Front Side Exploring
Morning snow, flat light and early afternoon wind kept me on the front side exploring all the daily groomers and the many day lodges and restaurants that are spread throughout the front side.
With only three days available on this visit I knew i was never going to see a whole lot of the over 5,000 acres of Vail so I resigned myself to just getting to know the area and enjoy what I was finding to ski.
My second day, I planned to do a lot of touring with a Vail Mountain Host, so I took my time riding lifts, skiing and stopping at each lodge for water and some photos. The front side of Vail can take you up to over 11,000' so it's best to remember to stay hydrated and ski easy the first day.
The Vail grooming machines had set up trails off of all the front side peaks from Golden Peak to Lionshead, into the Back Bowls and over to Blue Sky Basin. I did ski most of the groomed on the front and into the Game Creek area before working my way back and skiing down to the Vail Cascade.
This isn't January?
There was no letting up over my second night at Vail with about 8 inches of fresh at the Cascade Village lift about 10 feet from the door of the Vail Cascade. With reports of pockets upwards of 16" of new snow around the resort I was anxious to see and ski it.
Vail Mountain Tours
Vail offers free, daily Mountain Tours with very knowledgable guides and I’m a big fan of this map-free way to see a lot of a resort. So, leaving the trail map in my pocket I met up with Vail Mountain Host Clay Ireton at Eagle's Nest and we were off to cover a lot of terrain.
It was quite hard to remember that it was April and springtime as we skied into the mid-winter powder. During the night I had thought that I would be greeted with some degree of heavy wet snow but that was not the case at all. Clay led me down a knee-deep Columbine run to warm up and I was truly not expecting the snow blowing up like it was January fluff.
The sky was overcast and still dropping a little snow and this is the kind of day you really appreciate a resort providing the free tours. Like riding a limo I let Clay drive and just followed him through the fun.
We headed in the direction of Two Elk Lodge taking our time to enjoy some of Vail's signature runs. Off of the Highline Express lift was the Blue Ox, one of Clay's favorite and one I was quick to say let's do again.
We looped the Highline Chair and then the Sourdough Express hoping for the sky to clear a little before we headed down into the Back Bowls. After a short lunch break at Two Elk Lodge we decided Mother Nature wasn't going to provide the awesome views Clay really wanted me to see. So, it was time for China Bowl.
Blue Sky Basin and a Bit of the Back Bowls
What an awesome experience, right here in the good old USA. I try to make an annual pilgrimage to the Alps to ski terrain like this. While I didn't get the panorama of the bowls on a bluebird day, I was getting the thrill of a long treeless trip to any which way I wanted to go.
In fact, the limited visibility and a knowledgable guide to follow made for a mindless and giddy romp through the knee-deep powder of China Bowl. I could have done this all day, but Clay insisted I needed the flavor of Blue Sky Basin to get a taste of that end of Vail.
I sure wasn't disappointed in skiing Blue Sky, but I wasn't sure if anybody else knew about it. Off the Skyline Express chairlift and down Cloud 9 we saw only one other skier and that was Ilse - another Vail Mountain Host who wanted to join us for a few runs.
We looped Pete's Express several times since the Grand Review and The Star still had a lot of untracked fresh snow that was fun to ski and look at the tracks riding the lift back up.
Heading Home
We queued up at the Teacup Express lift with all of 2 other skiers - Clay reminded me you can put a lot of skiers in 3,000 acres of Back Bowls and the last chair ride up is usually the only crowding.
Back on the front side we met up with Karen and Carroll, also Mountain Hosts who both had favorite runs they wanted me to ski. After a conference, I had to admit I didn't have a lot of gas left in the ski tank and some long cruisers were in order.
To finish up the day, Clay skied me over to Eagle's Nest and Lionshead area where I could ski out Simba to Cascade Run ending at the door of the Vail Cascade and a rest before dinner.
To have said I could have skied China Bowl all day implies that I could spend a whole week or more in the rest of the Back Bowls and on Blue Sky. And that's exactly what I intend to do!
As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with a complimentary lift ticket for the purpose of reviewing those services. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our ethics policy.
