Vail, Colorado, United States

History | Geography : Vail Mountain | Economy | Culture : Notable events : Museums and institutions | Media | Transport : Highways

🇺🇸 Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the numerous events the city hosts annually, such as the Vail Film Festival, Vail Resorts Snow Days, and Bravo! Vail.

History Vail was incorporated in 1966, four years after the opening of Vail Ski Resort. The ski area was founded by Pete Seibert and local rancher Earl Eaton in 1962, at the base of Vail Pass. The pass was named after Charles Vail, the highway engineer who routed U.S. Highway 6 through the Eagle Valley in 1940, which eventually became Interstate 70. Seibert, a New England native, served in the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division during World War II, which trained at Camp Hale, 14 miles south of Vail between Red Cliff and Leadville. He was wounded in Italy at the Battle of Riva Ridge but went on to become a professional skier after he recovered.

Seibert, with other former members of the 10th Mountain Division, returned to Colorado after World War II with the intention of opening a ski resort. During training for ski troopers at Camp Hale, he bivouacked on Vail Mountain and identified it as an ideal ski mountain. In the early 1960s, Seibert got funds from a group of Colorado investors, including Jack Tweedy, and with Earl Eaton bought a ranch at the base of the mountain and eventually incorporated as Vail Associates. As plans continued for a new ski resort, Seibert hired Morrie Shepard as Vail's first ski school director. Shortly after, Shepard recruited Rod Slifer from Aspen to be the assistant ski school director. Slifer also became the only real estate broker in the early years of Vail and would later be the broker in the transaction that allowed Vail to buy a ranch, now known as the world-famous Beaver Creek.

In December 1962, Vail officially opened for its first season. It operated a gondola lift and two ski lifts on the mountain owned by the United States Forest Service. The village was established at the base of the mountain for local residents and offered lodging for visitors. It quickly grew throughout the valley, with housing added first in East Vail and then West Vail, and additional lodging added in Lionshead in the late 1960s.

Within the first year, the village had a ski shop operated by Dick Hauserman and Joe Langmaid, a ski boutique operated by Blanche Hauserman and Bunny Langmaid, a hotel and restaurant operated by Pepi Gramshammer, and the mountain had a manager. By 1969, Vail was the most popular ski resort in the state. In 1988 Vail opened China Bowl, making Vail the third largest ski area in North America.

Geography Vail's average elevation is 8,150 feet (2,480 m) above sea level. The town has a total area of 4.5 square miles (12 km²), with no lakes (there is, however, at least one pond). Gore Creek flows from east to west through the centre of town.

The town is surrounded by the White River National Forest and the Vail Ski Resort is leased from the United States Forest Service. Mount of the Holy Cross is visible from Vail Mountain.

Geography: Vail Mountain Vail Mountain rises from 8,120 feet (2,470 m) to 11,570 feet (3,530 m), giving a vertical rise of 3,450 feet (1,050 m). It has a 5,289 acres (2,140 ha) skiable area, 33 ski lifts, 193 marked skiing trails on three faces: the front side, the back bowls, and Blue Sky Basin. The seven back bowls are Sun Down Bowl, Sun Up Bowl, Teacup Bowl, China Bowl, Siberia Bowl, Inner Mongolia Bowl, and Outer Mongolia Bowl. Blue Sky Basin includes Pete's Bowl and Earl's Bowl—to commemorate Pete Seibert and Earl Eaton. The mountain resort also includes 17 miles of recreation paths, botanical gardens, and an outdoor amphitheater.

Economy The Vail economy relies heavily on tourism. The main attraction in Vail is winter sports such as skiing and snow-boarding on the mountain, in addition to snowmobiling and snow-shoeing, among many other winter sports. Vail is also a summer resort and golfing center. Summer activities include guided hikes, mountain biking, horseback riding, carriage rides and fishing. Vail is also developing as a cultural centre, with various art and music venues active throughout the summer. The town has a developed culinary centre, with a variety of restaurants.

A Vail Resorts spokesperson said in 2022 that there is a deficit of some 6,000 beds for the county's work force.

Culture: Notable events • Bravo! Vail – featuring the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra • Vail Film Festival – in March or early April, annually • Vail International Dance Festival – summer dance festival featuring major ballet and contemporary dance companies. Notable companies include the New York City Ballet, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, and the San Francisco Ballet. • Vail Lacrosse Shootout – Late June-Early July Ford Park. • Vail Summer Bluegrass Series – Free, 4-week long bluegrass concert series in Lionshead Village; end of June – July • Taste of Vail, First week of April: The iconic food and wine event of Vail • Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships • Vail Resorts Snow Days • GoPro Mountain Games.

Culture: Museums and institutions • Betty Ford Alpine Gardens • Colorado Ski Museum • The Steadman Clinic & Steadman Philippon Research Institute – sports medicine clinic and research centre for orthopedic injuries • Vail Health Hospital • Vail Ski Resort • Vail Nature Center.

Media The Vail Daily newspaper is published by Swift Communications.

A broadcast translator for public radio station KUNC allows listeners in the Eagle Valley to listen at 99.7 FM.

Two specialty television networks have stations in Vail, Plum TV and Resort Sports Network. The latter, branded as TV-8, also broadcasts on the low-powered UHF station K34QB-D. The Ski Channel is available only on DirecTV on Channel 1860.

