It took much longer than usual due to Colorado’s unusually dry winter and record low snowpack, but limited areas of Vail’s Back Bowls finally opened Thursday morning for skiing and riding.
The Back Bowls, popularly described as “legendary” for generations, usually open in January. Knowing that Vail skiers were getting anxious, ski patrol director Chris Reeder explained Vail’s predicament in a Facebook post on Jan. 22.
“We’re having a bit of a dry start,” Reeder said. “The front side of Vail Mountain is north-facing, so it stays cold. It holds snow. The Back Bowls are south-facing, where it gets direct sunlight, and these areas melt out faster in between storms. … The reality is that we need a pretty good (storm) cycle to come through here, and we want it to be good when we open it.”
According to a Vail news release, the limited terrain currently available includes Milt’s and Over Yonder in Sun Up Bowl; East and West Poppy Fields, Gillet’s Dream and Shangri-La in China Bowl; Morning Thunder, Big Rock Park, Cloud Nine, The Star, Grand Review and Hornsilver in Blue Sky Basin.
That amounts to less than half of the trails in those areas, but increases Vail’s open terrain by 1,150 acres to more than 2,800. When fully open, Vail has 5,300 acres of skiable terrain.
