Vail Facts

Vail

A sleepy mountain village Vail is not. In fact, it is the beating heart of a year-round calendar of high-altitude cultural events. Each spring, Vail hosts both the Taste of Vail food festival and the Vail Film Festival. Summertime sees the annual six-week Vail Jazz Festival, which culminates with the bang-up Labor Day Weekend Jazz Party. The Vail Oktoberfest is well attended by a well-lubricated bunch year after year. Come winter, the two-week ski-season kick-off party known as Snow Daze starts things really rolling. Once kicked off, the season gets into high gear with other events such as The Session, an action-packed snowboarding extravaganza. If you're tired of watching the action...

...is the big one. It's hard to imagine a more celebrated spot to schuss. Off the slopes, Vail is an incredibly compact replica of a Tyrolean village, full of restaurants, hotels, and shops frequented by almost as many Europeans as Americans. But the size of the mountain and the difficulty and excitement of many of its trails are still what draw the faithful.

Historically speaking, there is very little in the town's past to indicate that Vail would become the megadestination it is. Until U.S. 6 was built through Vail Pass in 1939, the only inhabitants were a handful of sheep ranchers. Dropping farther back into history, it's worth noting that the resort could never have been possible if it weren't...