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| Wednesday, November 01, 2006 |
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Altitude Adjustment: Vail Reigns Supremacy
By Image Mag Staff @ 12:00 AM :: 394 Views ::
1 Comments ::  :: Events, Image Mag Editorial
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wordplay by Brian Kenney
images by Ed Herbold & Nevada Lee/VailPM.com
The Season is here again, ladies and gentleman. The reason why we call Colorado home. The reason we’ve moved here, stayed here so long, or hung around after university life was over. It is the reason we’ve turned down jobs on Wall Street. Or compromised film gigs in L.A.
Winter in the mountains.
One word is synonymous with winter. Actually a name and a title, but more like a way of life for some. Synonymous with skiing and snowboarding, not only locally and nationally, but globally: Vail, Colorado. Paradise at 8,200 feet.
Image photographer, VailPM.com Marketing Director and all around boarding insider Nevada Lee reminds us just how much clout Vail carries. "It's been voted #1 in the States…again!" True, Vail has been voted by insiders and readers of Ski Magazine as North America's #1 ski resort for 14 out of the past 19 years.
As summer exits and fall begins to shorten our days, much can be said for the race to open first, which as of the early October, when some are buried in the pennant race or in Broncos early season hopes, the skiing/snowboarding community are licking their powdered chops. On October 13th Arapahoe Basin bested Loveland's record of the past six years and opened its slopes to the hardcore, who spent the night in line with propane tank space heaters and a dozen or so cans of Go Fast!
That level of prestige of "opening first" may carry credibility with some riders, and certainly has its benefits for the mountains. "It's a ton of free press," Lee says. It's more about bragging rights and a bit of exposure. (For A-Basin, it’s like the kid who finally gets invited to the "grown up" table at Thanksgiving, after spending so many years at the card table with the kids…) Welcome to the Mountains, A-Basin!
Vail locals are not concerned with the overzealous mole-hilled mountains compromising their integrity. These other hills couldn’t keep an ice cube cold in a snowstorm compared to the reigning epic snowscape supremacy of Vail. "Besides," Lee adds, "We’ve got 20 inches on Vail Mountain!" And it's early October.
All of this folks, right in our backyard! You know how close because you've been there, done that, and are already marking your sick days to get back. And for those of you who are about to rock, let us introduce you to this season's slamming line-up at Vail.
Book-ended by the early season kickoff of Vail Snow Daze, and the season-ending Malay Day, Vail is locked, stocked, and barreled with events: from the New Year’s torchlight ski down Golden Peak, to the Honda Sessions, to the Mountain Dew Vertical Challenge to Mardi Gras, Vail-style. The 2006/2007 season is stacked.
With this in mind it’s best to book early. Image Mag suggests looking into last minute deals at VailOnSale.com, sponsored by the fine folks at Vail Valley Chamber and Tourism Bureau. Also, Vail locals nab Mark Cervantes' Holiday Inn, Vail as the digs to stay within town.
Kicking off the season is the Vail Snow Daze festival December 4 - 17, 2006. Highlights of the two-week event include the Beasties Boys' Mix Master Mike at a free street fair throw down and later in the week,; headliner Counting Crows. Throughout the fortnight, on-snow events, village parties, and the usual eclectic activities that make a season in the thin air of 8,200 feet a lifetime of fireplace stories.
With more national acts to get booked at the season kicks in (Reverend Horton Heat, the savior himself will play for the masses early in the New Year), Vail is back-loaded with lots to offer in the New Year. "Spring Back to Vail" SpringBackToVail.com offers what Skiing Magazine named the “#1 Spring Party in North America.” Past performers include Snoop Dogg, and G. Love & Special Sauce and along with the World Pond Skimming Championships, a Spring Back staple, major industry talent is being scheduled as we speak.
Perhaps the most endearing testimony to the cohesion and camaraderie in Vail is the event that in the past few years has bought the season to a close: Malay Day. Among Vail locals, both old school and new, Josh Malay was considered an inspirational mahatma. "He had pretty much the whole package," recalls fellow pro rider Mark Jero who worked with Malay for a time at the The Other Side Snowboard Shop. "He was setting the standard and then he was one of the coolest people to be around. He had an unbelievable amount of talent."
An expressive spirit in and around the powdered Vail peaks, Pro Snowboarder Malay lost his life in February 2004 after suffering a head injury while riding in the Spanish Pyrenees. Years later, friends still recall the air of mystique surrounding the iconic Malay. "There was a pretty good group of us that were always out there on East Vail, going out of bounds, and then Malay would just show up, come cruising through by himself. Most of the time he'd just show up out of nowhere."
So esteemed was he among the lifts, trails, and pipes of Vail, that the town consecrated both a space and a time to Malay. A date in 2007 has yet to be confirmed, but in early spring, mid April, for the past three years, Malay Day celebrated both the life of Josh Malay and season for which he lived. And the space? A. 20,000-square-foot "streetscape" skate park in Berry Creek complete with a simulated empty-pool "bowl" is dedicated with a small memorial in the park for Malay.
The usual highlight of Malay Day is the "Destroyer" contest to commemorate Malay's goal to destroy the mountain and everything on it. "I've seen a lot of pro snowboarders come and go," Jero recalls, "And a lot of people who thought they were pretty good and making money, [but] Josh would ride circles around most of these people."
So the season is here. Go hard or go home. But no matter what you do, get to Vail.
Vail Resort Information & Activities Center (800) 503.8748
Vail.com
ApexVail.com
RideVail.com
SpringBackToVail.com
VailOnSale.com
VailSnowDaze.com
VailPM.com
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| Comments |
 By
Recone Helmut @
Sunday, November 12, 2006 1:33 PM
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... In my case it's what brought me BACK after going home to New York. We're lucky enough to have a strong job market and a somewhat decent nightlife in order to sustain a lifestyle close to the mountains. Try pulling that off in The Greater Appalachians or even in Utah.
To be honest, I've never even been to Vail but my girlfriend has been wanting to go. She just forwarded me this article and I have to say, it sounds pretty friggin' good. My prejudice had me thinking that Vail was just a snobbier version of Winter Park or Copper. Bunch of blue bloods spending more time in the lodge and shops than on the snow…. But even if that’s true, the mountain sounds too good to pass up. We’re checking out VailOnSale.com right now.
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