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Vail

After a couple of trips to Vail, I’m still at a loss to explain it in rational terms.

After a couple of trips to Vail, I’m still at a loss to explain it in rational terms. I don’t know where things are, don’t usually know where I am, don’t know for certain how to get from one part of it to another and I swear, large swaths of it just seem to vanish if I look for them too hard.

But it really doesn’t matter. Vail is big. Big and open. Big and open and confusing. And frankly, I don’t generally care where I am on the mountain. Once I’m over the ridge and into the bowls on the back side, it’s all good. Vail is a big, wide-open, bowl skiing extravaganza. One I’ll probably never ski enough to say I understand but one I’ll never tire of being lost in.

Truth be told, depending on your comfort level with being, well, if not lost then at least temporally confused, there are really only two good strategies for skiing Vail. The most efficient, or seemingly efficient, is with a guide. Someone who knows the mountain will be able to show you as much of Vail, ski you through as many of the seven bowls, lead you to the faraway lands where powder lingers longest, and maybe, just maybe get you back to the base you started from before the whole thing shuts down at day’s end.

The other strategy is to toss the trail map you picked up — you’ll never figure it out anyway — and just go for it. You might not know where you are, you’ll have to rely on the kindness of strangers and the strangeness of lifties to warn you when it’s time to head back to the front side, you’ll never be able to answer your friend’s inquiry about whether you skied Blue Sky Basin with any certainty, but you’ll have the time of your life in open fields, steep bowlsides, genteelly-spaced tree runs and the occasional transportation corridor. And chances are you’ll never get too far out of your comfort zone if you’re an accomplished intermediate skier because you really have to go out of your way to get to any “Yikes!” terrain on Vail.

There are two Vails — front side and back side. Front side Vail is awash with people, or so it seems. Spread along the I-70 corridor for several miles, the front side looks like a capillary schematic of one of your body’s extremities. Runs explode in all directions from atop each lift. Unless you’re a people person, the only really good reason to spend much time on the front side is to ski the groomers, get back to whichever of the three bases you started at — give yourself some time; it can take almost an hour to get from, say, Two-Elk Lodge to Lionshead — or to mess around at Adventure Ridge. You can tube, snowbike, skate, etc., until 10pm at Adventure Ridge so that really only leaves skiing the groomers… of which there are many.

But going to Vail to ski groomers is a bit like going to a surgeon to get a splinter removed. It’ll work but it’s really a waste of potential.

Hie thee to the bowls, brothers and sisters. If it’s a powder day, take the Silk Road past China Bowl and Siberia Bowl and, if the powers-that-be are benevolent, ride the Mongolia platter lift and even hike a bit to ski the silkiest snow in Inner and Outer Mongolia Bowls. T’aint steep but the beauty and sense of solitude more than compensate.

Work your way back and ski the offcamber fall line dished up by Bolshoi Ballroom in Siberia Bowl. Ride the Orient Express and come back down via Shangri-La and Shangri-La Glade in China Bowl. Switch over to the Teacup Express and get confused about whether you’re skiing in Teacup Bowl, or Sun Up Bowl — Hint : Got trees? Sun Up.

And if you can figure out how, make your way to Blue Sky Basin. If Earl’s is running, the trees in his bowl can’t be beat, gentle slope, easy openings, good bumpy finale. Pick your way down the cliff band and access the only real heartstopping terrain available by tucking into the trees outside Belle’s Camp and heading to Steep and Deep or Lover’s Leap. Or just enjoy the meandering runs and trees under Pete’s chair.

But give yourself lots of time to get back. It’s a loooong way home.

Check it out: vail.snow.com
Stay : The Vail Marriott Mountain Resort & Spa at Lionshead is a short walk to lifts and deep in the lap o’ luxury. marriott.com/hotels/travel/whrco-vail-marriott-mountain-resort-and-spa
Eat : You’re in Vail. Gotta eat at the Two-Elk Lodge. Busy at lunchtime but the food’s the best then
Après : Garfinkel’s at the Lionshead base dishes up the usual suspects and a great people-watching deck
Dine : Pasture’s aplenty in Vail. Mezzaluna at Lionshead dishes up great Italian and even better pizza.

 

10th Mountain Divison.

 

Frosted Flakes.