Vail Resorts Colorado, Embrace the Snow

Ski season is just around the corner and while cutting some turns down the slopes on our snowboards is one of our favourite pass times, we won’t be in Canada this year to enjoy the season.

That doesn’t mean we can’t dream about hitting the big mountains.

We were invited to an amazing luncheon with Vail Resorts in Toronto last week where May Lilly unveiled their 1 Billion dollar facelift at their (count them) 5 award winning resorts.

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As we sat enjoying a delicious meal of  hot and sour soup, steak frites and molten lava cake at Nota Bene Restaurant in the downtown financial district, May kept us entertained with a powerpoint presentation of the big changes.

We can’t wait to try out the new features and are almost tempted to come home early Spring to spend a few days in Vail. Hey, we can dream can’t we?

So what is new at Vail Resorts?

Besides the addition of The Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton along with a bowling alley and luxury movie theatre,Vail Resorts has created a groundbreaking skiing experience using social media.

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There is a lot of information to cover about this 5 mountain resort complex, so let’s get started.

What’s first?

The Epic Pass…

The Epic Pass returns for the third season offering unlimited, unrestricted skiing at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly as well as the Arapahoe Basin for $619. (That’s a better deal than our little Blue Mountain season pass here in Ontario)

Vail Resorts has one of the longest seasons in North America starting on Friday, Nov. 19, 2010 and ending Sunday, April 24, 2011. That’s a lot of ride time!

Want to brag about all your epic runs?

Epic Runs at Breckenridge

Vail resorts is offering something groundbreaking and new, synching their season and day passes with Facebook and Twitter!

The Epic Mix…

EpicMix is a digital application that guests can access online, at their computer or via a free mobile application. It automatically captures the activity of guests throughout each of its resorts using state-of-the-art radio frequency (RF) scanners. An RF-enabled chip embedded in each guests passes will automatically track lift rides, calculate vertical feet skied and days on the mountain.  You can tweet as you ski and brag about the number of runs you have accomplished each day.  If you enjoy hanging out by the fireplace or sipping a kahlua and coffee in the bar, don’t worry, you can disconnect your RF Scanner and tell your tall tales the old fashioned way.

Face Lift…

Breckenridge Gondola

Vail Mountain’s legendary High Noon chair lift was finally removed after 30 years of service. While it will be sentimentally missed, it will be quickly forgotten with one ride on the high-speed quad chairlift. The High Noon Express, will cut ride time nearly in half from 11 to 6 minutes. Faster ride times means more runs!

Shorter travel time…

Located just 35 miles west of Vail, Eagle Airport (EGE) is a convenient alternative to driving from Denver.  EGE is serviced in the winter by four major airlines – American, Continental, Delta and United – offering non-stop flights to and from ten major airports in the US, but also Toronto and Vancouver. As May said, you can leave at 9:00 a.m. and be on the slopes by 1:00 in the afternoon!

World Class Facilities…

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With a vertical rise of 1052 meters and a peak elevation of 3527 meters your ride times will be epic.

Breckenridge has such an amazing terrain park that it will host the Winter Dew Tour on December 17th to 19th.
Beaver Creek Vail will host the 2015 World Alpin Ski Championships.

If these resorts are good enough for the best snowboarders and skiers in the world, they will certainly get your adrenaline pumping.

Family Fun…

With a remodelled tubing park, fresh cookies daily at 3:00 pm, kids parks, free use of phones and vail staff to help with your every need, Vail resorts isn’t only for the hard core skier or snowboarder. It is family friendly and fun for anyone.

So what are you waiting for? Book your Vail holiday today!