During the mid-1970s, Vail became known as the Western White House of President Gerald Ford, when he conducted much of the nation's business from The Lodge at Vail hotel. The national media followed Ford to Vail and often broadcast television pictures of Vail's mountain slopes.

Transport Vail is served by Eagle County Airport near Gypsum, 30 miles (48 km) to the west. Native Americans used to call the area near the airport the "hole in the sky" because storms seemed to avoid it. Vail is modeled on European ski towns, many of which are car-free, and the town is partially pedestrianized. The town operates the largest free shuttle bus system in the United States and has ten hybrid-electric buses. At each bus stop, a sign reports when the next two buses will arrive.

The In-Town Shuttle provides service every five minutes during peak winter times, and every 15 minutes off-peak, between Golden Peak, Vail Village, the business district, and Lionshead, with live schedule information provided at bus stops by Global Positioning System technology, which tracks buses. Other routes centering on the Transportation Center service the East and West Vail districts on a scheduled, but less frequent basis.

Eagle County provides bus service from the Transportation Center with service to Vail, Leadville, Minturn, Eagle-Vail, Avon, Beaver Creek, Edwards, Eagle, Gypsum and Dotsero.

The Colorado Department of Transportation, through its Bustang program, provides intercity transportation to Vail along its West Line. The West Line goes from Denver to Grand Junction and back.

Transport: Highways Interstate 70 runs east–west through the middle of Vail and is the only road to or from Vail, with exits at East Vail, at the base of Vail Pass, the town of Vail, and West Vail. From the east, the highway comes from Denver, 97 miles (156 km) away, passes through Eisenhower Tunnel and over the Continental Divide, by-passing Loveland Pass, and over Vail Pass, dropping down into Vail Valley. To the west, it meets U.S. Highway 24 at Dowd Junction, passes through Avon, Edwards, Colorado, and Eagle, through Glenwood Canyon traveling and on to Grand Junction, and reaches Utah, where it ends at the intersection with Interstate 15.

In West Vail, U.S. Route 6 (which still exists as a service road between East Vail, Vail, and West Vail) merges with I-70 at Dowd Junction. I-70 roughly follows the original Highway 6 route until the two highways diverge again in Silverthorne, 31 miles (50 km) to the east.

America/Denver/Colorado 
<b>America/Denver/Colorado</b>
Image: Adobe Stock CascadeCreatives #253667924

Vail has a population of over 4,835 people. Vail also forms part of the wider Eagle County which has a population of over 55,731 people. It is also a part of the larger Edwards-Glenwood Springs area.

Twin Towns - Sister Cities Vail has links with:

🇲🇽 San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

East of: -106.367

🇺🇸 Casper -106.317

🇲🇽 Chihuahua City -106.083

🇺🇸 Santa Fe -105.95

🇺🇸 Alamogordo -105.95

🇲🇽 Hidalgo del Parral -105.667

🇲🇽 Parral -105.667

🇺🇸 Gillette -105.494

🇲🇽 Ciudad Delicias -105.467

🇲🇽 Delicias -105.467

🇺🇸 Boulder -105.273

West of: -106.367

🇲🇽 Mazatlán -106.419

🇲🇽 Chihuahua -106.469

🇲🇽 Ciudad Juárez -106.482

🇺🇸 El Paso -106.486

🇲🇽 Juárez -106.496

🇺🇸 Albuquerque -106.652

🇺🇸 Rio Rancho -106.659

🇨🇦 Saskatoon -106.661

🇺🇸 Las Cruces -106.78

🇺🇸 Eagle -106.817

Antipodal to Vail is: 73.633,-39.633

Locations Near: Vail -106.367,39.6333

🇺🇸 Eagle -106.817,39.617 d: 38.6  

🇺🇸 Glenwood Springs -107.317,39.55 d: 81.9  

🇺🇸 Boulder -105.273,40.026 d: 103.1  

🇺🇸 Lakewood -105.069,39.743 d: 111.7  

🇺🇸 Lakewood -105.069,39.743 d: 111.7  

🇺🇸 Arvada -105.076,39.817 d: 112.3  

🇺🇸 Westminster -105.017,39.834 d: 117.6  

🇺🇸 Littleton -105,39.583 d: 117.2  

🇺🇸 Longmont -105.1,40.167 d: 123.3  

🇺🇸 Denver -104.985,39.739 d: 118.8  

Antipodal to: Vail 73.633,-39.633

🇲🇺 Mahébourg 57.7,-20.407 d: 17393  

🇲🇺 Centre de Flacq 57.718,-20.2 d: 17374.4  

🇲🇺 Curepipe 57.517,-20.317 d: 17374.4  

🇲🇺 Vacoas-Phoenix 57.493,-20.3 d: 17371.5  

🇲🇺 Quatre Bornes 57.479,-20.266 d: 17367.5  

🇲🇺 St Pierre 57.517,-20.217 d: 17364.9  

🇲🇺 Moka 57.496,-20.219 d: 17364  

🇲🇺 Beau Bassin-Rose Hill 57.471,-20.235 d: 17364.1  

🇲🇺 Beau-Bassin Rose-Hill 57.467,-20.233 d: 17363.7  

🇲🇺 Port-Louis 57.496,-20.165 d: 17358.9  

Bing Map

Option 1