Here we are standing in the line of the Eagle Bahn gondola. Top of the mornin' to ya... it's St. Patty's day and once again, I'm wasting it on the slopes. Perfect!
This used to be Lionshead, but now all the lower lifts are something or other "bahn." The definition of bahn:
n. circuit, fixed route, regular route; orbit, course, pathway; trainI get how it relates to a ski lift, but I don't see how the German relates to a U.S. ski resort. I think they are trying too hard. Of course, the Lionshead base has been completely redeveloped in the past few years to look like a European village. I guess the Colorado mining town appeal is better left to Leadville or Telluride. That said, the European theme comes off as contrived to me. Whatever, it's not my money. A cool $3 million will get you a place in the building behind Dylan in the picture above.
To me, Vail is about skiing. It's still my favorite resort of all the places I've ever been. It has to do with the variety (more than 50% expert), size, and sheer volume of the place (nearly 6000 acres). Vail is, to say it in a word, HUGE.
Dylan gives that "let's go" look.
We go. Off the top of Lionshead, I mean the Eagle Bahn, we head over to Game Creek Bowl to gain elevation. We do the short walk (the walks can be long at Vail) and head down Hunky Dory over to Mid-Vail. From there, we take the #4 Mountaintop Express to the top of the Mountain. We take a cruise down Northwoods and hit the Northwoods Express. We decide the line is a little long and head to the back side down through the Poppyfields of China Bowl. It's a little early and the snow is crusty from the day before.
Mt. of the Holy Cross
Those bowls are big. China and Sunup Bowl from the top of Skyline.
We head over to Blue Sky Basin and hop on the Skyline Express. We do a run down "In the Wuides" which starts good and gets icier as we go down. Dylan is getting anxious and wants to head for the park. We ride up Earl's Express and hit Cloud 9 through Big Rock Park back to the Orient Express lift. We then head down Highline (a very long and mogul filled double-black) to the "Briskwalk" over to Golden Peak.
The riders at Golden Peak are amazing. We're seeing double corks, backflips, rodeos and all kinds of crazy stuff. Parker and I are just enjoying watching. Dylan wants to hit the park. We ride up the Golden Peak Express and ski into the Golden Peak Terrain Park.
This sucker is big. A mini-pipe, a full pipe, three sets of jumps from medium size to huge, and several feature sets.
Dylan sets straight to work.
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The riders go big at Vail. First time I've ever seen a double-cork (apologies for the quality).
Dylan hits the features.
Dylan shreds the jumps.
The mood is festive all around the resort, but fewer people are wearing green than you might expect. It reminds me of St. Patty's days past. For several years we would go up to Steamboat where we had lots of friends and places to stay. One year, someone started boiling a chicken. Someone had the brilliant idea to add green food dye to this boiling chicken. This was in the morning before we went out for a hard day of shredding.
When we get back in the afternoon, the chicken had turned a sickly shade of green. Of course, it being St. Patty's day, there was always alcohol involved and we started drinking heavily in the afternoon. The good ideas always come out after the appropriate buzz is attained. This particular day, the idea was to tie the chicken to a piece of fishing line and put it out on the sidewalk that was the main thoroughfare between the legendary Tugboat and Gondola Square. The trick was as people walked by, we would yank the line and the chicken would hop. This got some outstanding reactions from passersby. We were nearly falling off the deck laughing. This went on for some time, until it got dark and we headed out to the bars. I guess you had to be there to fully appreciate the fun.
Back to Vail.
Eventually, Parker and I tire of watching the action and head up over the top of Golden Peak and back to Highline. We do a few runs down the groomed, very fast, and very steep, Blue Ox. We finally head up to the Two Elks lodge for a quick break and lunch. As an aside, Two Elks was burned down once before they completed it. The arsonists were part of a extreme environmental group loosely based in Eugene. The nerve.
Parker shreds down through the Dragon's Teeth.
We eventually, hit Roger's Run to download on the Golden Peak Express back to the top of Golden Peak (see the map since this probably doesn't make sense if you haven't been there.
We pull Dylan off the park and do a few more runs off the top and finish up with some rambles down the Mountaintop Express.
We end the day down Riva's Run to Tourist Trap. Parker plays the part of tourist.
An outstanding day. I love Vail and look forward to going back soon.
That's some darned good videography, sir!
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