My wife and I have a shared “fun” goal. It’s to ski around the world together. Alpine skiing is her favorite sport, and this Hawaii native was so interested in the sport, she was briefly a ski instructor. I learned to ski some five years ago, which most people find hard to believe since I grew up in Europe, but it’s true. Anyhow, I liked it too, and together, we’ve tried to take yearly ski trips.
After years of Whistler and Tahoe, we recently decided we really should sample what else the world has to offer. This season, we chose Vail, Colorado. We chose well! While it was a bit hard to get to from the Islands, it was well worth the effort. The snow is awesome, the customer service is stellar, and the town is charming.
Vail was created by two Tenth Mountain Division survivors of World War II who discovered the terrain while training for combat in the Rockies. From its humble beginnings in 1962, Vail has grown into a world-class resort with sports, arts, festivals, fine dining and shopping.
VAIL RESORTS
I’ve long heard about skiing at Vail, because it is, according to Liz Biebl of Vail Mountain Comm unications, “arguably the largest resort in the U.S.” She calls it the “largest single mountain resort.” It’s also got a reputation for lots of celebrity visitors, so we were wondering if we were going to see anyone famous on the slopes (nope.)
Vail is terrific. It’s a massive 5,289 acres with seven legendary Back Bowls that stretch six miles. Vail Mountain is the largest ski resort in the United States. Every year, about 1.6 million skiers and snowboarders carve up those hills. Vail also dominates annual skier polls as the best resort in the country, even ranking number one in the US by SKI Magazine for 14 of the past 21 years.
We were only able to ski for four days, but in that time, we definitely couldn’t get to every run. Not by a long shot. There are 193 trails; 29 percent of them are intermediate, 53 percent are advanced/expert. We tried to ski each blue and black run at least once, but we couldn’t. The place is big.
We found ourselves sticking to the front of the mountain instead of the very popular Back Bowls. That’s because Diane got altitude sickness, and the elevation at the summit is 11,570 ft (3,527 m). (More on this later.) If you know Vail… we liked The Slot, Baccarat, and Pickeroon.
The snow is perfect. And there was lots of it. The weekend we were there, it snowed 18 inches. That made for a foot or so of light, fluffy powder. What a delight. The average snowfall is 348 inches (8.8 m).
Vail Resorts also owns Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly (in Tahoe, California), and we were considering trying out one of the nearby resorts while we were there, but that turned out to be unrealistic. Beaver Creek was 40 minutes away by car, and really, one could spend the entire season in just Vail without getting bored.
We like to take a ski lesson during every ski trip. There is always something to learn, and we feel it always improves our technique and even mental attitude. For instance, Diane is good with form and technique, but she doesn’t like to speed.
She enjoys ungroomed, slightly powdery black or blue runs with mini moguls. She likes to carve turns. However, this instructor suggested that making the mental leap into liking speed would push her into the next level. She is working on that.
I’m quite the opposite. I love to whip it down the hill. Maybe it’s a guy thing? When I take a ski trip with the guys, we all race each other down and get angry if we’re last. The instructor got me to try carving a few more turns. He also took us on a huge bump run, which I frankly didn’t enjoy and was intimidated by. Oh well. It’s still good to stretch
one’s boundaries. Maybe one day.
I would definitely recommend buying disposable hot packs for toes and hands. It’s only about $3, and it makes a world of difference. It’s not so much the skiing that’s freezing, but sitting in the chair lift, especially if the lift stops for a long time.
(Choose wisely! One wrong turn could put a beginner on the super-duper expert trail!)One thing we were pleased to see was that the resort offers a nursery that accepts children as young as two months old! The resort in Tahoe didn’t take kids till they were potty trained, and so one parent always had to be with Olivia. We didn’t take her along this time, because we both wanted to ski, but had we realized this, we would have. (She’s still too young for lessons.)
