Vail

Colorado (Eagle County, Gore Range), United States · 2,454–3,527 m

Vertical
1,073m(3,520 ft)
Pistes
234km(145 mi)
Lifts
32
Summit
3,527m(11,572 ft)
Day pass
from356 USD
Season
November – to-mid April

Trail map

Front Side

Official map at The Vail Corporation, d/b/a Vail Associates (Vail Resorts)

Published by The Vail Corporation, d/b/a Vail Associates (Vail Resorts); this copy via Vail Resorts. The current official map is at The Vail Corporation, d/b/a Vail Associates (Vail Resorts).

Back Bowls

Official map at The Vail Corporation, d/b/a Vail Associates (Vail Resorts)

Published by The Vail Corporation, d/b/a Vail Associates (Vail Resorts); this copy via Vail Resorts. The current official map is at The Vail Corporation, d/b/a Vail Associates (Vail Resorts).

Blue Sky Basin

Official map at The Vail Corporation, d/b/a Vail Associates (Vail Resorts)

Published by The Vail Corporation, d/b/a Vail Associates (Vail Resorts); this copy via Vail Resorts. The current official map is at The Vail Corporation, d/b/a Vail Associates (Vail Resorts).

Routable 3D map

The whole lift and piste network of Vail is routable in the app: difficulty limits, live lift and piste status, alternative ways to the same place, and a 3D view of the terrain.

Open in SkiAllDay

The verdict

Vail is one connected, one-ticket ski area of 5,317 acres above the town of the same name: a groomed Front Side, seven wide-open Back Bowls with almost no trees, and Blue Sky Basin, the glade-and-gully expansion added in 2000. The operator splits it 18% beginner, 29% intermediate and 53% advanced by acreage; our own measurement of the network finds a length-weighted 22% average gradient and a 9.4 km longest continuous descent, the longest of any resort on this site so far. Vail Resorts also owns Beaver Creek, 16 km down the valley and covered by the same Epic Pass, but the two share no lift or piste; this page covers Vail Mountain alone.123

Goes well for

  • Advanced and expert skiers: 53% of the mapped acreage is advanced, spread across seven named Back Bowls (Sun Down, Sun Up, Tea Cup, China, Siberia, Inner and Outer Mongolia) plus Blue Sky Basin's glades and gullies.
  • A full day without repeating terrain: at 5,317 acres and 278 trails, our own measurement finds a 9.4 km longest linked descent, 962 m of vertical without a lift ride.
  • Snow that holds: 57% of the piste network faces north, northeast or northwest by our measurement, and the whole network sits above 2,500 m, which keeps the Back Bowls skiable on natural snow well into spring in a good year.

Goes badly for

  • Budget skiers: Vail and Beaver Creek both posted a $356 walk-up peak-day lift ticket for 2025/26, a record for a US resort; booking four or more weeks ahead or buying online are the only ways to avoid it.
  • Skiers who assume 'Vail' means one mountain: Beaver Creek is a separate ski area 16 km away, on the same Epic Pass but with no on-snow connection, so a headline figure for 'Vail' in casual conversation often means one of two very different combined totals.
  • Confidence-building intermediates: only 29% of the acreage is graded intermediate, the smallest of the three bands, and a fair amount of the mountain's flatter cruising sits inside terrain that reads as intimidating from the lift, like the lower Back Bowls.

Key facts

Every card opens. The headline number is the answer; underneath is how it was measured and where it came from.

Elevation 1,073m vertical · 2,454–3,527 m
Village2,454 m1
Lowest piste2,454 m1
Highest lift-served point3,527 m1
Vertical drop1,073 m

The operator's own mountain-info page gives a summit of 11,570 ft (3,527 m) at the top of the Pete's Express lift in Blue Sky Basin, and a base of 8,120 ft (2,454 m) across the three main base areas. Skiresort.com's independent figures round to the same summit and a 2,457 m base, a 3 m difference that is rounding rather than a real disagreement. No separate town-centre figure is used: Vail Village, Lionshead and Golden Peak all sit within a few metres of the ski area's own base elevation.

Pistes 234km 204.7 km measured from the network
2
  • Easy 57km 24%
  • Intermediate 84km 36%
  • Difficult 93km 40%

Marketed vs measuredVail publishes its terrain in acres, not piste kilometres: 5,317 skiable acres across 278 trails, split 18% beginner, 29% intermediate and 53% advanced by the operator's own count. Skiresort.com's independent measurement converts the network to 234 km, split 57/84/93 km, which works out to 24% easy, 36% intermediate and 40% difficult, a noticeably less extreme picture than the operator's acreage split. The gap is a real difference in method, not an error on either side: the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin are enormous open acreage relative to the length of any one named descent through them, so a split by acreage skews toward 'advanced' faster than a split by piste length does. Our own routing measurement of the OpenStreetMap network finds 204.7 km of marked piste, about 13% below skiresort.com's figure and in line with the gap this site typically finds between a marketed and a measured total.

