Vail

Terrain:

There is no way to explore everything in one day because Vail is the largest resort in Colorado; it’s HUGE. It can be quite overwhelming when you first get there. It is hard to know where to go and what to ski. For me, where I ski depends on the weather. On a powder day I am immediately going to the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin. These are both on the back side of the mountain, which mainly consist of advanced and intermediate runs. I could spend all day in these back bowls enjoying the snow, but so could everyone else. These bowls are very open and there is so much playful terrain to explore. It even has awesome aspen tree glades. For the back side it’s easy to find fresh tracks in the morning, but in the afternoon a lot of the terrain is tracked out because everyone wants to be in the back bowls on a powder day. 

A down side to these bowls for me, is there are no double blacks. In fact, Vail has a very very slim amount of extreme terrain for how big it is. I would love to have a few extreme double blacks to ski in. This could be a plus to others though. For intermediate skiers and for advanced skiers who can and love to do moguls, you don’t have to worry about running into extreme terrain back here. The one thing you may have to worry about is getting stuck in a gully and having to hike out. These gullies are made by streams under the snow and make what looks like craters in the snow. Simply ride around them and you will not have a problem. When in the back bowls, because there is so much terrain and so many different lifts to take, it can often be hard to get to the desired lift. I will think I’m on one lift when I’m two lifts over from it. I think this is all a part of the fun of the back bowls. I like getting a little lost and then finding new areas to ski.

When it is not a powder day, I stick to the front side of the mountain. One of my favorite areas are the runs off of SourDough Lift. This is a beginner area that is high on the mountain and often not crowded. These are short runs, but they are very fun. This area is great to bring your family and try to avoid some of the crowds. Another great area on the front side are the runs off of Northwoods Express Lift. This area is perfect for more advanced quick laps. This is one of my favorite lifts to lap and has some of the best tree runs at Vail.

The front side also has some fun terrain parks and a great kid area. I will never forget the kid areas at Vail. When I was younger, I was not the biggest fan of ski school. The only day of ski school I remember liking was at Vail. I had a hilarious instructor and was skiing with my best friend. Our instructor took us through all the kid adventure parks and bunny trails. Even today I go through these adventure parks, because they are so fun. These areas can be found around the Avanti Express Lift. This is the perfect place to get your kids to fall in love with skiing and is a blast for the whole family.

Vail has a few terrain parks strewn around the front side. My favorite of the terrain parks is Gold Peak Terrain Park. This is a great park that has a huge variety of features. In this one terrain park, there are XS, S and M features. This enables you to work your way up to bigger and bigger features even in a single day. This terrain park is off of Riva Bahn Express Lift which is at the base of East Village. I don’t come to Vail to do park laps, but I like to hit the park a few times when I’m there.

Vail has an interesting system to deal with how large it really is. This is of course through catwalks. There are tons and tons of catwalks to help skiers and boarders get from lift to lift. Sometimes you can feel like you are on catwalk after catwalk that never ends. These catwalks are needed and helpful when getting from the top of the mountain to the bottom. There are some long runs that can be steep and are not as fun on icy days. The catwalk helps make these steep runs much easier. Although it’s easy to get stuck on the catwalk when you do not have enough speed. This is due to the various changes in terrain steepness in the middle of the resort. I dread taking the runs around this area, because of the amount of catwalks. But I know it needs to be done if I want to explore different areas of the resort.

Even though Vail is so large, you will often have long lift lines. Specifically at the beginning of the day, the base lift areas are packed. You will be waiting in a long lift line no matter what. Once everyone has spread out across the mountain, the lift lines die down. I try to avoid Vail on the weekends as much as possible, but do always try to get a few days in at Vail every season.

Base Elevation – 8,120 ft

Peak Elevation – 11,570 ft

Number of Lifts – 31

Number of Trails – 195

Total Terrain – 5,289 acres

Easiest Terrain (Greens) – 19%

More Difficult Terrain (Blues) – 29%

Most Difficult Terrain (Blacks)  – 48%

Expert Terrain (Double Blacks) – 4%

Resort Hours – 9am-4pm Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4pm Saturday-Sunday

Atmosphere and Locals:

When asking a Coloradoan about Vail, you may get some mixed reviews. Vail is the main resort for the Epic Pass. Some people either love the epic resorts or the Ikon resorts. Many people are split, some like me, just like to ski wherever there’s good snow and where my friends may be going. Which pass I use does not matter much. People are split because there is a certain atmosphere to Vail that attracts some and deters others. Vail can be known to be more ritzy, as a luxury resort. You will not find many ‘ski bums’ here. Instead you will find very old fashioned Colorado skiers, who have been skiing in Colorado their whole lives. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the classic skinny 80s skis being worn on the mountain.

Vail and the epic season pass has been in Colorado for as long as I can remember. Thus, there are a lot of native Colorado families that have been loyal to Vail, who have kept housing in Vail in the family for generations. One of my close friends’ family has had a place in Vail for years and years. Each family member can come and go as they please and I was lucky enough to accompany them a few times. 

Other than local families, you will find a large variety of forgien tourists. The villages in Vail remind me of being in Europe, especially when you constantly are hearing forgien languages.  The buildings in the village make you feel like you teleported to a Switzerland ski village. No wonder the Europeans love to visit; it’s their home away from home. I enjoy meeting people from all over and love hearing the different accents, which always makes Vail a great town to explore. 

Accessibility and Parking:

Parking can be a little tricky at Vail if you are looking for free parking. There are a few spots that offer limited free parking along the road adjacent to I-70. These areas are Donovan lot, Red Sandstone lot and along the North Frontage road. The bus for these lots is free, but it can be confusing about which bus to take and at what time. Some busses from the free lots do not run all day during the week. The bus routes can be long as well, because they use the regular vail buses that go throughout the village. For easy parking options, there is always the pay to park lots closer to the base. Again these can be limited, but there are plenty of pay to park lots to choose from. There are also four different areas to Vail that you can park at, East Vail, West Vail, Lionhead and Vail Village.

When going to Vail, it is almost a straight shot up I-70, which usually means traffic. Vail is about two hours from Denver. Colorado does it’s best to maintain the roads during snow storms, but Vail Pass can be extra dangerous. I see the most crashes on Vail Pass during the season. Allot extra time when going over the pass, it has some tight turns and is in the perfect area to get tons of snow. It can be closed on occasion when Colorado gets a huge storm, so stay up to date on conditions.

Pricing: $$$

Lift Tickets – 

Child: $151

Adult: $219

Senior: $209

Associated Season Pass – Epic Pass

Lessons – 

Children Lesson: $299

Teen Lesson: $249

Adult Beginner Lesson: $249

Adult Intermediate-Advanced Lesson: $249

Rentals – 

Demo Skis: $89

Performance Skis: $79

Sport Skis: $69

Junior Skis: $49

Demo Board: $89

Performance Board: $69

Junior Board: $49

For more information visit https://www.vail.com/