A full day of daycare (8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.) costs $109 at Vail Small World Nursery this season. It’s still cheaper than paying for a babysitter to come on the trip, and nicer if you can see your baby every day.
www.vail.com
OFF THE SLOPES
You will never be bored at Vail. With 91 bars and restaurants, and 187 retail shops, you can eat and shop to your heart’s delight. That is, if you aren’t worn out from a day on the snow.
The town of Vail seems small, but it’s long. It snakes along the base of the mountain, which makes total sense. We stayed at a hotel in Vail Village, which was the original site of the resort. Over the years, it’s expanded to other areas. Biebl clarifies, “Vail proper is typically identified by the four villages: Golden Peak, Vail, Lionshead and Cascade. East Vail and West Vail are also in Vail, but I wouldn’t necessarily lump West Vail in with the resort areas. It’s more residential and commercial space; East Vail is mostly residential.”
You can walk the width of the village, which is only a few blocks long. There is a free and convenient shuttle that runs the mile or so length of the main village. Biebl details, “The In-Town Bus runs between Golden Peak , Vail Village and Lionshead and is free. The Town of Vail also has a free bus that runs to various stops outside of these village areas, including Cascade and several stops on the golf course, East Vail and West Vail.”
We were happy with our hotel, the Lodge Tower. We chose it by looking at a map and trying to find the hotel closest to the slopes. We were pleased that it was just 95 steps on a heated walkway to the Vista Bahn chair lift.
Slope-side ski storage is complimentary with a hotel stay, so there’s no lugging equipment. It was very convenient. We also found the staff exceedingly nice, and we liked the free breakfast and the afternoon hot cider and snacks.
www.lodgetower.com
SPA
Lodge Tower has a fitness center and pools, but no spa. It shares the spa of the neighboring hotel at The Lodge at Vail. It’s pretty convenient. You have to walk outside, but it’s literally only 5 feet from building to building to get to the new RockResorts Spa at The Lodge at Vail.
“I think our guests are really looking for a special retreat and to spend time together. We have a lot of families visiting us and the time that they can spend to relax and get away is very inviting,” says spa director Toni Maggiore.
Spa at the Lodge at Vail
Photo by Brent Bingham with Photo FXWhat better way to relax after a hard day’s workout, than with a massage? We booked a couples’ massage one night, which was such a treat. We went early so we could take advantage of the steam, sauna, and whirl pools in this 7,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art spa.
The spa offers men and women's locker rooms with a separate women’s relaxation lounge and a large co-ed relaxation lounge. It also features a 3,500-square-foot fitness complex, including a fitness center and a movement studio for yoga, stretch and Pilates.
Spa at the Lodge at Vail
Photo by Brent Bingham with Photo FXThe treatment itself was heavenly. It started with an aromatic foot bath, and went on to an hour of bliss on the heated massage table for an hour long Two-gether Massage. (The 105 minute version would have ended with a fireside bath for two, cookies, fruits, and champagne.)
You should book ahead because all the afternoon and evening times get sold out fast for their massages, body wraps, or facials!
Spa at the Lodge at Vail
Photo by Brent Bingham with Photo FX
lodgeatvail.rockresorts.com/info/spa.asp
ALTITUDE SICKNESS
You might want to start some medication from your doctor in advance. Diane was too far into the trip, but the nurse said she probably would have gotten diamox (generic: acetazolamide), which is taken to open the capillaries, but you have to start it a day before your trip.
This might save you a headache (literally) and money, though there is no perfect solution because acetazolamide may cause dizziness or drowsiness. Acetazolamide is also a sulfa-based drug, so if you have sulfa allergies it’s not for you.
Vail is quite high up in the mountains. At the bottom of the mountain, the town is still at 8,120 ft (2,476 m). Diane got altitude sickness, or what Vail medics officially call Acute Mountain Sickness. We know this after a midnight run to the emergency room.
Every night since we arrived, Diane would get headaches that lasted through the morning. She had difficulty falling asleep, and would toss and turn for a couple hours. In the morning, she would awake feeling not rested. At breakfast, she would gulp down many cups of water and tea to rehydrate. For some reason, she managed to feel fine on the slopes, but after the day was over, the headache returned.