Lifts 32 0 types in the fleet

Three counts are in circulation and none of them agree: the operator's own mountain-info page says 32, Wikipedia's infobox says 31 but its own type-by-type breakdown (2 gondolas, 4 six-packs, 14 high-speed quads, 1 fixed-grip quad, 2 fixed-grip triples, 9 surface lifts) sums to 32, and skiresort.com counts 34. Our own routing graph finds 32 separately named lift lines, matching the operator exactly, so 32 is used here.1

Season November – to-mid April winter season
Winter seasonmid-November – early-to-mid April
Lift hours08:30–16:00
Day pass USD 356 adult, main season
AdultUSD 3564
YouthUSD —
ChildUSD —
Multi-resort passesEpic Pass: unlimited, unrestricted access to Vail and Vail Resorts' 41 other owned and operated mountains, with no blackout dates. $1,051 for 2025/26, a 7% rise on the previous season's $982.
Epic Local Pass: a cheaper tier with some blackout dates at Vail, $783 for 2025/26.
Epic Day Pass: one to seven days, peak or non-peak, from about $47 to $100 a day depending on the dates chosen.
Beaver Creek is covered by the same Epic Pass as Vail, but the two are separate ski areas 16 km apart with no on-snow link between them.

Vail uses fully dynamic, date-based pricing rather than one fixed rate. Both Vail and Beaver Creek posted a $356 walk-up single-day adult rate for a peak date in the 2025/26 season, the highest ever recorded at a US resort; buying online rather than at the window saved about $37 on the same date. Prices move with demand and are set well in advance for the highest-demand dates.

The mountain

These figures come from measuring the resort's actual piste and lift network rather than from its brochure. Measured from the SkiAllDay routing graph on 4 September 2026. Where the resort publishes a figure of its own, that figure is the one shown.

Piste km per lift km

2.54

Piste km opened by each kilometre of lift line. It measures how sparse the lift network is, not how good it is: a high figure means long runs off few lifts, so more skiing between rides but more traversing and more people funnelled onto each lift; a low one means dense lift service, quick laps and short waits, at the cost of repeating the same runs.

measured

Lift minutes per ski hour

32 min

Time riding up for every hour spent descending, from the graph’s own traversal times.

measured

Longest continuous descent

9.4 km(5.8 mi)

The longest run of linked pistes that never rides a lift.

measured

Reachable on easy runs only

22%

Share of piste a skier can reach from the base without ever descending something harder than an easy run.

measured

North-facing terrain

57%

Piste facing N, NE or NW, from the bearing of each descent. Shaded aspects hold snow longest.

measured

Vertical on that descent

962 m(3,156 ft)

measured

Uphill on surface lifts

5%

Share of climbing served by drag lifts and platters, weighted by vertical rather than by lift count.

measured

Piste above 2,500 m

100%

measured

Median piste altitude

3,156 m(10,354 ft)

Half the piste length lies above this height and half below, weighted by length.

measured

Mean piste gradient

22%

Length-weighted across every piste. Comparable between countries in a way that piste colour is not.

measured

Piste measured

204.7 km(127 mi)

measured

Lift length measured

80.6 km(50 mi)

measured
metres piste length in this band 2,500 2,750 3,000 3,250 3,500 30.3 km 101.6 km 75.3 km Pete's Express top station, Blue Sky Basin 3,527 m Eagle's Nest, top of Eagle Bahn Gondola 3,155 m Mid-Vail, top of Gondola One 3,124 m Vail Village 2,454 m
Piste length by altitude band, against the villages and lift stations that sit at each height. Squares are villages and valley bases, circles are lift stations and summits.

How steep is it, really

Piste colour is set by each resort under its own rules, so a red in one country is a blue in another. Measured gradient is comparable everywhere.

Share of piste length by gradient, measured along the run rather than at its steepest point.

Guide

One connected ski area on a single Forest Service permit covers three named zones: the groomed Front Side above Vail Village, Lionshead and Golden Peak; seven treeless Back Bowls behind the main ridge; and Blue Sky Basin, added furthest south in 2000. Beaver Creek, also owned by Vail Resorts and sold on the same Epic Pass, is a separate ski area 16 km down the valley with no lift or piste connecting it to any of the three.

The Front Side: where almost everyone starts

Gondola One rises from Vail Village to Mid-Vail at 3,124 m, and the Eagle Bahn Gondola rises from Lionshead to Eagle's Nest at 3,155 m; both feed the groomed cruising terrain that makes up most of the operator's 29% intermediate band, including the lower half of Riva Ridge, Vail's longest run at four miles (6.4 km). Two dedicated beginner zones sit on this side of the mountain: one at Golden Peak around the short Gopher Hill lift, the other above Lionshead around the Little Eagle lift, reachable by riding the Eagle Bahn Gondola up rather than skiing to it.156

