Some questions about Vail Colorado

A snowHead

We're off to Vail in March 2012 (group of 4 all advanced skiers). From what I've read, the back bowls is where the best skiing is and is also less busy than the frontside of the mountain. I'm currently choosing my accommodation and am wondering whether it's better to stay at Vail Village or Lionshead to access the back bowls without encountering long queues in the morning?

Also, how busy is Vail? I've heard reports of long queues and busy slopes but I wonder whether this is because the reviewers are Americans and are used to much quieter slopes than Europeans. To give some sense of perspective, can anyone make comparison to say, Whistler? I skiied Whistler after reading reports of horrendous queues but was pleasantly surprised to find it was quieter than the average Austrian resorts I'd visited.

If Vail is really busy, any tips for avoiding, the crowds?

Cheers.

A snowHead

boris360,

Talk of lift queues and busy slopes in Vail is laughable!

We've been to Vail a few times - the last time being in our Feb half term holidays, which coincided with the American President's Weekend bank holiday.

Despite locals in 3 minute lift queues complaining that it was "kinda crowded" (we just looked knowingly at each other and laughed!) we had no problems whatsoever with queues or crowds. In fact we often had runs to ourselves and on a powder day in Blue Sky Basin (the pick of the bunch for us!) we lapped the lift to get run after run of fresh tracks. On the runs that day there were often no other skiers in sight. Very Happy

It's a brilliant ski area and (by European standards) they have no concept whatsoever of what busy slopes are.

We stayed in Lionshead and were straight on the slopes from there each day without any problems. We took a (free) bus from there to the town each night - again no hassle.

Highly recommended and inexpensive for food and drink. Expensive lift tickets - but worth it.

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

Didn't find Vail busy at all. Nothing like Whistler where everyone must go through the same gondola for accessing to the top and another one at Creekside.

Would say not much queuing relative to France but small queues relative to Austria/Switzerland/Italy. The North American resorts may do 4 to 6 queuing lines to one chairlift though but Vail is not particularly busy because the locals apparently dislike its upmarket attitude. You will find it has a local TV channel, same as Beaver Creek, promoting skiing resort properties.

Vail has 4 access points of Golden Peak, Vail Village, Lionhead and Cascade Village. The last one was almost deserted when I tried Feb/Mar 2010.

For challenging piste the back bowl is the one to go for.

When you ski Vail you will see it is at the side of i70 highway. 12 miles away (away from Denver) in one direction is Beaver Creek and 17 miles (towards Denver) in the opposite direction is Copper Mountains.

Some distances (in miles) information of nearby resorts are

From - to - -(miles)
Vail Breckenridge 44
Vail Copper Mountains 17
Vail Breaver Creek 12
Vail Vail 0
Vail Keystone 37
Vail Arapahoe basin 43
Vail Loveland 43

If you have time to kill on the day flying back to UK stop at Denver. It is a nice city to visit.

Consider buying the Epic seasonal ski pass as it may work out cheaper than the day passes. The Epic season pass allowis the hold to ski also Beaver Creek, Keystone, Brenkenridge and Arapahoe for free. You also get a discount if skiing Copper Mountain.

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We did a day trip to Vail 2 years ago when staying in Breckenridge. The slopes were literally deserted but that was the beginning of April just after spring break. Hopefully your hoilday won't coincide with the spring breakers.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I should qualify why the locals dislike Vail. It is the only resort in my list that does not offer free parking but tow every illegally parked car away, thereby forcing them to use the official paid car parks.

Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Copper Mountains provide huge free car parks and free buses to take clients to the lifts directly while Keystone. Arapahoe and Loveland have free car parks next to the lift stations. In Vail I could only find one free car park on the main bus route with about half a dozen spaces. Even the supermarkets in Vail warn skiers not to park their cars there.

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Thanks for the replies. That's what I was hoping to hear snowHead

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

After all it is free

It is quite alright staying on the main bus route as the free buses go round a loop continuously and stop at each base station. We actually stayed on the opposite side of the i70 where the supermarkets and retail shopping centres are. Another 5 minutes on the bus can hardy make the difference.

We stayed in Lionshead this Feb. Unfortunately they scheduled Presidents Day while we were there and so it was busy for those 2 days - but anywhere would have been I believe. Apart from that, no long queues uploading in the mornings. To get across to back bowls we did have to make a couple of runs/lifts, so Vail Village would be more direct, but only about 40 mins. In the evenings we sometimes skiied down to Vail Village and took the bus back to Lionshead, the bus was very efficient.

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Bergmeister, There were not so very many people around, so no real need to test my slalom skills dodging skiers on the runs. But people all seemed to be aiming for the same lifts so some queues of over 5 mins! Not bad compared to some of the busy European resorts, but it was a bit of a shock after a week of empty slopes and no queues. And you do pay more for a US trip partly to avoid all that.
We went to Breckenridge the next day on our way back to Denver, and it was much busier than Vail - queues of about 15 mins to get up to the top.
Good to hear that Jackson Hole wasn't busy - on my list for next trip over there!

1gunsalute,

If you've not been you also need to add Alta to your list!

