Skiing in Vail/Beaver Creek over New Year

A snowHead

I am staying in Edwards over New Year for about 11 days. Can anyone help with the following
1. Which is best to ski Vail or Beaver Creek
2. Is it worth a trip to Aspen for the day.
3. What is the cheapest way to buy lift passes
4. In some travel guides I have seen a Bob Sleigh run. But I cannot find it anywhere on the Vail website. Does anyone know anything about it.
I know someone out there will know all of the answers to these!!!

A snowHead

Hi Lynn!
1. Base yourself in Vail - it's a bigger ski area, and a more lively resort, but do go to Beaver at least one day!
2. Aspen is probably worth a trip, but do it in your own transport.
3. Cheapest is to buy in Denver at some of the big stores, although Gant sports in Vail sometimes has reasonable discounts. If you're booking through a tour op, find out what price they can do, or if you're booking independently, email your hotel/condo and ask them. It is possible to book online at vail.snow.com and get a Peaks Pass, but you should be able to get better deals from the shops.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

We were looking at a deal with Igluski.com for Vail and part of the deal was that we had to buy the passes through them. I expected this to be expensive, but they turned out to be £20 cheaper for a 6 day pass than the online advance price, let alone the window price.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

lynne123, I agree with WTFH. I prefer the skiing in Vail, but would recommend getting a day at Beaver Creek as well if you can.

Sorry, don't recall seeing a bobsleigh run anywhere.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

We arrive in Denver at about 9 on the night of 28th. We are staying in a hotel that night before travelling to Edwards the following morning. We intend to hire a car at the airport on the morning of 29th.
Where do we go for the lift tickets at the stores? Does anyone know the names of the stores and about how much you would expect to pay.

Also, I hear what you say about the best skiing being in Vail, but I think that where we are staying in Edwards is nearer beaver creek. Will there be enough ski ing there for about 10 days? My son is 16 and they seem as though the lessons are better for his age in Beaver Creek as they are for 15 - 18 year olds, hence the reason I though Beaver Creek would be better. Last year when we were in Austria, I think the kids lessons went up to 14 years, but they told us that he would still be better off in the kids lessons as there were loads of 15-16 year olds in there. Is that the same for the kids lessons in Vail.

One more question, what is the parking like for Vail and Beaver Creek. Would we be better off using the bus?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for everyone's help.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Vail don't discount much - they have one of the highest pass prices in the world - see a thread elsewhere. Colorado ticket bought at Breck is probably best value - you get say 14 for price of 10 inc up to half of days at Vail. Not much use to you if you're staying at Vail throughout however . Beaver Creek may me right up your street if you love high quality groomers - personally I don't think there's much too it once you've hooned down a few pistes if its not decent in the trees.

Don't expect anything picture postcard - Vail is an ugly resort slap bang next to a motorway but the skiing good if you know where and more importantly what time to head places.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

We arrive in Denver at about 9 on the night of 28th. We are staying in a hotel that night before travelling to Edwards the following morning. We intend to hire a car at the airport on the morning of 29th.
Where do we go for the lift tickets at the stores? Does anyone know the names of the stores and about how much you would expect to pay.

Also, I hear what you say about the best skiing being in Vail, but I think that where we are staying in Edwards is nearer beaver creek. Will there be enough ski ing there for about 10 days? My son is 16 and they seem as though the lessons are better for his age in Beaver Creek as they are for 15 - 18 year olds, hence the reason I though Beaver Creek would be better. Last year when we were in Austria, I think the kids lessons went up to 14 years, but they told us that he would still be better off in the kids lessons as there were loads of 15-16 year olds in there. Is that the same for the kids lessons in Vail.

One more question, what is the parking like for Vail and Beaver Creek. Would we be better off using the bus?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for everyone's help.

After all it is free

When in Vail a few years ago, we did Beaver Creek for a day - it was fun, the groomers were vaguely interesting, but the weather wasn't really good enough to do the place justice. It also meant the Bird of Prey was virtually inaccesible - if you think last week's FIS racing was in poor visbility, the fog we were in was like a 1950's London pea-souper. But even despite that, we did enjoy our day, but feel we would be hard pressed to find a week's worth of variety there. 10 days? - you'll be wanting to take days to other resorts methinks.