The Back Bowls: nearly 3,000 acres with almost no trees

Seven bowls, Sun Down, Sun Up, Tea Cup, China, Siberia, Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia, sit behind the main ridge and account for most of the operator's advanced-terrain acreage. China Bowl mixes groomed intermediate lanes with steep pitches, and its west-facing Genghis Khan sector holds some of the widest expert pitches on the mountain; the Sun Down Express, added for the 2022/23 season, and Sun Up Express serve the two bowls closest to the Front Side. Our own measurement finds a length-weighted 22% average gradient across the whole network, and this open, above-treeline terrain is a large part of why: there is little flat run-out to dilute the average the way a forested cruiser would.63

Blue Sky Basin: the newest terrain, and the quietest

Vail's Forest Service permit for a 525-acre expansion south of the Back Bowls, then called Category III, was filed in 1994 and approved despite objections that the area was prime lynx habitat; it opened on January 6, 2000, renamed Blue Sky Basin, with three new high-speed quads, Pete's, Earl's and Skyline. The terrain is glades, gullies and natural rollers rather than the Back Bowls' open faces, and Pete's Express top station, at 3,527 m, is the highest lift-served point on the mountain. The expansion was not uncontroversial: on October 19, 1998, the Earth Liberation Front set fire to Two Elk Lodge and damaged four chairlifts in protest, an attack later put at $12 million in damage and, following the FBI's Operation Backfire investigation, resulting in four indictments in 2006. Two Elk reopened, rebuilt larger than the original, in December 1999, a few weeks before Blue Sky Basin itself opened.789

Sixteen kilometres from Beaver Creek, not connected to it

Vail Resorts owns both Vail and Beaver Creek, sells both on the Epic Pass, and co-hosted the 1999 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships across the two, but they are separate ski areas: Beaver Creek sits about 16 km down the valley near Avon, reached by road or the free Town of Vail and Avon transit systems, not by any lift or piste. Our own routing graph for Vail Mountain, ingested and checked against every lift name in it, contains none of Beaver Creek's lifts (Centennial, Strawberry Park, Larkspur and the rest); it is Vail Mountain alone, matching what this page describes.103

Snow and season

Vail has no glacier and depends on 354 in (899 cm) of average annual snowfall across its 2,454 to 3,527 m range, backed by snowmaking on 620-plus acres through 84 miles of pipe and 674 guns. The 2025/26 season opened on schedule on November 14, 2025, but a historically weak snowpack forced an early close on April 8, 2026, eleven days ahead of the operator's planned April 19 date.111213

SkierVerdictWhy
Advanced or expert skier excellent 53% of the mapped acreage is advanced: seven Back Bowls with almost no trees, Blue Sky Basin's glades, Genghis Khan's wide-open pitches on China Bowl's west side, and Highline and Look Ma, a former World Cup mogul course, on the Front Side. Our own measurement finds a 9.4 km longest continuous descent, the longest yet recorded on this site.163
Confident intermediate good 234 km of marketed piste across three zones gives several full days without repeating a run, and the Front Side's groomed terrain, plus the gentler lanes through China Bowl, extend well beyond a first week's comfort zone.26
Family with children good Golden Peak is a dedicated Ski & Ride School base with roughly 1,000 instructors across the resort, and Adventure Ridge at the top of the Eagle Bahn Gondola runs tubing lanes and other snow activities through the afternoon and into the evening, independent of ability level.514
First-timer fair The operator grades 18% of its acreage beginner, split across two full learning zones, Golden Peak and the Little Eagle area above Lionshead, each with its own carpets and slow chairs. Our own routing measurement still finds only 22% of the network reachable without a harder run, and Vail's base itself sits at 2,454 m, high enough that altitude adjustment is a real factor for a visitor arriving from sea level.153
Second-week skier fair Intermediate is the smallest of the operator's three bands at 29% of the acreage, against 53% advanced, so a skier who has outgrown the beginner zones meets black-graded Back Bowl terrain sooner here than at a resort with a larger blue middle band. The Front Side's groomed cruisers, including the lower half of Riva Ridge, are the more forgiving option.16
Budget skier poor Vail's own walk-up peak-day rate hit $356 for 2025/26, a record for a US resort, and even booking a month ahead only brings meaningful savings; buying online instead of at the window saves about $37 on the same date. An Epic Pass at $1,051 is the only way to ski more than three or four days here for less than a per-day window rate.415

By car

Vail sits directly off I-70 at exit 176, 119 miles (192 km) west of Denver International Airport, a drive the operator gives as roughly two hours outside of storms or weekend traffic. The route crosses the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel at 3,401 m (11,158 ft), the highest point on the US Interstate Highway System, and Colorado's Traction Law, in force September 1 to May 31, requires all-wheel or four-wheel drive with winter-rated tires, or chains. Parking at the Vail Village and Lionshead structures runs $10 an hour in winter, capped at $30 a day off-peak and $50 on peak days.

By train

There is no direct passenger rail into Vail. Amtrak's California Zephyr, running between Chicago and Emeryville via Denver, calls at Glenwood Springs, roughly 65 miles west by road, with no dedicated onward transfer to Vail.