Deserted and (as abc, says) ski where you like! Great steeps and great snow! Almost a unique (step back in time type of) experience! A real one off.

You know it makes sense.

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

A snowHead

We skied in Vail this January - fantastic snow! I would say stay in Vail Village if you want easier access to the back bowls but Lionshead is a great spot too and I loved skiing out of here. If we return I think we will opt for Lionshead next time - however we have children and Lionshead has a great magic carpet for children and the gondola too for lunch at the top of the mountain. Pedestrians cannot gain access to the mountain from Vail village.

A snowHead

As others have said, Vail is not busy by Euro standards and it is quicker to get to Blue Sky from Vail Village. However, I would disagree with the thinking that the back is less crowded than the front. While neither are crowded by Euro standards, on a good powder day you will probably hit your longest lines either at the Vail Village lift or #4 (the next lift you have to take to get to the back bowls). On non-powder days, the front side may be more crowded relative to the back, but still no big deal.

While Vail is known for the back bowls, there is some very good skiing on the rest of the mountain as well. My guess is that you will enjoy mixing up your itinerary each day instead of simply heading to the back as fast as you can. Here is a link to their trail map- http://www.vail.com/~/media/Vail/Files/Winter_TrailMap_1011.pdf If you tell me the type of skiing you are into, I could give you some specific suggestions.

I have a few photos of Vail and some of the other local areas here- http://www.skilodgingrental.com/Photos.php

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

I'm not a Vail expert. In part it would depend on where you want to access the back bowls and how much you want to ski to get to the back bowls, and what back bowls you want to ski. The frontside of Vail generally faces North and basically runs along a ridge from Golden Peak in the East to Lionshead in the West. The Bowls largely run along the same ridge but are generally South facing on the opposite side. Good skiers can generally get into back bowls pretty easily from any of the starting points. There's generally not much grooming in the back bowls except for the Blue Sky Basin area and there are groomed routes out to Blue Sky Basin. I really like the Blue Sky Basin area. If you want to stay on mostly intermediate groomed terrain, and if you wanted to get to the Blue Sky Basin area, you can have long ski using several lifts starting from Lionshead but Vail Village or Golden Peak would offer quicker access. But it's just kind of an adventurous ski If you ski off piste you can basically just ski down any of the bowls to lifts that will move you to other bowls. The mid Vale area can get busy and I've seen some fairly long (probably not that long by European standards) ques. Most other lifts will have pretty short lift lines. There's some nice under utilized terrain on the far West side (west of the Lionshead Gondola). Parking with access to lifts is problematic but if you're staying in the Vail the buses run frequently and there's no need for a car. All else being equal I'd stay in Vail Village. I'd also suggest signing up for their free tours. They do both a front side intermediate tour and a Blue Sky Basin intermediate tour.

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RISkier- Most of what I ski in Blue Sky is not groomed...while there are a few groomers there, I would stay on the front side if that is what you are looking for as there are plenty to be found.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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Beaver Creek is nice and a bit quieter. It is 12 miles if you drive east. Driving west towards Denver and still on i70 for 17 miles is Copper Mountain. Each of them have huge visitor car parks off the resort for you to park the car there for free and take the free bus to the chairlifts. If you drive to Beaver Creek's village you have to pay a premium for park a car in the underground shopping centre.

Beaver Creek looks a bit more disciplined and the piste is well groomed. It is quite exclusive as part of the resort is "Owner's ski ways" so you could be skiing at someone's back garden. Copper Mountain is a totally public skiing resorts with little exclusivity feature and appears to be better managed commercially. I got the feeling when skiing in Vail and Beaver Creek that they are basically holiday retreats. In order to attract buyers for the local real estate a skiing resort was thrown in. The people there appear more interested in selling their properties than the skiing facilities to the outside world but that is just my impression based on how many runs they select to grooom each day.

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

After all it is free

I can't deny that Vail is often crowded but I really don't mind. Vail is the largest single mountain ski resort in the United States and the mountain is really huge. The moguls are steep and once there you'll know why Vail is famous with its back bowls.

What I like about the Vail village is despite of being "crowded," the village's Austrian style provides a different aura and I was delighted by the restaurants - the food is very affordable.

I agree with Bergmeister, I made a lot of friends there and we chat until Lionshead closed at 9:00 P.M.

Vail's lodging and accommodations is vast and excellent.

You can find more info in this Vail ski resort review I've found before going there: http://www.mountainyahoos.com/SkiResorts/Vail.html

boris360, Vail, Copper, Beaver Creek, how I miss them, my favourite resorts. City, Country and luxury high speed. Gorsuch my favourite ski shop in Vail, a back injury prevents me from long flights or I'd be there with you. Fly into Eagle if you can.

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boris360, Just noticed that you are there for 13 nights...Have you bought your season pass yet? $529 for an Epic Local which gives you 10 days at Vail/BC and unlimited at Breckenridge, Keystone and A-Basin (down the road towards Denver) as well as 2 Lake Tahoe Resorts. $669 for full unlimited pass to all 7 resorts. They stop selling soon and day tix are 100.

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Some questions about Vail Colorado

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