Inside Track: A Former Ski Instructor's Honest Review of Vail Mountain

Overall Mountain Score: 7/10

This review is long overdue, and it'll be the first in a new series we're starting at ColoradBro focused on Colorado's ski resorts. Vail has been my home mountain since I was just a wee lad, and I feel as though I have a unique perspective on the mountain, having skied it for more than 20 years, and I'd estimate I've been lucky enough to log 20+ days on the mountain each season. I've seen all condition types, from sunny spring days in the terrain park to below zero and blustery in Blue Sky. Adding to my expertise, I was also a ski instructor at the resort for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

What Makes Vail Great

The Vastness

At over 5,317 acres, Vail is the second largest single-mountain resort in North America (Big Sky is the largest). Even though some other resorts are coming to challenge the acreage (e.g. Copper's new expansion), the back bowls at Vail offer an unmatched vastness that you just don't find at many other resorts. I hate to play right into Vail's own advertising, but if you've skied Vail, I think you'll agree.

Something for Everyone

Vail really has something for everyone. As a former ski instructor, I can assure you that whether you're strapping on ski boots for the first time or training for competitive skiing, Vail has great terrain for you.

High-Speed Lifts

This can be a controversial take since I remember the days when chair 10 was just a slow and relaxing two-seater, but essentially every lift at Vail is now a high-speed quad or six-pack. The benefit is that you can get a LOT of skiing in at Vail in just a few hours. Or ski the whole day and break your all-time vertical record for a single day. One time, I was able to get more than 50K vert in a single day, verified with the EpicMix app of course.

What Vail Lacks

Extreme Steeps

Vail Mountain simply isn't that steep, especially when you compare it to some of its Colorado counterparts like Arapahoe Basin or Crested Butte. There remain several runs where the experts can still scare themselves, such as Prima Cornice, but you really have to go looking for it.

Cheap Parking

Vail has the market cornered from a parking perspective. There are several parking garages in Vail Village as well as in Lionshead Village, and those are really your only options for parking. The lack of options means Vail charges upwards of $50 per day (see parking rates here), which can leave you feeling like the corporation doesn't really care about expanding "skiing for all" as they may tout.

The Goods (ColoradBro's Favorite Runs)

• Pickaroon (blue) Accessible off chair 2 (Avanti), Pickaroon offers a fast, rolling pitch that will leave you wanting to lap it.

• Apres Vous (black/double black) Accessible off chair 5, Apres Vous is a lesser-known run that sits in between Sun Up and Sun Down Bowl.

• Look Ma (double black) Accessible off chair 3, this is an unrelenting bump run where you'll find steeps on the front side of the mountain. Plus, even your mom can watch from the Mid-Vail area near chair 4.

• Blue Ox (blue/black) Accessible off chair 10, this is a steep black (leaning towards blue) run that sometimes gets groomed and will feel like a pro race course.

  
  

ColoradBro's IYKYK

Ski chair 10 on a busy powder day. This lift consistently has shorter lines than the lifts that service the top of the mountain (chairs 4, 11, and 5), which often see extreme crowding on the weekends. Many people don't even know chair 10 exists, and it's easily accessed from the top of the Riva Bahn Express lift.

Last Chair

Unfortunately, Vail Village has a culture problem we won't tackle here, but the village is starting to feel more like Aspen than a quaint village in the faux-Alps. And if you're saying "oh, it was already like that," I'm here to tell you it's probably getting worse as more local apres-ski joints get shut down for bougie new development. We'll write about that development soon, but for now, enjoy the Blue Cow, Shakedown, The Red Lion, etc. while you can. As my friend Josh recently said, all the colored animal bars are going extinct…

Seven out of ten isn't a knock, it just means Vail's earned its reputation without being flawless, and that's a more honest score than the mountain's own marketing team would ever give you. Don't believe me? Let the back bowls do the rest of the convincing. Which Colorado resort should ColoradBro tackle next in this series? Drop your vote in the comments.

Vail Mountain at night