Where to base yourself

Vail VillageThe original base at 2,454 m, with Gondola One up to Mid-Vail
Lionshead 1.5 kmSecond base, developed from 1968; the Eagle Bahn Gondola runs up to Eagle's Nest and the Little Eagle beginner area
Golden Peak 1 kmThe main Ski & Ride School base and one of two dedicated beginner learning areas, served by the Gopher Hill lift
Cascade Village 2 kmA quarter-mile west of Lionshead, with its own base lift (Chair 20) into the network
Eagle County Regional Airport 48 km30 miles by road, with direct flights from about 20 markets in season
Denver International Airport 192 km119 miles by road via I-70, about two hours outside storms and peak traffic

  • Two Elk Lodge

    Saddle of China Bowl · 3,353 m

    Vail's largest on-mountain lodge, on the saddle of China Bowl above 11,000 ft (3,353 m), reachable from the Sourdough, Tea Cup, Orient and Sun Up Express lifts. The original building was destroyed in the 1998 arson and reopened, larger, in December 1999; it now runs a quick-service restaurant plus a separate biergarten.169

  • The 10th

    Mid-Vail · 3,124 m

    Vail's premier full-service, reservations restaurant, at Mid-Vail atop Gondola One; opened in 2011 and named for the 10th Mountain Division, the WWII unit several of Vail's founders served in.178

  • Eagle's Nest Marketplace

    Eagle's Nest · 3,155 m

    At the top of the Eagle Bahn Gondola from Lionshead, with Simba's Café and the more casual Bistro 14 under one roof, next to the Adventure Ridge activity area.17

  • Belle's Camp

    Blue Sky Basin · — m

    Blue Sky Basin's own outpost, at the top of the Skyline and Earl's lifts, serving premade sandwiches and hot drinks rather than a full kitchen.17

  • Game Creek Restaurant

    Game Creek Bowl · — m

    A chalet-style fine-dining room in Game Creek Bowl, reached by snowcat rather than by lift, with a coursed menu and an extensive wine list.17

What skiers say

Gathered from public discussions, last swept 4 September 2026. Every tip links to the thread it came from.

  • For a bowl-first day, start at Golden Peak when Chair 6 opens instead of joining the Vail Village or Lionshead base rush.1819

    A February 2023 r/COsnow thread and a December 2019 Liftlines Skiing and Snowboarding Forums post both name Golden Peak as the quickest gateway toward Northwoods, the eastern Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin; the advantage is access, not that Blue Sky itself opens at first chair.

  • Use the period before Skyline Express opens for two or three Poppyfields or Orient Express laps, then reach Skyline about 15 minutes before its usual 10:00 opening.2018

    A March 2023 r/skiing thread and the February 2023 r/COsnow thread above both put Skyline Express opening near 10:00, with a substantial queue after fresh snow, and the latter also reported a 14:30 Blue Sky closure that should be reconfirmed on the day.

  • Check Sun Up Express, High Noon Express and eastern-bowl lift status before dropping into Sun Down or west Sun Up, because High Noon can become a committed, no-alternative queue.2122

    Two February 2020 r/skiing threads describe the same event: Chair 5 lines formed when Sun Up and terrain farther east were unavailable, concentrating everyone at the only practical exit, an exceptional operational trap rather than Vail's normal line pattern.

  • Avoid Mid-Vail from late morning through lunch and return to the front side later, when much of the crowd has migrated into the bowls.2324

    An April 2007 trip report on the Liftlines forum describes Mid-Vail as a zoo around 11:30, while a January 2007 thread on the same forum recommends late-day front-side groomers and Born Free or Bwana once the lunch crowd disperses.

  • On busy days, run against the usual west-to-east migration by lapping Tea Cup Express early, High Noon or Sun Up later, and Highline whenever central lifts are crowded.25

    A December 2022 r/skiing post from a frequent Vail skier gives this as a practical counterflow pattern; it depends on terrain openings and is more reliable than simply following the crowd toward Blue Sky.

  • For free day-skier parking, first try the designated North Frontage Road spaces opposite Safeway or around Chamonix and ride the town bus.2627

    An April 2025 r/vail thread recommends arriving about 07:00-07:30 for these spaces, and a February 2025 r/vail thread shows commenters disagreeing about when other frontage-road stretches become legal, so use only signed spaces rather than assuming the whole road is available.

  • If paying, use Red Sandstone Garage and walk roughly ten minutes over the footbridge to Lionshead instead of accidentally entering the much dearer Solaris garage.27

    A February 2025 r/vail thread quoted Red Sandstone at about $20 peak and $10 off-peak against as much as $75 at Solaris, but these are dated prices and current signage controls.

  • Use Donovan Park only after confirming the pavilion has no private event, and prefer Chamonix or West Vail Mall when bus frequency matters.2628

    The April 2025 r/vail thread above notes Donovan parking can be blocked for rentals, and a January 2020 r/vail comparison found only two buses per hour there against six or more near Chamonix and West Vail Mall.

