Looking for somewhere nice to stay at Vail??

A snowHead

Hey,

Looking at going to Vail next season and am trying to work out where to stay? There seem to be a few area's and not sure which area is best. I was told that Lionshead is good, fairly new with an ice skating ring and plenty of shopping and good Gondola access???

Once i've decided on an area, then it's a matter of finding somewhere to stay. I like something that's modern with an outdoor spa (Essential!!), room service would be good, but not that important, ski valet would be great also. I would prefer something that isn't too far to the Gondola. I like the look of the Arrabelle, but can't afford it's $$$!!

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks

A snowHead

Sitzmark was good value when we stayed there last summer...not sure about winter prices...my guess is that this is an older property, but it has been upgraded and does have an outdoor pool with jacuzzi...relatively easy walk to the Vista Bohn lift (central Vail). I think it had free wireless internet, but I could only get it in the lobby. Closer to more restaurants/bars than the Lionshead area (which has some, but not as many).

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

Perhaps my observation is/was wrong, but I was in Vail in March and I thought the base-area/village was quite "depressing" because it didn't seem to catch the sun much. It's at the base of quite a steep valley, sure, there's plenty of sun up on the hill itself but I could see the hotels/condos being a little bleak day after day without sun.

Edit: personally I found Vail REALLY overrated and if $$$ are an issue with you I'd think VERY long and hard about making Vail your base... $10 to check your rucksack/shoes... $17 for a really basic lunch, etc., etc. Lots of lovely mink coat shops though because you can never have too many mink coats.

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I sense a fair bit of anti Vail sentiment on this site but I liked the skiing, particularly the back bowls. I have never experienced the quantity of skiing in the trees elsewhere, it was glorious with lots of hidden places to explore. I put it amongst the best in the world for non-extreme skiing. I don't know about on mountain prices as I took my own snacks & water for lunch. Cups of Starbucks coffee were reasonably priced. I also saw a barbeque in the Blue Sky basin for public use where people were slapping on impressive steaks. I was less than impressed with the $25 car park charge at Lionhead. Each to his own, but the base village looks like Disneyland & I guess is expensive but handy for the slopes. I prefer to stay outside in one of the (ex)mining towns complete with clean accomodation, good food & rough & tumble saloons. You need a car as it would be a shame not ski other hills. You can get the shuttle to Beaver Creek as you must ski the Birds of Prey runs but for getting to Copper, Breck etc you need a car.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I've just been looking on youtube and like the look of the runs, especially the tree area's at Vail. I didn't realise how expensive Vail was, just did a quick price check on the Arrabelle and for about 12 nights or so it was around $20,000!!!! OMG who can afford that. We just came back from Whistler and always stay at the Westin as it's close to the Gondola and has a great outdoor spa and it only cost me $3000 for 10 nights!! If it wasn't for the Olympics i'd be going back there.

I thought that Beaver Creek was more expensive than Vail, but now starting to reconsider this. Has anyone skiied Beaver Creek or stayed there? What about suggestions on where to stay in Beaver?

One of the reasons we were looking at Vail or Beaver is I really like the village atmosphere of Whistler (not to mention the shopping - less the mink coats!!) so was trying to find somewhere that had a similar village but still had great skiing. It also had to have really easy access from LA. Whistler is great, but i'm always so tired after an 12 hour flight, another 2 1/2 hour flight and then a 2 1/2 hour bus trip, not to mention the connection in Australia and all of the connection times!! So I was thinking Vail/Beaver as you can fly directly into Eagle and then it's only 1/2 hour from there to the village.

Any other suggestions on where to go, where to stay???????

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Yes I skiied Beaver Creek a couple of weeks ago. Its a classy resort. A purpose built village as an adjunct to the real estate development. I didn't stay there, just drove there for the skiing. Its good skiing with some steeper trails with half of them left unpisted. The blues are manicured by a fleet of bashers. Not too crowed - perhaps most of the property owners are absent. Had the best mountain lunch of the trip, prime rib with all the trimmings for $21 inc tax which seemd good value considering it is an up market resort. I haven't been to Whistler unfortunately, but Beaver Creek must be much smaller (and drier). Vail is right next door if you want more terrain. I'd have thought Japan would be more handy for you.

