Vail - World Snowboard Guide

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Seb Kern

British Pro Snowboarder

9th January 2008

Vail opened up their back bowls area on the 7th of Dec, which was untouched with 2 feet of fresh everywhere and today they opened up parts of Blue Sky Basin giving 3788 total ridable acres! If your looking for powder, this is the place to go right now!

Vail has the reputation of being one of America's most prestigious (ie snobbish) ski resorts, and in some respects it's true. The town of Vail, a bizarre imitation of a 'typical' Swiss alpine village, is centred around the base of the resort and is hellishly expensive, has heated roads and things like that . However, there are loads of good reasons to visit Vail, which include the large amount of terrain on offer (over 5,000 acres) and Vail's extremely healthy and positive attitude towards snowboarding.

The terrain park has 3 halfpipes and 12 runs, and is also open to skiers although thankfully, it's frequented almost exclusively by snowboarders. One major point regarding Vail, is that it is a very popular resort resulting in some long lift queues throughout the season, however there's such a variety of terrain and so much of it, that you can often find little areas of unridden powder weeks after the last snowfall.

The first few days you will probably find the piste layout rather confusing, and no matter which run you take you'll probably end back at the same place, but stick with it!

In terms of climate and cost, a good time to visit is late season when the snow is soft and the price of lift tickets drop dramatically.

Nightlife is a bit mixed, there's loads of bars aimed at the 30+ crowd but things keep going until the early hours. It's classic cougar terratory though; come 9pm the ladies minus their husbands come down from the mountains to play and snare some innocent young snowboarder!

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New for season

05/06: Nine new snow cats to enlarge fleet.
04/05:Snowmaking line is being installed at Golden Peak this summer with new hydrants and fan guns which will enable the resort to make more snow faster on the eastern side of the mountain, including the eastern off-mountain routes. A snowmaking project also in underway on Simba.
- Grooming: 10 new cats to Vails snowcat fleet will add 33 percent more grooming this season,

Resort Statistics

Resort Type: Alpine
Winter: Nov to April
Summer: None

Lifts

Total Lifts: 34
Gondolas: 1
Chair lifts: 23
Drag lifts: 10
Max people per hour: 53,281
Board Leashes required: Yes

Mountain

Total pistes/trails: 193
Total ride area: 5289acres
Longest run: 4miles (6.4km)

Top lift: 3527m
Vertical drop: 1052m
First lift: 2475m

Piste suitability

Green runs: 28%
Red runs: 32%
Black runs: 40%

Lift Passes

Lift Passes:
Day pass $81
3 of 5 days $243
5 of 8 days $405
Better deals if you book in advance via their website
Lift times:8.30am to 4.00pm

Snowfall

Average annual snowfall: 8.5m
Artificial snowmaking coverage: 5%

Facilities

Snowboard Schools: one day group $90/100
1 Hour Private Lesson - $110
3 hours park lesson $80
Snowboard Hire: Board and boots - $27
Night Riding: : Yes

Other activities

Heliboarding: : Yes
Snowmobiles: 1 hour from $62

Further information

www.vail.com/
Email:vailinfo@vailresorts.com

Absolutely fantastic mountain offering great riding for ever style and level of rider. Great local services in and around the resort with lots going on.

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ON THE SLOPES: Superb
OFF THE SLOPES: Couger ville
MONEY WISE: High prices for many things, but worth every penny.

HALFPIPE: Yes - 1
TERRAIN PARK: Yes - 3 varied parks
BACKCOUNTRY/OFF-PISTE:Yes
TREE RUNS:Yes

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