  • For a weekend powder-day drive from Denver, be on I-70 before about 05:15 rather than joining the 05:30–06:00 surge.29

    A January 2026 r/COsnow thread describes I-70 traffic becoming risky after 05:30 and effectively guaranteed after 06:00, with eastbound congestion often persisting until around 19:00; crashes and weather can defeat any schedule.

  • Choose Golden Peak as your arrival base when the day's priority is China Bowl or Blue Sky, while Lionshead is better suited to Game Creek and western terrain.3031

    A January 2023 r/skiing thread and a 2011 snowHeads discussion both find Vail Village or Golden Peak reaches the eastern bowls materially faster than Lionshead, whose Eagle Bahn route naturally feeds Game Creek and Sun Down.

  • During a dry spell, prioritize north-facing Blue Sky Basin—especially Cloud 9, Big Rock Park and its glades—over the sun-baked Back Bowls.1832

    The February 2023 r/COsnow thread and a March 2023 r/skiing thread both say Blue Sky Basin preserves snow markedly better than the Back Bowls in a dry spell; Cloud 9 and Big Rock Park are flowing, approachable tree-lined runs there, while Lover's Leap and Steep & Deep are the more serious choices.

  • In the Back Bowls, hunt the eastern or slightly north-facing sides of ridges: Seldom and Never, The Slot, Genghis Khan, Sweet N Sour, WFO and the glades beyond Sun Up hold snow best.1833

    The same February 2023 r/COsnow thread and a March 2025 Liftlines trip report both found west-facing sides shallower or crustier, while east-facing and sheltered lines skied deeper and fresher than the headline snowfall suggested.

  • Make the effort to Siberia and Mongolia after new snow for lower skier density, but only if you accept an unreliable platter and a long, flat return.3234

    A March 2023 r/skiing thread recommends Gorky Park and Bolshoi Ballroom without going all the way to Outer Mongolia, and a December 2019 r/skiing post describes the Mongolia platter as frequently closed, leaving a hike and an awkward exit.

  • Check the unmarked trees in Game Creek before joining the migration east, particularly on a powder morning.3536

    AlpineZone trip reports from February 2023 and January 2022 both found untouched lines in Game Creek's unmarked trees while the marked terrain and famous bowls drew most visitors; Dealer's Choice is the useful groomed reference point nearby.

  • On a storm or flat-light day, abandon the open bowls for the front-side trees around Highline, Northwoods and North Rim.373839

    Liftlines trip reports from March 2008 and February 2025, plus a February 2020 r/skiing post, all call the front side Vail's better storm terrain because trees supply contrast; the Chair 10 trees and North Rim also repeatedly produced sheltered soft snow late in the day.

  • Buy an Epic Day Pass before preseason sales close rather than a dated lift ticket at the window, and do not assume a friend ticket is cheaper.4041

    A November 2023 r/skiing thread shows large savings from buying an Epic Day Pass before preseason sales close, and a November 2024 r/skiing thread on Epic Buddy Passes finds the friend discount chiefly helps unexpected mid-season visitors and can still cost more than an early Epic Day Pass.

  • Carry lunch and use the public grills at the top of Skyline Express, with additional grills reported near the top of Northwoods.42

    A December 2023 r/vail thread describes the three Skyline Express grills as an unusually scenic lunch stop and recommends packed food over costly on-mountain cafeterias.

  • For a quick village meal, consider First Chair's grab-and-go burritos or Big Bear Bistro rather than buying lunch at a mountain lodge.4344

    A January 2025 r/vail thread still recommends First Chair, whose owner quoted $11 breakfast and $13 lunch burritos in a March 2024 r/vail thread on new restaurants; the same threads call Big Bear Bistro's sandwiches good value, so verify current menus and prices.

  • Time après for the reported 14:00–16:00 Blue Moose pizza-and-draft special before paying normal village drink prices.43

    A January 2025 r/vail thread called the roughly $7 combination a Vail bargain, but the offer and price are time-sensitive and should be checked before ordering.

  • Stock up down-valley at Walmart or City Market in Avon instead of relying on the cramped Vail City Market.454647

    r/vail grocery threads from October 2022 and November 2019 both rank the Avon City Market above the Vail branch, with Walmart the budget choice, and a February 2026 r/vail thread adds City Market's Wednesday sushi promotion.

  • Snowboarders should study Vail's marked catwalks, wax before the day and preserve speed on Brisk Walk and the Mongolia return rather than arriving there tired.4849

    A February 2024 r/snowboardingnoobs post describes one rider walking for more than half an hour after linking Trans Montane, Northface, Skid Road and Brisk Walk, and an October 2020 r/snowboarding thread singles out Brisk Walk and the Outer Mongolia exit as the worst flats.

  • Learn both the name and number of critical lifts—especially 5/High Noon, 9/Sun Up, 11/Northwoods, 21/Orient, 36/Tea Cup and 37/Skyline—before navigating the bowls.50

    A January 2024 r/skiing thread on chair names versus numbers finds Vail locals overwhelmingly use lift numbers while visitors and maps favour names; one parent in the same thread reported confirming both after an instructor announced a wind hold by number only.

