Vail is one of North America’s largest resorts, with terrain for all levels of skiers and riders.
VAIL
RECOMMENDED BY Pete Seibert Jr.
Pete Seibert Jr.’s Vail roots could not run much deeper. His father, after all, was one of the resort’s founders. “My dad moved our family here from Denver in the fall of 1962 in preparation for the first ski season at Vail,” Pete remembered. “I was seven at the time. There were four families with school-age kids, and we had one classroom that bounced from space to space. They let us out at 1:30 every day, and we put on our skis and were on the mountain the rest of the afternoon. Some of the trail names describe how it was. Over in Sundown Bowl, there were two trails called Seldom and Never. They’re almost all the way across the bowl, facing back at Chair 5. When we’d get a foot of snow, people would ski the lines that were easiest to reach, and then slowly traverse the bowl to find fresh tracks. There were so few skiers, it would take days for people to get all the way across the bowl in search of powder. Seldom was rarely skied; Never was at the very end and saw hardly any skiers. Before you got all the way over to Never it would usually snow again and the whole process would begin all over.”
Vail is located along the Interstate 70 corridor, roughly one hundred miles west of Denver. Like Aspen to the south, Vail has nearby Camp Hale and the 10th Mountain Division to thank for its inception. Soldiers slated for alpine combat during World War II came to Colorado to train before shipping to northern Italy; many came back after the war to ski and, in some cases, establish ski areas. Among this group was Pete Seibert Sr. Pete Sr. worked at Aspen for a time and then managed the Loveland Basin Ski Area, but longed to develop a new Colorado resort. He found a kindred spirit in a native Coloradan and uranium prospector named Earl Eaton, whom he met ski racing in Aspen. In 1957, the two first climbed Vail Mountain, and knew they had found their spot. Initial investors kicked in $10,000 each in return for a condo near the mountain and a lifetime ski pass. By early 1962, $1 million had been raised, and by December, the Bell gondola from Vail Village to Mid-Vail made its first run. Through the 1960s, new trails were cut, new lifts installed, and Vail expanded. One of its great public relations boosts came when then-representative (and soon to be president) Gerald Ford visited Vail, and eventually purchased property; many Americans’ first exposure to the resort no doubt came during news segments showing President Ford’s Christmas trips to the mountain. Today, Vail encompasses nearly 5,300 acres of terrain between the Front Side, Back Bowls, and Blue Sky Basin, making it one of North America’s largest resorts.
“In the early days, one of the raps against Vail was that it wasn’t as steep as some of the other big resorts at the time—Sun Valley, Alta, Stowe,” Pete continued. “There was an interview that the well-known University of Denver ski coach Wally Schaeffler did with Sports Illustrated where he said that Vail was too flat.” (Pete Sr. and his partners turned this seeming slight to their advantage, positioning Vail as a family-friendly destination, complete with a picture-perfect village that would be at home in the Alps.) “After I’d traveled a bit and came back, I had the same impression. Yet what it lacks in huge steeps it makes up for in the sheer breadth of the experience. It would take a dedicated skier a week to get around the whole mountain. Traditionally, many ski areas are north-facing, as they need to be to retain snow. At Vail, you have a host of different exposures, especially in the back bowls, and this allows you to find great stuff to ski throughout the day. Another thing that’s special about Vail is that it’s easy for everyone to ski the same mountain and still connect for lunch.” New skiers can take runs off Chair 14 while more-advanced skiers can run lips on the Buck Bowls, and all meet at Two Elk Restaurant.
Vail may not have the horrifying couloirs and dizzying chutes that define more extreme areas, but it has its share of signature runs. Pete shared a few favorites. “One trail I really enjoy in the Back Bowls is Genghis Khan. It’s a relatively steep, very long shot from the ridgeline down to the bottom of China Bowl. You don’t see that sort of sustained pitch at a lot of other places that are steeper. It’s on the lee side of the mountain; if there’s powder around, it gets a bigger deposit of snow. I also like Ricky’s Ridge, or Seldom. On the Front Side, I will frequently ski Ouzo, or Ouzo Glade. My favorite last run of the day is Riva Ridge, which is probably Vail’s best-known trail. It starts at 11,250 feet and drops 3,050 vertical feet, all the way to the village. The first section is expert terrain, but then it’s mostly intermediate. There’s one steep section in the middle called Tourist Trap that might be intimidating for some, but you can take a catwalk around it called Compromise.
“As much as I enjoy the powder days at Vail, my favorite time to ski is in the spring when we get corn snow,” Pete shared. “It’s not as hectic out there as a good powder day can be. I’ll head to the Sun Up and Sun Down bowls. There’s no end to the lines that you can seek out, and if you play with your exposures, you will probably still find good snow later in the day. People will keep coming back around on Chair 5—it’s only a six-minute ride up. You’ll see an amazing group of people out there in the spring. Locals will be there first, but eventually visitors will figure it out. Spring skiing at Vail takes me back to the camaraderie that my father and the other guys had in the early days, the shared love of the sport. You could be a billionaire from New York or a college student from CU who’s saved up enough to come up for a day. They’re both together on the chair, and the differences fall away.”
PETE SEIBERT JR. has been a Vail local since 1962, when his father brought the family to the valley to start the ski area. Pete’s childhood revolved around the mountain: winters were spent ski racing, summers playing in the woods and streams. Upon graduating from Middlebury College, Pete worked as a Vail ski patrolman, then followed his dad to Snowbasin, Utah. Five years in Utah led to Sun Valley, Idaho, working on Bald Mountain. Pete returned to Vail twenty-six years ago, in time for the birth of the first of four children. After a stint managing the fledgling Arrowhead ski area, Pete went to work at Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate, which has kept him busy the last twenty years. Pete spends his free moments skiing, cycling, and enjoying the mountains with his kids.
If You Go
Getting There: Guests can fly into Vail on several major airlines, including American (800-433-7300; www.aa.com) and United (800-864-8331; www.united.com).
Season: Vail is generally open from mid-November through mid-April.
Lift Tickets: Day passes for Vail and nearby Beaver Creek are $80; multi-day tickets are available.
Level of Difficulty: Vail’s 193 trails are classified as 18 percent beginner; 29 percent intermediate; 53 percent expert/advanced.
Accommodations: The many lodging options available around Vail are highlighted at www.vail.com; 800-805-2457.
