Things to Do in Vail in Winter: A Private Chef's Local Guide

Vail is our busiest Colorado market from Thanksgiving to closing day, and the question guests ask most often, right after the menu, is what to do with the hours they are not on the mountain. This is the answer we give at the table, from a team that spends real winters in the valley. Summer gets its own short list at the end.

When to come, and what the calendar looks like

Lifts usually spin from mid-November into late April, and the Back Bowls open once the base fills in, often by mid-December. Christmas week and Presidents' Day weekend are the two peaks, with the biggest crowds and the fullest restaurants. Early December and late January into February are the deep-snow, short-line weeks locals like best. Two events anchor December: Vail Snow Days brings free concerts and a lit-up village in the first half of the month, and the Birds of Prey World Cup races run at Beaver Creek, twenty minutes down valley, in early December. The tree lighting in Vail Village and the Lionshead ice show fill the holiday weeks.

One mountain, three personalities

Vail is the biggest single mountain in Colorado, and it skis like three. The front side, above Vail Village and Lionshead, is long groomed cruising and the beginner areas at Golden Peak and Eagle's Nest, the right first day for families and mixed groups. The Back Bowls, seven of them, are the open, treeless terrain that made the mountain famous, and they are best the morning after a storm. Blue Sky Basin, beyond the bowls, is gladed and quiet and feels like a separate resort. Gondola One loads from the Village and the Eagle Bahn gondola from Lionshead, so a house near either base is a ski-in house in practice.

Town sits at 8,150 feet and the top of the mountain near 11,570. Take the first day slowly, drink more water than feels necessary, and save the bowls for day two or three.

Beyond the lifts

Adventure Ridge. At the top of the Eagle Bahn gondola, the mountain runs lift-served tubing, ski biking and a kids' snow zone into the evening. It is the afternoon for the family member who is done skiing but not done with the mountain.

Nordic and snowshoe. The Vail Nordic Center grooms classic and skate track on the golf course east of town, with rentals and lessons on site, and the trails along Gore Creek take snowshoes right from the Village. Down valley, the Beaver Creek Nordic Center at McCoy Park runs the high-elevation version.

Sleigh rides and skating. Sleigh rides run from the ranches west of town in the evening, blankets included. The outdoor rink at Solaris in the Village and Dobson Arena in Lionshead have public skating sessions all winter, and the Vail Village rink is the one the kids will not leave.

The Village on a snowy night. Vail Village and Lionshead are pedestrian, heated-walkway towns built for exactly this: the galleries and shops on Bridge Street, the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens under snow, the Colorado Snowsports Museum, and the walk back along the creek with the mountain lit up behind you. The free in-town bus means nobody drives after dinner.

A winter day that works

Gondola up by nine, ski until the legs say stop, and ride back down to the Village for a late lunch. Spend the afternoon at Adventure Ridge with the kids or on the Nordic track without them. Be back at the house when the light goes pink on the Gore Range, because that is when dinner should already be underway.

Then let dinner come to you

Here is the local truth: Vail's restaurants are excellent, and on a ski week the waits are real and the tables are tight for groups. The best dinner in town on a winter night is the one at your own chalet. A private chef in Vail builds the menu around your group, cooks in your kitchen while everyone is still in ski socks, serves at your pace, and leaves the kitchen spotless. For the bigger house, Vail catering covers reunion dinners and wedding weekends at the same all-inclusive standard. Christmas week has its own guide: Christmas in Vail, and the best dates for it go by November 15.

The summer short list

The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in bloom, the Vail Dance Festival and Bravo! Vail concerts, the gondola up to Eagle's Nest for lift-served hiking and the Epic Discovery coaster, and the drive over Vail Pass to Shrine Ridge for the wildflowers in July.