First time at Vail recommendations?

[Luke Campbell]

Headed to Vail February 25-29 for the first time in 22 years any recommendations? Things to do, things to avoid areas of the mountain to steer clear of? Five guys going all high intermediate to advanced skiers that will pretty much ski anything (except for the pharmacist in our group, he’s our conscience&#128514. We are staying in Silverthorne so making the drive in each day.

[m2711c]

check your seat before sitting....

[Name Redacted]

Bringing your own pharmacist? You guys know how to party.

[TahoeJ]

check your seat before sitting....

Damnit! Beat me to the punch...

[SkiLyft]

Pack brats and beer and immediately head out to Blue Sky basin, there are grills back there open to the public. Minimal Jerrys. Best terrain IMHO.


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[EWG]

Bringing your own pharmacist? You guys know how to party.

He said the pharmacist is the conscience. That confuses me.

[The AD]

This is my typical game plan: park in the Lionshead garage. Take the gondola up. Drop into Game Creek. Drop into Sundown Bowl from the top of the Game Creek chair (be careful if it's a busy day, There's only one way out from the bottom of Sun Down). Drop into Sun Up Bowl, then China Bowl (Genghis Khan, etc.). Basically work this area while it's good or head back to Blue Sky Basin from China Bowl. I also like the Avanti lift (chair 2) on the front side for some nice high speed warmup laps or if visibility is poor. Also has enough pitch for some fun runs on a powder day. Steepest terrain on the front is way over to the extreme left (east) around the Highline and Northwoods lifts.

[Dee Hubbs]

^good plan.
If there is fresh or good snow work the bowls West to East as describe above. You can go out of the Village on Gondola 1 to Chair 3 to get the same first lap as above.

[Mr. Mike]

Download epic app. You can check lift line times on that. If it's a busy day, your best bet for getting up the mountain quickly is frequently Golden Peak. It's only a slightly longer walk over there than to Gondola One. Regarding the park at Lionshead recommendation above, I usually notice on the Epic app that Eagle Bahn gondola has the longest lift lines in the morning.

If you do take One up, and then Chair 4 has a really long line, note that there is a long flattish cat track that heads east below Chair 4 that will get you over to Northwoods or Highline lifts. It's not a fun route, but it can get you to the top of the mountain and into the back bowls bypassing what is frequently a bottleneck point.

@The AD: is that usually not an issue for you or do you take that chair up over there rather than Gondola?

[Blackbeard]

Seconded on chair 4, avoid at all costs. ADs plan is solid.

Happy Hour at almost all bars/restaurants from 3-5 in Vail Village.


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[The AD]

@The AD: is that usually not an issue for you or do you take that chair up over there rather than Gondola?

I'd say half the time I've taken the chair rather than the gondola, but I also never ski Vail on weekends.