  • Do not treat Blue Sky as a quick detour from Lionshead or schedule a tight meetup afterward; allow roughly an hour each way and much longer on a crowded day.5135

    AlpineZone trip reports from February 2020 and February 2023 describe 60 to 90 minutes to reach Blue Sky Basin and about an hour to return, with the busier of the two visits taking nearly three hours round-trip for only a couple of runs.

  • Make your first Back Bowls visit on a clear day instead of trying to learn their huge, treeless fall lines in flat light.52

    A February 2010 AlpineZone trip report describes Sun Up's terrain features as difficult to read in a storm and the scale as overwhelming for a first-time bowl skier; the front-side trees are the better option when visibility is poor.

  • Do not infer that Vail's intermediate reputation makes its gated terrain benign: reserve Prima Cornice, Mudslide, Pumphouse and Steep & Deep for the appropriate conditions and ability.3553

    The February 2023 AlpineZone trip report above found Prima Cornice's upper entrance around 44 degrees and unexpectedly rocky, and a December 2022 r/skiing thread on first-timer advice separately distinguishes these gated runs from the generally approachable central bowls.

  • Treat every East Vail exit as uncontrolled backcountry requiring a trained partner, rescue gear, route knowledge and a current avalanche assessment.5455

    A February 2021 r/COsnow avalanche-warning thread and a January 2014 Teton Gravity Research forum thread on a fatal East Vail slide both describe persistent-slab terrain, cornices, convex starts, cliffs and terrain traps immediately outside the resort boundary; the fatalities involved experienced locals, so proximity to the resort is not protection.

  • Do not use Mushroom Bowl as an improvised shortcut back to Chair 10 unless you already know the exit.56

    A March 2025 r/vail thread on why Mill Creek is not skied describes hidden cliffs, mandatory airs in portions of Mushroom Bowl, deep-snow route-finding and a long slog out to Mill Creek Road; the lines behind China Wall are themselves avalanche chutes.

  • For resort uphill exercise, use only that season's designated route and phone Uphill Vail before setting out.57

    A February 2025 r/Backcountry discussion listed two 2024/25 routes open between 16:30 and 08:00 and advised carrying a headlamp; those hours and routes were explicitly season-specific and require current verification.

History

  1. 1957

    Pete Seibert and Earl Eaton first climb what they called "No-Name Mountain", and Seibert identifies it as ideal for a ski resort.8

  2. 1962

    Vail opens on December 15 with one gondola, two chairlifts and nine runs, backed by investors including Bob Fowler, Jack Tweedy, John Conway and George Caulkins; the opening-day lift ticket cost $5.8

  3. 1968

    Lionshead is developed as a second base area, with its own gondola installed for the 1968-69 season.8

  4. 1976

    On March 26, a cable snags on a support tower on the Lionshead gondola and two cabins derail, killing four people and injuring eight.10

  5. 1985

    George Gillett buys Vail Associates and installs four high-speed detachable quad chairlifts.8

  6. 1988

    China Bowl opens, and Vail becomes the largest ski area in North America at the time.8

  7. 1989

    Vail hosts the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.810

  8. 1998

    On October 19, the Earth Liberation Front sets fire to Two Elk Lodge and damages four chairlifts in protest at the planned Category III (Blue Sky Basin) expansion, causing about $12 million in damage; four people are indicted in 2006 following the FBI's Operation Backfire.78

  9. 1999

    Two Elk Lodge reopens in December, rebuilt larger than the original, and Vail co-hosts the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships with Beaver Creek.98

  10. 2000

    Blue Sky Basin opens on January 6, adding 525 acres and three new high-speed quads: Pete's, Earl's and Skyline.78

  11. 2010

    On February 28, the Front Side's "International" run at the base of the Avanti lift is renamed "Lindsey's", honouring Lindsey Vonn's downhill gold at the Vancouver Olympics, Vail's first.58

  12. 2022

    For Vail's 60th anniversary season, Game Creek Express is rebuilt as a six-pack and the new Sun Down Express opens to serve Sun Down Bowl.10

Nearby and comparable

  • Beaver Creek

    Also owned by Vail Resorts and sold on the same Epic Pass, about 16 km down the valley near Avon; a separate ski area with no on-snow connection to Vail.

  • Breckenridge

    Another Vail Resorts mountain on the Epic Pass, in Summit County rather than Eagle County; a higher town elevation but a lower overall vertical drop.

  • Aspen Snowmass

    A comparably famous Colorado name, but on the Ikon Pass rather than Epic, and split across four separate mountains rather than one.

  • Park City Mountain

    Also markets itself as one of the largest single-ticket resorts in the US; on the same Epic Pass as Vail, but in Utah with no shared terrain.

Questions

How big is Vail Mountain, and how is the terrain split?

