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Vail Resort Guide
By Robert Bates | |
| | 27th November 2001 - Introduction
Maybe it's childhood memories, maybe it's the way it romanticises almost
any setting with even the slightest of dustings, and maybe it's the skiing.
But the past few weeks have been particularly traumatic for me. And I'm
sure you all know what I'm talking about. What is it that suddenly turns
people into severe obsessive compulsives? Why do we spend hours checking
snow reports twice daily, hoping the weather reports will suddenly change
in the next two or three hours, and the web-cams will show three feet of
fresh powder when yesterday there wasn't any?
And so to Vail. Having spent the latter half of November fretting about
the high temperatures and lack of snow, over four feet suddenly fell at
once. The back bowls, which only a week ago seemed like they'd be closed
for my visit are now looking like they'll be open, and if it continues
to dump Blue Sky might even be possible. One thing's for sure - in one
week I've gone from religiously checking for snow and beginning to wonder
if it'll ever come, to being like a spellbound child again, gleefully looking
at what awaits me. Skiing keeps you young in so many different ways.
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20th December 2001 | |
It's almost like there's a calling for every skier to visit Vail, the
name instantly conjuring up images of faux-tyrolian glamour displaced 6000
miles away in the heart of the American Rockies. Ranking high on the must
do list of American resorts - Jackson for the steeps, Whistler for the
high alpine, Alta for the powder, Aspen, well it's Aspen, and Vail, well
again, it's just Vail. And how.
It's easy to be seduced by a ski resort - everything takes on the romantic,
memory forming quality only offered by a thick coating of snow, the tracks
cut through the hillsides offering endless possibilities, and the freedom
that seems to come so easily once you've strapped £500 of once cutting
edge technology to your feet. The fresh air, the childhood adrenaline rush
of the sight of snow, fir trees all around, and the resort decked out in
enough lights to pull Marconi out of debt. Vail sets out to offer you all
this and more. But can it succeed, and just what does the name embrace?
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The Author wishes to thank Leigh Peizzicara and John Grudnowski of Vail
Resorts for all their help, Roger Ainger and Graham Splatley of Vail Resorts
UK Office, and the Antlers at Vail.
Robert Bates and Nicola McKie stayed at the New Antlers at Vail, and
Nicola learnt to ski at the Lionshead Ski school.
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