Built on Trust: LPOA and Arapahoe Basin’s Enduring Partnership
At one of Colorado’s highest ski areas, every lift on the mountain bears the same nameplate—and the decades-long relationship behind it.
When Larry Jump founded Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin in 1946, he was building more than a ski resort. He was forging the foundation of one of the most enduring partnerships in the history of American skiing. Seven years later, in 1953, A-Basin installed the first Poma surface lift—at the time the steepest Poma ever constructed—and in doing so set the two organizations on an intertwined path that continues to this day.
The relationship was symbiotic from the start. Poma’s lifts helped transform A-Basin from a fledgling high-altitude outpost into one of Colorado’s iconic ski destinations. And Jump, in turn, became a driving force for Poma’s growth across North America, securing exclusive U.S. distribution rights and selling Poma lifts to startup ski areas from coast to coast. The commissions from those sales provided much-needed capital that helped keep A-Basin running in its early years. Each organization helped build the other.
More than seven decades later, that founding commitment has never wavered. Every single chairlift at A-Basin today is an LPOA product, a distinction matched in Colorado only by Aspen Skiing Company.
The partners have, of course, faced many challenges over the years. At 13,050 feet, A-Basin enjoys one of the longest ski seasons in the state, with lifts spinning before Halloween and running sometimes until the Fourth of July. That same elevation, however, compresses the construction window to a matter of weeks, with snowfall possible even in August. There is no margin for error—and no room to doubt the reliability of either party.
“We have such a long ski season and such a short construction season that we really have to be organized and be prepared to act and have all our ducks in a row.”
The logistical challenges of building at altitude are difficult to overstate. When LPOA and A-Basin tackled the new Lenawee lift installation—with its top station sitting at approximately 12,500 feet—the project required a combination of heavy equipment, helicopters, and sheer ingenuity to move components into place.
“Access is tough. It took us longer to get the drive terminal to the bottom of Lenawee at 11,345 feet than it did to get the equipment all the way from the factory to the parking lot.”
On a separate installation at Beavers, the bullwheel had to be flown in by helicopter and set down on bales of hay—the only viable option given the terrain. A piece of heavy machinery known as a crawler took nearly seven hours to inch its way up the mountain.
The tight construction window demands relentless coordination. Bierman describes a rhythm of weekly calls, constant texts, and ongoing email threads between the two teams to keep projects aligned.
The partnership has been tested by more than just geography. The new Lenawee lift was planned for 2022, which was in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a period of severe global supply chain disruption. Materials were scarce, shipping was unreliable, and timelines were under constant threat.
“It was a hard project for all of us. We had to knuckle down and work together to deal with serious issues—trouble getting stuff where we wanted it and when we wanted it. It really required faith in each other to get through that time.”
The project was completed, and the lift opened on schedule. And A-Basin found a fitting destination for the original Lenawee fixed-grip: Sunlight Mountain Resort in Glenwood Springs, Colo., where it was put back into service—a reflection, Henceroth said, of how well the equipment had been manufactured and maintained.
That after-sale maintenance is a foundational part of the partnership.
“A lift can’t be taken to the garage for service. It is a one-of-a-kind structure, designed specifically for the terrain it occupies. When something goes wrong, or when the short construction season demands rapid response, the relationship between operator and manufacturer becomes critical.”
“People rely on each other. Everybody is trying to make it work.”
“Every single lift is a totally unique system. Things are complicated. We can plan all we want, but things come up. We have to rely on LPOA that they gave us good gear and that they’ll help us take care of it.”
“I can call Alan and say this has to get done, and he’ll say the same thing to me. We figure out a solution, and we always find the right path forward that works on both sides.”
Of A-Basin’s six current lifts, four were installed since 2018, and the oldest dates only to 2007. That makes A-Basin’s one of the newest lift fleets of any ski area in the state—a testament not just to capital investment, but to the ongoing working relationship that made each project possible.
