Vail

Vail resort stretches for almost 5 miles along the I-70 highway and includes 4 departure points and hence parts to its Village; Golden Peak, Vista Bahn/Vail Village , Lionshead, and Cascade Village. The centre of the resort is constructed in a Tyrolean design. It is fabled that Pete Seibert, Vail's founder, modeled the village on St Anton in Austria back in the 1950's after a visit there.

NEW for 2017/18 teh Northwoods Express has been upgraded to a super quick six man chair and thus increased the uphill capacity here by 25%

Those hotels located next to the lifts and in the resort centre (essentially Vail Village and Lionshead) can be amazingly expensive but cheaper accommodation can be found a little further out in places such as East Vail, being around a 10 minute bus journey away. The buses are frequent though and very regular too. 

The ski area is huge with tree lined terrain on the front of the mountain and very open and wide bowls on the backside. If it's a big North American resort you are looking for then Vail will fit the bill – the resort has enough skiing for a season let alone a 10/14 day break. The variety is also huge too with one of the world's most efficient lift systems transporting skiers up the mountain. As skiers may expect from North American ski resorts, the piste maintenance in Vail is truly superb even when conditions deteriorate towards the climax of the season.

Although Vail is a large ski resort, novices should not rule it out at all. The nursery facilities at resort height and also up top on the mountain are of a very good standard and Snowfinders guests have all reported back positively on this. From here there are a good selection of green and blue runs to progress towards. a special mention should go to the beginner slopes around Eagle's Nest .

Intermediates are just spoilt for choice here in Vail. Some of the runs can be a little over graded so some of the single black diamond runs will be well within reach of aspiring intermediates. Runs can be long and well pitched ensuring that the average joe skier will have a decent amount of time skiing without the need to repeatedly catch lifts. For those intermediates that like a little off-piste then head over to Blue Sky Basin for a fantastic introduction into the world of un-pisted powder. Here, the blue runs off of Pete's chair are great for a warm up and you can then progress to the top of Belle's Camp for some steeper pitches. 

Advanced skiers will want to hit the back bowls as soon as they arrive in Vail. Here you will experience 7 bowls and a further 2 on Blue Sky Basin. Pitches vary from shallow to extreme with a number of double black diamond runs varying from powder to moguls. Sun Up and Sun down bowls have a high proportion of black diamond trails with a good descent. The front facing runs offer a more wooden terrain but equally there are some great on-piste excitements here too, especially in the Northeast bowl accessed by the chairlifts Highline or Sourdough. 

For jibbers there are three terrain parks with obstacles ranging in degrees of difficulty from beginner to expert, the latter of which will be very impressed with the extreme Golden peak Terrain Park. The other two, Pride Park and Bwana are suitable for all standard of riders.