Vail
I expected this resort, just like Beaver Creek, to be overpriced and overhyped. Call me a cynic :) The first time I rode there the snow wasn't too good, it's been a while since any fell from the sky, and the weather was so-so. Lisa and I took a long time to get to the Blue Basin area, which is a set of bowls far back from the resort front-side. It has lots of terrain, but with the icy hardpacked snow and poor visibility it wasn't appealing. Then it took us a long time to get back towards the front...
After that first experience I wasn't too excited to go back there. But we signed up for a class with Lowell Hart, and went back to Vail. And Lowell made all the difference! Besides the things he taught us, he showed us how to ride the mountain too. It was a beautiful day, the snow was good, and we rode the front, the bowls, the sides, and wished that the day was about 3 times longer -- even though our legs were just about shot :)
Bottom line -- it's a great resort, and if you can hit it during off-peak times and when the snow is good, it hardly gets better. I suppose that can be said for any resort, but Vail really has so much terrain to offer that even a few days after powder dumps there are still stashes to be found.
Stories
Riding class with Lowell Hart at Vailalpine-snowboarding: We heard great things about a hardbooting instructor, Lowell Hart, He had us work on separation of joints and on understanding ways that It was an outstanding day -- we were up on the first chair, an... |