Vail in March

[JDSCHMOO22]

I'm going on a guys only trip to Vail, CO the 2nd week of March, 08. Although Vail is definitely not my first choice, I've never been there, plus with 6 of us going to visit a friend of ours who now lives there, I can only imagine the fun that awaits. Anybody have any suggestions on where to stay? Also, what's the difference between Vail, and Vail-Beaver Creek, and which should we be looking to hit up? We have a week, so we're open to anything!

[Erin808]

You prob want to stay in Vail. Beaver Creek is awesome but much more upscale and a smaller mtn so not as good an option as Vail. Dont stay in East Vail, its far and quiet. Vail and BC are about 10 miles apart but there is good bus service between the two so you could hit up the Beav for one day. I've never stayed in a rental so I dont have advice about which complexes but you can PM me or post for specific advice. I lived there for and worked at beaver creek for 3 years and I dont think I've forgotten everything (jsut some of it.)

[train36]

I am also heading to Vail this year for a few days of riding towards the end of February. My buddies parents got a place out there shacking up there for a few nights. For those that have been there what part of the mountain should we start at first and where can we avoid crowds. Should we head right to blue sky basin and work our way forward , or hit the bowls up first? If there is fresh snow I am sure I probably want to be in the bowls or the blue sky basin right away. Any info on how to approach this resort would be helpful.

[mobile chernobyl]

If you wanna avoid crowds the farther bowls and BSB are ur best bet, you can find some powder stashs on the main hill, but ur best bet is in some of the glades in the bowls, i forget which one at this moment, and definately BSB - mainly because it takes a long ass time to get there from the village and the terrain is a little more technical and definatly more natural, in other words... sweet.

[Erin808]

Blue Sky is flatter terrain so if there's a big dump I would stick to outer/inner mongolia. You are going to have more peeps but there is still going to be plenty of fresh. On a warm day or if it hasn't snowed in a few, hike over the ptarmigan cornice on the West side. skate out and hike over a little bit -- its really fun and closer to main mtn than BSB and there's never anyone over there. The trees under chair #17 are super fun but dont keep too far skiiers left or there's some nasty cliffs (not the good kind).

 

On the front the best is northwoods which can get crowded but is really fun and there's some super steep stuff below that (forget the name) to hit when you are going down at the end of the day. Blue Ox is the best run on the front side but its serviced by the highline lift which is a long fixed grip or you can go down to gold peak where the park is (but that is a shitty traverse.) If you see Blue ox on the grooming report you should def hit it up -- unless you prefer waist deep moguls .

 

As for the Beave. I know its a lot more crowded and developed that 5 years ago but its worth a look and has some great terrain. Chair #10, Grouse is the bestest. Good moguls skiiers right and good trees skiiers left. If you traverse really far left there's a backcountry gate and some awesome trees. Plus its a high speed quad so plenty of runs. If there's no snow ask a local how to get to the bald spot -- it will make your trip but its only worth the hike if the main mtn is not up to par.

 

I could continue but those are the highlights. Most of the bars have changed -- except the coyote at the Beave where you can hang with the patrollers and Garfinkel's in Lionshead -- they used to have cheap burgers on Mondays which would be worth checking out.

[train36]

Thanks for all the replies. I will have to study the trail map a bit more and see all the stuff you pointed out. Looking forward to heading out west again, I did Utah a couple of years ago and am ready to try out Colorado. After that than maybe Jackson or somewhere in Montana.