Vail's operator counts 5,317 skiable acres across 278 trails, split 18% beginner, 29% intermediate and 53% advanced. Converted to piste kilometres by skiresort.com, that is 234 km split 57 km easy, 84 km intermediate and 93 km difficult. Our own measurement of the OpenStreetMap network finds 204.7 km of marked piste.123

Is Vail the same as Beaver Creek?

No. Vail Resorts owns both and sells both on the Epic Pass, and they co-hosted the 1999 World Ski Championships, but they are separate ski areas about 16 km apart with no lift or piste connecting them. This page covers Vail Mountain only.103

Is Vail good for beginners?

Partially. The operator grades 18% of its acreage beginner, organised into two dedicated learning zones at Golden Peak and above Lionshead around the Little Eagle lift, each served by its own carpets and slow chairs. Our own routing measurement finds only 22% of the whole network reachable without a harder run, so a first-timer is better served sticking to those two zones than trying to explore the wider mountain.153

What does a lift ticket cost at Vail?

Vail uses fully dynamic pricing. A peak walk-up single-day adult ticket reached $356 for the 2025/26 season, a record for a US resort, though buying online or well in advance costs less. An Epic Pass, at $1,051 for 2025/26, covers unlimited access to Vail and 41 other Vail Resorts mountains with no blackout dates.415

What are the Back Bowls, and are they good for intermediates?

The Back Bowls are seven connected, largely treeless bowls behind Vail's main ridge, Sun Down, Sun Up, Tea Cup, China, Siberia and the two Mongolia bowls, making up most of the mountain's advanced-graded acreage. China Bowl has groomed intermediate lanes mixed in with its steeper pitches, but a confident intermediate should expect open, exposed terrain rather than groomed cruisers once off the marked lanes.61

How do you get to Vail, and is there an airport nearby?

Eagle County Regional Airport is 30 miles away with direct winter flights from about 20 markets. Denver International Airport is 119 miles by road via I-70, roughly a two-hour drive outside storms, crossing the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel at 3,401 m, the highest point on the US Interstate System. There is no direct passenger rail into Vail.59

Does Vail have snowmaking, and how reliable is the snow?

Yes: 84 miles of pipe and 674 snow guns cover more than 620 acres, backing up an average 354 in (899 cm) of natural snowfall a year across the 2,454 to 3,527 m range. There is no glacier, so a poor snow year still shortens the season at both ends, as it did in 2025/26, when the resort closed on April 8 rather than the planned April 19 after the weakest snowpack on record.1113

References

Every claim on this page carries a numbered marker linking here, and every reference links back to the passages that used it. Numbers not yet checked against a source are marked like this.

