeing as this would be the only lift line we would be waiting in all day.

During the safety meeting every team was given a score card with ski runs 1-20 and a number for your starting one. We were lucky enough to get Turbo, one of the steeper more physically demanding runs right out of the gate. No better way to warm up after polishing off the morning coffee by a nice little turbo pow run. This was the best we would catch the conditions on that line all day, and we ended up skiing it a total of 3 times.

David and I kept a very consistent pace at the beginning, holding on to 5 lap hours for the first three hours. It was at this point we realized 50 was attainable if we kept it up, and the next hour we hit 6 laps! We did a great job of keeping up with our food and hydration, knowing very well without it we couldn’t finish the day. We were both very grateful to have our girlfriends supporting us throughout the entire day. They checked in every couple of hours with us, bringing snacks, gatorades, sunscreen and even a cheeseburger in the afternoon! Hands down the most delicious burger I’ve ever eaten on a lift 🙂 Huge thanks to Chelsea and Elizabeth!!

I was able to track our entire day on my phone, we ended up skiing another strong 6 laps to finish off the final hour. This brought our total run count up to 52!!! Couldn’t be any happier having surpassed our original goal and squeezing in another 2 right down to the cutoff. We didn’t catch the overall standings, but I’m pretty sure there were a couple high 60s in the mix!

This was an extraordinary day full of skiing, friends, a fantastic atmosphere, venue, and all to benefit a great cause. David and I will surely be in the Enduro again next year, and hoping for even more runs!! ❤ Pali

Thanks to Camara Photography for the final picture after it was all said and done!