Skiing Adventure: Vail, USA
Speaking of which, I’m actually quite looking forward to Vail—after all, this is the home base of Epic Pass, the global ski pass program. As the world’s largest ski resort group, Vail boasts over 40 ski resorts worldwide, and its flagship Vail Resort naturally stands at the very top of the lineup.
Although the hotel offers a shuttle bus, the schedule isn’t great and lacks flexibility, so we decided to drive instead. Vail’s public parking lots are clearly unavailable.Beaver CreekAlright, it takes 8 minutes to carry the board from the parking lot to the cable car station—definitely not a pleasant experience. Parking fees are charged hourly: free for up to one hour, and $30 for anything over three hours. I didn’t check the rates in between.
Walking ahead, I noticed someone beside me carrying a board—just like me.
Walking across a bridge, the scenery on one side.
Then walk through the town again.
Arriving at Cable Car Station No. 1, you’ll find a broken statue. After an 8-minute walk carrying your board, no one’s in a good mood anymore.
It’s also because, at the end of the snow season, Vail had only opened about one-third of its slopes—yet it still felt incredibly spacious.
Skiing on the slopes before 1 p.m., and off the slopes after 1 p.m.—that’s been my experience these past few days.
It’s still fully skiable across the mountain, but in some areas the snow has already melted, and the cable cars have stopped running.
This still looks pretty exciting—imagine how crowded it would be if the snow was good!
Seeing that the China Bowl was still open for skating, I decided to give it a try—only to find out it’s already closed.
Take the cable car.
This legendary backcountry big-bowl ski area.
Didn't you just slide through a moment ago? You just didn't go under the door.
Look back.
Continue on the cable car.
This is a large area of Daowai located right beneath Cable Car No. 5.
The grass is already poking through. The mountain across is also fully skiable, but the lift is no longer operating.
We went to another place, and there were plenty of mushrooms.
Also happened to run into PSIA taking the exam here.
Later, I checked and it turned out to be double black—so the difficulty standards in the U.S. still aren’t as high as in Canada, where it’d barely qualify as black terrain.
On the first day, I made 11 trips.
I bought a delicious watermelon at Safeway the day before, so I'm picking up another one today.
This time I checked the price—$6 watermelons? That’s pretty cheap!
One person wiped it all out.
Then I ended up going to the bathroom over ten times—sure enough, it triggered urination.
The next day, we went back to skate again—this time, with warmer temperatures—and noticed plenty of people showing up in short sleeves, shorts, and even some rather quirky outfits.
Ride the No. 5 cable car again from the previous day.
And the double black mushrooms.
It’s getting a bit boring, but mostly it’s just too hot—so after about 8 rounds, I called it quits.
So, that’s how Vail’s two-day ski trip came to a simple yet satisfying end. As for the review? As the flagship resort of the Vail Group, Vail truly shines when it comes to snow-covered terrain, diverse landscapes, and seamless lift connections. Among the three U.S. ski destinations we had limited time to explore this trip, Vail undoubtedly stands out as the best. Still, one minor critique is in order: the parking areas are frustratingly far from the lifts, forcing skiers to slog through a long stretch of town shops—definitely not designed with skiers in mind. Maybe Vail could take a page from Beaver Creek’s playbook and make things more convenient for its guests?
Next stop, Canada.
