Review Date
January 21, 2005

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Countless

Reviewed by: Nakul Munjal, Double Diamond

Price Paid: $0.00

Summary:
Vail is a winter wonderland. I've ridden there more times than I can count on all four limbs and I still haven't seen everything it has to offer. Definetely do Lover's leap. If you get there early in the morning while the sun is rising, and point and shoot and take a hard right just before the drop, you will go very very far, and you will see your shadow in the snow below you with a trail of snow behind you. A very memorable cliff indeed with a nice smooth landing. Blue Sky basin opened a few years ago and has some excellent tree runs. The back bowl lifts stop running at 3:30 so the earlier your get up to the mountain, the better your day will be. It's just so big. Vail is a very very very large ski area. It's almost backcountry in some ways.

Review Date
December 26, 2003

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
Once

Reviewed by: GPR1, Advanced

Price Paid: $0.00

Summary:
Huge resort with lots of great skiing for everyone from beginner to double black. Can't say enough about the great runs and huge terrain but hated the long lift lines. I would of rated this resort a perfect 5 if it wasn't for spending way too much time in long lift lines.

Review Date
June 6, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
Countless

Reviewed by: RichardG, Double Diamond, from Dallas, Texas USA

Price Paid: $0.00

Summary:
Vail works. Despite big crowds and a huge mountain, it's easy to get around (on the mountain and in the town) and with all the high-speed lifts it's never too long a wait. With two sides of three mountains, there's enough terrain for any level skier to go on ideal runs all day without skiing the same run twice. VERY expensive (that goes for just about everything) and a charmless town that's full of glitz, high end groups, and money. If you like night life, good restaurants, and can afford top dollar, you'll love the town. But the skiing is terrific, especially the Back Bowls.

Review Date
February 25, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
Once

Reviewed by: Timma, Advanced, from Chelmsford, Mass

Price Paid: $0.00

Summary:
OK Vailed is enormous and over developed, but after skiing Alta/Snowbird, Jackson Hole, and Whistler, amoung others, Vail is definitely the Best. Yeah the Bowls face South, but they're awesome. Yeah, you have to ski/skate/pole a lot of cat tracks, but that thinned out some of the crowds. The lifts weren't perfect and Village(s) are spread out, but I'm still thinking of going back this year.

Review Date
February 17, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
6-16

Reviewed by: Little Booker, Advanced, from NYC

Price Paid: $0.00

Summary:
Having scanned through some of the other reviews in this section, I have to grant that the mega-resort Vail does raise some issues surrounding the environment and the crazy real estate frenzy. Still, this phenominon hardly seems specific to Vail and is happening at all sorts of resorts to some degree. But when it comes to great skiing on a huge mountain with lots of apres fun, you gotz ta go to British Columbia to beat it. Vail is HUGE, and if you try, you can almost always find a semi-private slice of personal alpine paradise. The terrain is very varied and the legendary back bowls
offers seemigly infinate opportunity to pick a new line and create your own run.
So go on and gripe about over developing and real estate firms in ski towns and risk your life on some crazy heli adventure if you like, or head to vail and ski your freakin' brains out.