Ski Holidays Vail, USA
USA
The resort of Vail, located 100 miles west of Denver, has the largest single ski mountain in the whole of North America, boasting nearly of 5,300 skiable acres. Combined with its wealthy neighbour Beaver Creek, which is just a 30 minute shuttle bus ride down the road and shares the same lift pass, it is unquestionably the most important ski destination in the United States.
Vail itself is a modern, purpose-built resort that first opened for business in the early ‘60s. The centre of the resort is almost traffic-free and was designed to look like a Bavarian village even including a covered bridge and a clock tower. Over the years the resort has sprawled out to cover just over seven miles from east and west alongside the Interstate.
With slopes that rise from 2,475m to 3,527m, Vail is serviced by 34 lifts of which 15 are high-speed quads. In US terms it has a maximum vertical drop of just over 1,000m and combined with this relatively small number of lifts it may sound unimpressive by European standards, but these statistics are quite misleading. Unlike many of the European resorts the Vail lift system is fantastically modern and efficient serving such a huge variety of trails for all abilities. The combination of all of this means that Vail qualifies in almost everyone’s Top 10 Best Ski Areas.
The Snow
For all those who enjoy skiing immaculately groomed pistes, Vail’s ski area can be even more appealing than France’s jewel in the crown the 3 Valleys. The majority of the runs are on the front side of the mountain that has six main access lifts. Lift queues are a rarity and are impeccably marshalled when they do occur. The good thing about Vail is that due to the way the mountains meet the valley floor a single lift will provide easy access to a far greater variety of runs than one would usually find in any European resort.
For the expert or intermediate skier looking to push themselves the front side of the mountain does have a few double-black diamond challenges, however the more demanding terrain is to be found in the extensive Back Bowls area. The Back Bowls are mostly black diamond terrain and even though they are classed as black the bowls are mostly open, wide areas that would not pose a problem to the majority of intermediates. China Bowl does have a blue run which is a good route over to Blue Sky Basin where skiers and boarders alike can make long sweeping turns through the trees and beautiful, wide open glades enjoying the spectacular mountain vistas.
Snowboarders will think that they have died and gone to heaven! Vail is one of the few resorts in the world to have tailored the piste map to show which runs would best suit different types of riders and more so, flat tracks that they should all avoid. The Fun Park is spread over a huge 12 trails, some of which are cut through the trees especially for boarders. There are three separate half-pipes, one of which, the Tag Heuer, lays claim to be the largest half-pipe in the States.
Après ski
Vail itself is a large, sprawling resort with plenty of shops – many of them selling designer labels – restaurants, bars and cafes that are not just open but lively during the day. The village layout makes it easy for everyone to come down to the resort for lunch in both Vail and Beaver Creek and it is also possible for non-skiers to get up the mountain to meet up with friends and family. The best restaurants are even too many to mention here but if you had to choose Kelly Liken’s is reputed to be the best of the best and the likes of Cucina Rusticana and Sweet Basil fill the gap well between fine dining and the cheaper burger and fries crowd. For those of you looking for the lively après ski fare of the likes of St Anton or Val D’Isère you will not need to look much further than the excellent Garfinkels in Lionshead or the equally popular Red Lion in Vail Village. Night owls and party animals also do not despair, you to are well catered for with the ever popular FuBar disco, the locals’ favourite Vendetta or the open-to-dawn Sanctury.
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| Total lifts: | 34 |
| Chair lifts: | 23 |
| Drag lifts: | 10 |
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