I visited Vail, Colorado for the first time this December (2021) to celebrate my husband’s 40th birthday along with his family. I’ve always had a deep infatuation with the idea of Colorado and have often envisioned myself living there deep in the mountains, surrounded by wildlife and trees spending my days embarking on long hikes and then hiding away with my books in quaint coffee shops. Part of this obsession has to do with my veneration for nature and specifically, the mountains, but the other part is the culture of Colorado-I just feel like I would fit in there. It’s a running joke in my marriage that I always talk about how much I love Colorado without ever having been there so to say that I was excited to go is an understatement. However, as someone who is not a skier (I had gone a few times in middle school with close family friends who skied), I was apprehensive about the skiing part of the trip. My husband’s family are expert skiers so I resigned to sitting in the ski resort with a good book and sipping hot chocolate, but then I thought how about I give this skiing thing another shot? I started my search for a ski lesson in Vail.

I did some research to see where the best option would be for ski lessons and it was a little overwhelming or rather underwhelming as I didn’t find much information. I stumbled on this website for a Vail ski lesson: https://www.vail.com/plan-your-trip/ski-and-ride-lessons.aspx and booked a lesson for one day. You are then given the option of booking your ski lesson at Golden Peak or Lionshead. I could not find much information about either Vail ski school site and which was preferred, but did read online that Lionshead seems to be more popular so I went with that one and I’m glad I did.

We arrived in Vail the first week of December and to our dismay (well not really mine, but everyone else’s) there wasn’t much snow on the ground. Apparently the ski season has been getting later and later each year in Vail (thanks to #climatechange). The positive was that it wasn’t deathly cold like I imagined it being, but many of the ski runs were closed. There were 3 open-a green level, a blue level and the beginner area (yay!). The beginner area was on the other side of the resort so the first day, I went my own way to Lionshead for my Vail ski lesson, which is also where the beginner run was while my husband and his family took the shuttle to Vail Village where the more advanced runs were.

Lionshead was definitely more quiet with less people, but there were plenty of shops and restaurants. I visited one of the ski rental shops and got fitted for my skis and boots and set off for my lesson. I met my instructor and my group (there were 3 others with me) and we started our lesson! I felt pretty confident during my lesson and a lot of the principles from middle school came back to me quickly, but looking back I wish I had gotten a lesson the second day as well. The first day is spent teaching you the basic principles and getting lots of experience on the beginner slope and getting on and off the chairlift, which I always think is the hardest part of skiing. The second day, they challenge you by taking you to the more advanced runs. There is also a 3-day package that two of the people in my group had gotten and looking back, I think it’s definitely worth getting if you really want to commit to getting good. The second day, I went back to the beginner’s area and practiced my turns and then by the third day of skiing I took the shuttle to Vail Village and attempted the green slope. I managed to complete it without falling, but there were definitely a few scary points where the peaks were higher than I was prepared for. All in all, I’m glad I did a Vail ski lesson, but maybe I would have done one more.

I did take a day off from skiing (days off are necessary as skiing can be very taxing) and spent it exploring the hikes surrounding the Vail resort. There are several different hikes ranging from easy to difficult in intensity, but we were looking for an easy one given we were already sore from skiing and ended up doing part of the Gore Valley Trail.

With regard to covid preacautions, the ski resort does check vaccination cards when entering the dining area of the resort and requires masks in their indoor facilities however, there are tons of restaurants and shops in the Vail Village (where the main runs are located) and they did not check our vaccination cards. In general, I felt pretty safe there as outdoor seating was always an option although it was warmer than usual this time of year.

Of course I checked out some of the local coffee shops and these were a few of my favorites: Loaded Joe’s, Yeti’s Grind and Vail Mountain Coffee and Tea (I also visited the Starbucks at Lionshead because duh sometimes Starbucks is necessary).

In terms of Vail restaurants, there are some great restaurants in Vail Village where the main ski runs are located. We ate at Los Amigos, the Red Lion, Matsuhisa, and Big Bear Bistro. They were all great choices, but I have to plug the amazing chicken curry soup/breadbowl at Red Lion and croissant french toast at Big Bear Bistro, which was AHHMAZING. Those were probably my favorite dishes of the trip although I did have another amazing brunch meal in Denver on our way back to the airport and that was the nutella french toast at a place called Syrup.

With regard to best places to stay in Vail, we decided to stay at an airbnb in neighboring Avon, which is about a 10 minute drive to the ski resort. We chose an airbnb because we needed a large space for 10 family members and it housed 12. The airbnb was a gorgeous mountain house like the classic ones you see in the movies. If you are planning on skiing the entire time you’re there, the best place to stay in Vail would probably be at the ski resort itself since you will be onsite the whole time.

Overall, loved my first time in Vail and Colorado was everything I had imagined all these years. Hopefully there will be more trips there in the future! Vail Ski lesson, vail restaurants

*For specifics about my food experience, check out my yelp page (Jessica K.)