  1. 1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Vail Resort Mountain InfoVail Resorts · read 4 September 2026
  2. 2. ^ a b c d Ski resort VailSkiresort Service International · read 4 September 2026
  3. 3. ^ a b c d e f g h SkiAllDay routing graph, computed from OpenStreetMapOpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · read 4 September 2026
  4. 4. ^ a b c Vail Resorts Peak Lift Ticket Prices Hit Record $356, With 6 Mountains Now Over $300SnowBrains · 2025-08-26 · read 4 September 2026
  5. 5. ^ a b c d Learning to Ski at Vail: A Beginner's Mountain GuideVail Resorts · read 4 September 2026
  6. 6. ^ a b c d e f 10 Iconic Trails in VailVail Resorts (snow.com) · read 4 September 2026
  7. 7. ^ a b c Blue Sky BasinWikipedia · read 4 September 2026
  8. 8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k History of VailColorado Ski History · read 4 September 2026
  9. 9. ^ a b c Vail Unveils New Lodge, New Terrain One Year After FiresSki Magazine · 1999-12 · read 4 September 2026
  10. 10. ^ a b c d e Vail Ski ResortWikipedia · read 4 September 2026
  11. 11. ^ a b Vail Mountain 2025-26 Winter Tip SheetVail Resorts Newsroom · 2025-08 · read 4 September 2026
  12. 12. ^ Vail Mountain to open Friday with two runs via Gondola One and a beginner area in LionsheadVail Daily · 2025-11-14 · read 4 September 2026
  13. 13. ^ a b Vail Mountain closes for 2025-26, a season some would rather forgetKUNC · 2026-04-11 · read 4 September 2026
  14. 14. ^ Epic Discovery Vail Summer ActivitiesDiscover Vail · read 4 September 2026
  15. 15. ^ a b Epic Pass launch price hits new high for 2025-26 seasonKUNC · 2025-03-06 · read 4 September 2026
  16. 16. ^ Two Elk, Two Elk BiergartenVail Resorts · read 4 September 2026
  17. 17. ^ a b c d Restaurants and Dining, Vail MountainVail Resorts · read 4 September 2026
  18. 18. ^ a b c d How to get the most out of Vail Resort - Day Tripr/COsnow · 2023-02 · read 4 September 2026
  19. 19. ^ Where's the best 2019 Christmas snow destination?Liftlines Skiing and Snowboarding Forums · 2019-12 · read 4 September 2026
  20. 20. ^ Best areas at Vail?r/skiing · 2023-03 · read 4 September 2026
  21. 21. ^ Chair 5 at Vailr/skiing · 2020-02 · read 4 September 2026
  22. 22. ^ It just keeps snowing in Colorado.r/skiing · 2020-02 · read 4 September 2026
  23. 23. ^ Vail, CO 4/2/07Liftlines Skiing and Snowboarding Forums · 2007-04 · read 4 September 2026
  24. 24. ^ Vail -- looking for insider tips and tricks pleaseLiftlines Skiing and Snowboarding Forums · 2007-01 · read 4 September 2026
  25. 25. ^ Yesterday at Vail. Worth the hours-long detour to get home a back way due to the I-70 issues.r/skiing · 2022-12 · read 4 September 2026
  26. 26. ^ a b Donovan park still a good option for day skier parking?r/vail · 2025-04 · read 4 September 2026
  27. 27. ^ a b Ski Parking optionsr/vail · 2025-02 · read 4 September 2026
  28. 28. ^ Frontage Road Parkingr/vail · 2020-01 · read 4 September 2026
  29. 29. ^ How is this even possibler/COsnow · 2026-01 · read 4 September 2026
  30. 30. ^ Lionshead vs Vail Village, which is the best one to get to the slopes the fastest. Trying to spend the day in the back bowls and possibly Blue Sky.r/skiing · 2023-01 · read 4 September 2026
  31. 31. ^ Some questions about Vail ColoradosnowHeads · 2011-07 · read 4 September 2026
  32. 32. ^ a b Recommendations for a Single Day at Vail?r/skiing · 2023-03 · read 4 September 2026
  33. 33. ^ Vail, CO, Mar. 19, 2025Liftlines Skiing and Snowboarding Forums · 2025-03 · read 4 September 2026
  34. 34. ^ Got to Vail Just in Timer/skiing · 2019-12 · read 4 September 2026
  35. 35. ^ a b c Vail trip from February 23rd, 24th, & 25th.AlpineZone · 2023-02 · read 4 September 2026
  36. 36. ^ Vail trip from Dec. 23rd through the 27th.AlpineZone · 2022-01 · read 4 September 2026
  37. 37. ^ Vail 3-10-08Liftlines Skiing and Snowboarding Forums · 2008-03 · read 4 September 2026
  38. 38. ^ Oofr/skiing · 2020-02 · read 4 September 2026
  39. 39. ^ Vail, CO 2/9/25Liftlines Skiing and Snowboarding Forums · 2025-02 · read 4 September 2026
  40. 40. ^ PSA: Buy Epic Day or Ikon Session Today, NOT Lift Ticketsr/skiing · 2023-11 · read 4 September 2026
  41. 41. ^ Epic Buddy Pass Questionr/skiing · 2024-11 · read 4 September 2026
  42. 42. ^ Lunch and Skiingr/vail · 2023-12 · read 4 September 2026
  43. 43. ^ a b First time visiting vail.r/vail · 2025-01 · read 4 September 2026
  44. 44. ^ New Restaurantsr/vail · 2024-03 · read 4 September 2026
  45. 45. ^ Cheapest grocery stores near Vail?r/vail · 2022-10 · read 4 September 2026
  46. 46. ^ Which is your favorite grocery store and why?r/vail · 2019-11 · read 4 September 2026
  47. 47. ^ Feeding a teenage kid in vailr/vail · 2026-02 · read 4 September 2026
  48. 48. ^ How do you deal with long, flat sections?r/snowboardingnoobs · 2024-02 · read 4 September 2026
  49. 49. ^ Vail/Beaver Creek questionr/snowboarding · 2020-10 · read 4 September 2026
  50. 50. ^ Chair names vs numbersr/skiing · 2024-01 · read 4 September 2026
  51. 51. ^ Vail day trip 2/20AlpineZone · 2020-02 · read 4 September 2026
  52. 52. ^ breckenridge, vail, arapahoe basin (9 days on snow!)AlpineZone · 2010-02 · read 4 September 2026
  53. 53. ^ Colorado Advice for first timers. Breckrenridge, Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystoner/skiing · 2022-12 · read 4 September 2026
  54. 54. ^ Avalanche warnings issued to the Aspen, Gunnison, Vail and Summit County regions through Friday morningr/COsnow · 2021-02 · read 4 September 2026
  55. 55. ^ CAIC just tweeted a slide in East Vail - 4 caught.Teton Gravity Research Forums · 2014-01 · read 4 September 2026
  56. 56. ^ Mill Creek - why no skiing?r/vail · 2025-03 · read 4 September 2026
  57. 57. ^ Vail Training Groupr/Backcountry · 2025-02 · read 4 September 2026
  58. 58. ^ Vail Resorts Congratulates Lindsey Vonn and Celebrates Her Achievements by Naming a Trail After Her on Vail MountainPR Newswire / Vail Resorts · 2010-02-28 · read 4 September 2026
  59. 59. ^ Getting Here & Vail ParkingVail Resorts · read 4 September 2026

Page last updated 4 September 2026.

Route Vail as it skis today

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