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The Town of Vail is a Home Rule Municipality in Eagle
County, Colorado, United States. The population of the
town was 4,589 in 2005. The town was established and
built as the base village to Vail Ski Resort, with which
it was originally conceived. Vail Ski Resort's first
season was in December, 1962 and it is the second
largest ski mountain in North America (after Whistler
Blackcomb). Vail's average elevation is 8,150 feet (2484
m) above sea level. The town has a total area of 4.5
square miles (12 km2), with no lakes (there is, however,
at least one pond). Gore Creek flows from east to west
through the center of town. The town is surrounded by
the White River National Forest and the Vail Ski Resort
is leased from the United States Forest Service. Mount
of the Holy Cross is visible from Vail Mountain. Vail
Mountain rises from 8,120 feet (2,476 m) to 11,570 feet
(3,527 m), giving a vertical height of 3,450 feet (1,052
m). It has a 5,289 acres (21 km2) skiable area, 33 ski
lifts, 193 marked skiing trails on three faces: the
front side, the back bowls, and Blue Sky Basin. The
seven back bowls are Sun Down Bowl, Sun Up Bowl, Teacup
Bowl, China Bowl, Siberia Bowl, Inner Mongolia Bowl, and
Outer Mongolia Bowl. Blue Sky Basin includes Pete's Bowl
and Earl's Bowl—to commemorate Pete Seibert and Earl
Eaton.
Vail was incorporated in 1966, four years after the
opening of Vail Ski Resort. The ski area was founded by
Pete Seibert and local rancher Earl Eaton in 1962, at
the base of Vail Pass. The pass was named after Charles
Vail, the highway engineer who routed U.S. Highway 6
through the Vail Valley in 1940, and eventually became
Interstate 70. Seibert, a New England native, served in
the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division during World War
II, which trained at Camp Hale, 14 miles south of Vail
between Red Cliff and Leadville. He was wounded in Italy
at the Battle of Riva Ridge but went on to become a
professional skier after he recovered.
Seibert, with other former members of the 10th Mountain
Division, returned to Colorado after WWII with the
intention of opening a ski resort. During training for
ski troopers at Camp Hale, he bivouacked on Vail
Mountain and identified it as an ideal ski mountain. In
the early 1960s, Seibert raised funds from a group of
Denver investors, including Jack Tweedy, and with Earl
Eaton bought a ranch at the base of the mountain and
eventually incorporated as Vail Associates. In 1962 the
resort opened for its first season. It operated a
gondola and two ski-lifts on the mountain owned by the
United States Forest Service. The village was
established at the base of the mountain for local
residents and offered logding for visitors. It quickly
grew throughout the valley with housing added first in
East Vail and then West Vail, and additional lodging
added in Lionshead in the late 1960s. Within the first
years the village had a ski shop operated by John
Houserman, a hotel and restaurant operated by Pepi
Gramshammer, and the mountain had a manager. |
