Haven't skied here for 40 yrs as a young man. What a difference.A fabulous resort and with such varied terrain.Excellent facilities on and off mountain.One of the best resorts in Nth America.Will definitely ski here again.
I love to ski vail!! It's huge and the back bowls are magnificent!! We come every year! It's heavenly!!!
The mountain is huge! Daily maps are available to tell folks which runs have been groomed over night. We lucked out with lots of new snow which meant endless choices of runs. Thankfully, there were staff in many locations of the mountain to help skiers with navigation and mountain information.
16 days of skiing this season and 13 of those were spent on Vail mountain. The terrain is so vast, you can get lost in the trees and never have to wait too long for lifts (if you know where to go - but I can't divulge all my secrets). The scenery is breath taking and photographers on hand to help you capture it. If you're traveling far to ski here in Colorado, I would recommend Vail during the weekdays but try to avoid on Sundays
very nice, well signed slopes. For me, the only con is that you have few slopes groomed each day, compared to other ski resorts around the world.
Located in the heart of the Rockies, I think Vail continues to improve year after year. The conditions, staff and location are some of the best in the USA!
Vail has some of the best back bowl skiing. So many runs, so little time! It's so big, you can't do it in one day. The best way to ski it is to choose one or 2 areas (lifts) at a time. Blue Sky Basin is awesome - best big bowl - each time down is different. China Bowl, Sunup, Sundown, Game Creek, Blue Sky Basin, Pete's Bowl just to name some of the bowls. All have varied runs, some groomed, most not.
Vail has some of the best skiing in all of Colorado. Hands down. I've been to multiple other ski resorts, and they are great too, but Vail is the complete package. Fantastic skiing, plenty of ski lifts, and enough area to not worry about going down the same lifts. What makes Vail unique to other locations is the backside of the mountain. The backside is all bowls for advanced skiers and this is where Vail shines. There are plenty of ski lifts to get you quickly back up to the top of the bowls. I highly recommend going down these parts of the mountain. Way less people on this side which is one of Vail's problems.Be careful on which lifts you go up though. There are large amounts of people at Vail. Avoid the main lifts and you won't have to wait forever to get back on the mountain.Secondly, Vail is expensive. Be prepared to pay out the wazoo for lift tickets.Awesome and expensive mountain with plenty of tourists, but large enough where you won't notice them as long as you avoid the main lifts! I'll definitely be returning for the skiing.
This is my second review of this amazing ski area. A few additional thoughts as I spent some more time here.1. Back Bowls.. Navigating the Back Bowls is intimidating for the "intermediate skier" or "used to be advanced" skier. Some of the terrain is steeper than others, and it is hard to know which is in your comfort zone before getting there (since they are all listed as "Black Diamond"). Firstly, if you want more info, ask a ski patrol. They obviously know the mountain better than anyone, and can help you with which ones have more moguls versus which ones have a steeper pitch, versus which ones have better conditions today or are less crowded.A trip to Outer and/or Inner Mongolia on a clear day is a secret stash (don't tell anyone). The treed area of Yonder is awesome, and most of which is not too difficult. Rasputin's Revenge is the trail requiring the most technical skiing. Ghangus Khan at the top seems to be the steepest pitch. Wow into Forever has a steep pitch and it is sustained.2. Any of the restaurants between noon and 2pm are packed. Buffalos and Wildwoods are small and packed. The Two Elks is bigger area, but can be just as packed (and is a bit to the side of the mountain).
Having never skied in North America before I was blown away by how big the mountain was in Vail; 195 runs! We skiied 5 days and were still skiing new runs on the last day. Fantastic, and would love to go back. Be prepared for all kinds of weather though - we had a big range of warm and freezing-snow-sandblasting-your-face weather in just 5 days. Lots of fresh power to play in (we went first week of March 2015). Note the Epic Day ski pass allows you to ski other mountains too (Breckenridge, Keystone etc.), but not sure why you'd ever need to with so much to ski in Vail.