Vail Resorts Does it Again

Vail Resorts has just recently announced the addition of Northstar-at-Tahoe to its portfolio of ski areas.  This marks a further foray into the Lake Tahoe ski biz for the company as it already owns and operates Heavenly, which straddles the California-Nevada Border.

For the avid skier, what really matters here is that Northstar now joins the list of ski areas accessible via the Epic Pass, the three year-old brain child of Vail Resorts which has democratized ski area access in the Central Colorado Rockies.  In addition to Northstar, an Epic Pass holder has unlimited access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, Heavenly and, in a sidebar to the Northstar deal, Sierra-at-Tahoe.

The Epic Pass is on sale through tomorrow, November 7, 2010, at the low price of $629 and represents the single most amazing value, in my humble opinion, for the North American resort skier.  And now, for anyone addicted to social media, Vail has added a component to the Epic Pass that allows you to track and post your play on the mountain and to connect with friends on the hill at the same time to meet for lunch or to share a great run. Check out Epic Mix for more info.

Locals here in the Vail Valley have mixed emotions about Vail Resorts.  Some recognize the circumstances that have forced the ski industry in the US to go corporate and consolidate over the last 15 years, while others lament the loss of the feel that Vail and Beaver Creek had in the 80's and early 90's where it seemed the old Vail Associates was at least as concerned with having fun as it was with trying to make running ski areas turn a profit.

Regardless of your opinion on this divide, in my 12 years of living here the one thing I believe cannot be disputed is that the company ploughs a great deal of money every year into upgrading the on mountain experience, and into opportunities such as Heavenly and now Northstar to expand recreational opportunities for its client base.

At Vail Mountain this season, a new high speed quad will open that replaces the legendary triple Chair 5 coming out of Sun Down Bowl.  This link, http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid38497924001?bctid=620249486001, provides some outstanding footage of the work to install the new chair.

So get those skis and boards tuned up, grab an Epic Pass (quick!), and get busy planning this winter's trip.  April will be here before you know it and you don't want to look back and think of what you should have or could have been doing to play on the snow!