Photo by Kevin Rice.

Beaver Creek, I think, is relatively a new resort in the scheme of things. Closely affiliated with (perhaps even owned by?) Vail the Company; it’s also very close to Vail the Resort, maybe 5-10 miles away at the most. [Editor’s note: A single company, Vail Resorts Management Company, operates Colorado ski areas Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone.]

The town of Avon sits a mile or two below the actual mountain Resort of Beaver Creek, and one can easily take a bus from the town to Beaver Creek, Vail, and perhaps to points unknown. To some degree Beaver Creek is still a resort in development. Although the main portion seems to be largely complete, skiing around the place you’ll run into works in progress at various places.

Once I arrived the plan of action became this: two days of skiing at Beaver Creek followed by two days of skiing at Vail. That seemed like a good way to split things up and since I’d never skied at either, I decided to make this sort of “fact finding trip” - with a “taste” of skiing. But, for reasons that I’ll go into in a bit, I ended up skiing three days at Beaver Creek and one day at Vail. This gave me a really good feel for Beaver Creek, and something akin to awe for Vail…

Beaver Creek is a fairly large resort and it will take you two or three days to really ski all the areas to get a feel for things. It’s split up across several mountains and three major areas, the main central “centennial” area, Bachelor’s Gulch, and Arrowhead. The latter two are still areas under development in terms of amenities and accommodations, so you will find the services at the bottom of each a little light. However Arrowhead does have a café and there are toilette facilities at Bachelor’s Gulch.
Photo by Kevin Rice.
It took me the three days to ski something under all of Beaver Creek’s 14 lifts. In my mind, the terrain is easiest at Arrowhead and progresses in slight degrees of difficulty at Bachelor’s Gulch, then the Larkspur Bowl area, Grouse Mountain, and finally the central Centennial section. This isn’t completely accurate however as the central area has numerous easy greens and moderate blues to choose from besides some steeper stuff, glades and bumps.

On the main mountain you will also find some world class steep stuff called the Birds of Prey that regularly host World Cup events, and next to it, Grouse Mountain seems to have more of the same but a bit shorter in length (and perhaps not quite as steep?).

While in line the first day (yes there was a lift line!) fresh, hot chocolate chip cookies were given out at the main lift and at Bachelor’s Gulch mints were being handed out too (no line). And just to add to the mix the Junior Olympics took place underneath the main Centennial lift between some good views of the jagged crags of the Gore Mountain Range at the top of it all.

Sound interesting? Hey, I had a great time and would go back. Now I should say that I might go someplace else first, but I’d definitely go back and I feel pretty comfortable recommending this as a resort destination to folks. And if your really good hardcore ski buddies think things are a little lacking in the “extreme” skiing department at Beaver Creek, they can always hop on the bus for a day of skiing at Vail, which is exactly what some of my ski buddies did after our first Vail foray of curiosity.

Let me just say this about Vail. It’s rather mind-boggling. I have some bad things to say about Vail, which I will get to but for now just cut me some slack while I gush about the place. Vail is awesome; Vail blew my mind. My little ski brain never conceived of such a place. Perhaps this is due to a lack of imagination, or perhaps it’s a tribute to the brains behind Vail, I don’t know. But it is truly exceptional. Get this, you open up the ski map and it’s got TWO SIDES with ski trails on it. You aren’t going to ski this place in a day, or three days or FIVE DAYS or even a week!

The “front side” is composed of the traditional looking runs that you and I are used to plus one bowl near the top. It’s got straight things and twisty things, groomed, groomed a few days ago, and au -natural. It’s got greens, blues, black, double-blacks, trees, bumps, jumps, cliffs, and rocks. Somewhere there’s a NASTAR run for fun. There are lifts and gondolas to to get ya going. I mean it’s got everything you could ask for right? Wrong, it’s got more.

There’s the whole “back side” which consists of four large bowls, or is it five? Heck, it might even be six huge bowls for your skiing pleasure. And you can ski any which way you want in them, over there, over here, down there, up there, around that, over that, through those trees, down those bumps, over that cliff - use your imagination. It’s completely ski-perational to stand at the precipice of one of those bowls and look out past your ski tips at what you can do. Who could ask for more than that? But it’s got MORE than that.

It’s got the whole BLUE-SKY Basin area which is its own little mountain, with a cornice you can jump off of and glades, and steep stuff to scare the pants of you if you want, and some blue stuff if you’d rather ski clothed. I mean it’s a whole ‘nuther section that has a whole ‘nuther pile of runs and crazy stuff to ski off of, over, around, on top of, till your legs feel like little sacks of jelly held up by your ski pants!

Are you getting what I am saying?
Photo by Kevin Rice.
All right, so maybe I am laying it on a little thick but this is some good stuff and you should go sometime. I mean just do it. But first be forewarned. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what is plainly obvious. So you will not be skiing alone. This is a perhaps Vail’s big dark underside - the crowds.

I actually stood in about three lift lines totaling one hour! Yep, you read that right. The longest of the three was around 25 minutes of waiting. I was flabbergasted. Now I am not sure that Vail is always that crowded but it was packed on the day we were there. Eating at Two Elk Lodge near the bowls at 1pm bordered on the impossible, and getting back to the front around 3:30pm when things started closing down felt something like rush hour. One of us was run over in the mêlée and received a twisted leg for her troubles. Luckily it turned out to be a mild injury and she was able to ski the next day, but you get the picture. At Vail you could be skiing with 1000 of your best friends. And that’s not why you came out West to ski is it?

But having said that, I don’t think it’s fair to deep-six Vail so readily for this one reason. Besides one data point does not a generalization make. But the locals seemed to confirm that it can get very crowded at Vail and that you have to know how to “work the system.” And while I’m not precisely sure what this means I think I can offer two simple pieces of advice. First, know where you are going and get there bright and early. And second, just skip Two Elk Lodge. It’s packed and expensive. It’s just not worth it. Instead, if possible, bring a picnic lunch on your ski travels and eat outside in the bright sunshine on one of the bowls. Of course that’s going to be problem if its not bright and sunny out. Perhaps then the answer is to try somewhere else for eats at Vail, or eat before 11:30am or after 1:30pm - neither of which may be ideal. Perhaps there are no straightforward answers here; you just have to take your lumps.

I think my last piece of advice is this. Go to Colorado and go skiing. I think that’s pretty straightforward right?

Oh, and why did I end up only skiing one day at Vail? Well, the crowds mainly … bummer.