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We were originally looking at Japan, but have had mixed reports about the terrain and the village. Even though the flight to Japan is a few hours less than to Vancouver the connections from Tokyo to Hokkaido is about the same as Vancouver to Whistler. One of the reasons for looking at Vail / Beaver is the shorter connection times. I've certainly heard the snow in Japan is very consistent and very dry, i'm hoping that Colorado is quite similar.

Last season we planned ahead and prebooked everything, this year we might wait to see where the snow is. It would still be nice to have a few choices with affordable accommodation. I don't want on the cheap accommodation, just something close to what I paid at the Westin at Whistler with similar features...ie. outdoor spa and close to Gondola!!

After all it is free

Well flying in to Denver rather than Eagle will knock $500 off your total right off the bat... and it'll cost you 60 minutes drive time. From Vail/Beaver Creek you have Copper Mountain, A-basin, Keystone and Breckenridge all within a 45 minute drive, you are not limited to just one hill.

If you want a short journey with a B.I.G. hill, what about Mammouth mountain in CA?

I'll have to go online and check it out. What's the village like at Mammouth?? Is the snow reliable?

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I would second Lechbob's 2nd post (on Beaver) but for some additional context, here's my two cents on Vail / BC and a few other points on the US resorts mentioned.

I was in Vail in Feb (third time there) for a 3 days which confirmed my earlier views - dull, custom built village, samey terrain (although great if you want to clock up endless cruisy intermediate miles), non-thrilling nightlife and poor mountain restaurants. Vail does its merits, in particular Blue Sky Basin which is a decent sized area of ungroomed terrain, but I would not commit a significant length of time to it. The shopping is fine (for ski kit) but there's nothing else there that you can't get in a decent sized city.

As a result of this, we ended up skiing one day in Vail and 2 days in Beaver (15 mins drive up the valley), which IMHO is a much better area despite being about 1/3 of the size. Specifically, significantly more terrain variety, better tree skiing, better steeps / more challenging terrain and less busy. (I'm an advanced skier). If you decide to stay in Beaver, consider Avon (possibly better value) which is the town at the bottom of the hill - The Westin has its own lift which connects with the main BC system.

On a related note, I strongly recommend you also look into Aspen - possibly as part of a two centre with Vail / BC. Try Snowmass as a starting point, which is less expensive than Aspen town and has a revamped and expanded base village, fantastic terrain of all types and a great lift system. There is also a good (free) bus network which will allow you to ski the other Aspen areas (Ajax, Highlands and Buttermilk - all on the same lift ticket). Overall costs should be similar to Vail, subject to getting a good ('international') deal on lift tics. Drive time from Denver is about 3.5 hours - 2 hours further than Vail, although it's an easy drive with some good scenery. The benefit to this is that very few Denver weekenders make it up to Aspen, meaning that lift lines are not noticably different at the weekend. (Vail gets v. busy)

I've been to Mammoth in the Summer, but not skiied there - village is pleasant, although I hear that the nightlife is pretty quiet. Snow will typically be a bit drier than the Tahoe resorts since Mammoth is slightly higher - but, less powdery than Colorado. Mammoth (and Tahoe FWIW) tends to get snow in huge dumps with sometimes significant gaps in the snowfall (i.e. potentially 12 ft in 3 days, followed by three weeks with nothing - Jan and Feb are the most reliable months in my experience).

You could also consider Utah - one change in LA or SF from Aus and many ski areas within 45 mins drive of Salt Lake airport - therefore overall travel time less than any of the Colorado resorts.

Hope that's useful - happy to give you some more detail on any of the above if you have any q's!

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Looking for somewhere nice to stay at Vail??

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