Vail, on the other hand. .. wow. If you like the off-piste but in bounds, nothing better than Blue Sky Basin (IMVHO). Pistes on the front side may be a bit samey, but you do have 5 miles width of the range to play with, including some snow parks, which is nice. And then the back bowls, which you need to go through to get to Blue, give a variety of pitches and light levels and snow characteristics that will have you tested.

We stayed slightly outside Vail, and bussed in each morning on the freebies, so didn't really get to know the town and its parking (although we did leave our equipment overnight in a very nice, english run shop under the bus station) Don't know how far it is to Edwards, but busess were well equipped, frequent, and the bus terminus is only 5 mins walk from the main lifts. Also, being spread out along the main highway ( yes, it 5 miles at the top of the ridge, and 5 miles across at the bottom...) you can get into the lift system from either end, so it will depend on which way you arrive from Edwards as to where you would start (I would guess probably LionsHead if BC is nearer...?)

Beaver Creek and some of the out-posts, again, in one day, not really time to explore - although I was taken with the escalators to the slopes from the main mall, and the travelator (aka magic carpet) across the bottom!
Again we went by bus. Back then it was a gated village, the ONLY way in was by bus, unless you had a resident's pass. Park in the valley and get the shuttle. Don't know if that still applies.

Which is best ofr 16 yr olds? - I guess it depends on current ability level and ambition.
Vail does have it all, but if you are a absolute beginner or in your first few weeks, you'll not get value for money, as you will not be able or ready to take advantage of its best bits. You might as well pay for less variety overall, but more useable terrain.

Hope this helps.

I was checking the ski school prices on the net and I cannot beleive what they are charging. $139 per day! That includes lift pass, which I suppose is expensive but still!!
There will be 4 of us, all at different levels, and the only reason for going into ski school was to ski with other people as we cannot ski together.
Does anyone know of any cheaper way to do this?

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

lynne123, you are going to one of the more expensive resorts in america at peak season. nothing will be discounted. having said that $139 per day for lift ticket and ski school is reasonable. check out vail's private lesson price! i'm sure it's around $600.00 per day at that time of year.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

lynne123,

Unfortunately I don't know of good discounts but Vail is pricey. One day lift tickets (at least on weekends and holidays) are $81. I've been researching and pricing a lot of trips this year, from the US East coast we could do a 7-day trip to Zermatt, 4* hotel with halfboard as inexpensively as a trip to Vail or Aspen.

snow reports

lynne123,

Unfortunately I don't know of good discounts but Vail is pricey. One day lift tickets (at least on weekends and holidays) are $81. I've been researching and pricing a lot of trips this year, from the US East coast we could do a 7-day trip to Zermatt, 4* hotel with halfboard as inexpensively as a trip to Vail or Aspen.

The best value lift tickets are probably through a UK tour op - some, such as Ski Independence, will sell you a lift ticket even if you're travelling independently (which sounds likely as you're in Edwards). Parking is around $20 per day at both resorts. At BC you can park free down in the valley and take a free shuttle to the lifts. In Vail you can park free in West Vail and take the free town bus - but this only runs every 30 mins.
For that reason it will obviously be easier to get to Beaver Creek most days but you should definitely ski Vail for the variety, and the treeless bowls, which BC doesn't really have.
There are free mountain tours with hosts at Vail - this could also be a good way to meet people to ski with. Also if you're SCGB members there's a rep there.
Edwards Riverwalk is now quite a nice little town (nicer than Avon), with a cinema, bars and restaurants, and quite a bit of life due to all the locals who can no longer afford to live upvalley.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

wildwilly, sorry to diss Avon, where your lovely chalet is situated! Of course most of the town is somewhat on the ugly side, but it is quite functional - we lived there for 8 months and used to stroll past Nottingham lake to the library, the park, or the excellent municipal swimming pool. And with Finnegans Wake open (where Cassidys used to be) there's perhaps more nightlife now.
Yes, where the bobsled run was is now a kids' run through the trees called Cannonball Alley.
Oh, and I just remembered, you don't need to be SCGB members to ski with their rep, you just have to appear reasonably interested in perhaps someday signing up...

Help!!

Skiing in Vail/Beaver Creek over New Year

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