This worsened over the days, and by day three, she was quite nauseous. We were starting to wonder what this was, because she’s had altitude sickness before, and it’s presented differently. We decided to take a trip to the nearby medical clinic, but because it was midnight, we had to enter through the ER.
Turns out, it was Acute Mountain Sickness. The nurse says it’s extremely common, and that all Diane’s symptoms were textbook. It worsens at night because the person isn’t breathing as hard, thus less oxygen intake. It supposedly goes away for most people after a few days. Diane was sent home with a small oxygen tank, which immediately made her feel better.
This tiny O2 tank only lasted through the night, so the doctor wrote her a prescription for more oxygen, to be rented from a local company. Diane had to call AlpinAire the next day to rent an oxygen compressor. Since this was the last day of our trip, she only needed it for the fourth and final night in Vail. It ended up costing $250 (for the machine, the set up and delivery fee, and the additional WEEKEND fee.)
Here’s another thing to consider if you’re ever in this situation. Compressors make a lot of noise. We did not know this until we turned it on. It takes the oxygen out of the air and compresses it so you can breathe it using a tube going into your nose. Since she had it, she attempted to use it, but when we shut the lights off in the room and tried to sleep we couldn’t. It’s loud.
This is completely Murphy’s Law, because Diane did not have a headache that night, thus did not need the compressor. But, how were we to know when we ordered it that morning? We had to take a gamble. Oh well.
Moral of the story: see the doctor before the trip.
GETTING THERE
To get there, it was a 12 hour flight with one connection – Honolulu to Salt Lake to Denver, with a two hour drive west through the Rocky Mountains, to Vail. We chose the red eye flight, because on paper it seems to save you time.
In reality, it’s very tiring to not sleep well on various planes, and we were mentally shot the next day when arriving in Denver. After getting the rental car, we grabbed a bite to eat, and detoured for an hour to sightsee the city (when would we get to Denver again?), before driving to Vail. By the time we arrived at the hotel, the entire day had passed, and we were exhausted.
We might consider a daytime flight next time, and we would definitely book an airport shuttle. Colorado Mountain Express is something like $87 per person one way, but it’s still cheaper than renting a car for multiple days and paying a parking rate at the hotel (ours was $20 a night). Most importantly, that two hour drive through the snowy Rockies can get monotonous and dangerous, and I’d rather let someone else do the driving.
You may want to keep this in mind also: our flight home was early in the morning, so we stayed at an airport hotel the night before. We skied all day, then jumped into the car and drove home that evening. It happened to be a Sunday, so all the local skiers do the same thing, except they’re driving home to Denver.
Traffic was slow going for a bit, but we got lucky because it thinned out after we got out of Vail. We were warned that sometimes, the traffic can add one hour onto the usual two-hour trek. The double-edged sword to skiing is that you want to have a snow storm so the mountain gets dumped on. Great on the slopes, horrible on the roads.
Overall, a fantastic time – and despite our pledge to ski at a new resort each time, we are very tempted to break our rule and return to Vail.
CELEBRITY SUITCASE
Kaumakaiwa KanakaoleJust 26 years old, arts prodigy Kaumakaiwa is a three-time Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winner. While his geneaology reads like a who’s who of the native Hawaiian greats, most will recognize his famous grandmother’s name: kumu hula Edith Kanahele Kanaka‘ole. Kaumakaiwa released his third and latest album in August 2008.
Kaumakaiwa does a lot of traveling for work. He goes weekly between his home in Hilo and gigs on Oahu. He also flies to Japan monthly. Occasionally he makes a trip to San Francisco, as well.
When he travels, this celebrity must have in his suitcase:
1) Family photo
2) i Phone
3) Chai tea, because he says he’s nostalgic and wants to make sure he can drink the exact blend he likes. “It's very Zen,” he explains.
