Under blue skies more than 300 days each year, Vail is the world’s premier mountain resort. The year-round alpine experience is exceptional, from the vast terrain and natural grandeur of the surrounding Gore and Sawatch Ranges to world-class events, shops and spas, and the abundant culinary options and luxurious accommodations that line the pedestrian-friendly streets of Vail and Lionshead Villages. Vail is where outdoor pursuits meet village sophistication. Offering more than 5,200 acres of developed ski and snowboard terrain including seven legendary Back Bowls in winter, and flourishing with new summer activities after the debut of Epic Discovery in 2016, the options for year-round adventure are endless. Coupled with the vision inherent in the spirit of Vail’s founders, and an unbreakable commitment to excellence in all aspects of guest service and operations, Vail is like nothing on earth.
Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum Re-Opens
The Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum, located in Vail Village, has reopened after a year-long, $2.6million renovation. The newly renovated museum features six exhibit bays, a theater, and three state-of-the-art interactive touch screen exhibits that allow visitors to dig deeper into Colorado snowsports history.
Vail Mountain Snowmaking Receives Upgrade
Vail Mountain installed 10 large-capacity, low-energy fan guns on Born Free Trail for the 2018-2019 winter season. The snowmaking system on Vail Mountain will also receive upgrades to pumps and pump controls for. Both upgrades will increase snowmaking productivity and set the mountain up for additional upgrades in the future.
Vail Junior Ski Patrol
Last season, Vail Mountain and the Vail Ski Patrol debuted a Vail Mountain Junior Ski Patrol Program for 24 select Eagle County students, grade 8 through 10. The inaugural program gave students an inside-look at Ski Patrol and paired participants in groups with a ski patroller to learn mountain safety, the duties and responsibilities of ski patrol, CPR and first aid, patrol tour of outposts, end-of-day sweeps, avalanche awareness, gates and closures awareness, toboggan training, and non-medical training.
Vail Mountain Goes Strawless
Last summer, Vail Resorts announced the Company will aggressively pursue a comprehensive sustainability commitment, called “Commitment to Zero”. This ambitious undertaking commits to zero net emissions by 2030, zero waste to landfill by 2030 and zero net operating impact to forests and habitat. Vail Mountain has eliminated the use of straws at all on-mountain dining facilities in an effort to aid the goal.
Epic Pass Celebrates 10 Years
Vail Resorts’ industry-leading season pass – Epic Pass – returns for its 10th season, providing skiers and snowboarders with not only the best value in the industry, but also unprecedented worldwide access. The Epic Pass offers unlimited, unrestricted access to 19 mountain resorts plus additional access to 46 more, including 20 new mountains for the 2018-19 season. Discover 65 of the world’s premier resorts throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria.
Emma: A Digital Mountain Assistant at Your Fingertips
This spring, Vail Resorts introduced Emma, the Epic Mountain Assistant, and the world’s first digital mountain assistant to help guide guests visiting participating Vail Resorts locations. Using artificial intelligence and natural language processing, Emma has the ability to answer a wide range of guests’ questions in real time about their vacation through SMS text. Emma demonstrates Vail Resorts’ commitment to providing its guests with the best possible experience as on-demand information, such as weather and grooming conditions. From the early planning stages to arrival and all the way through departure, Emma offers guests an unprecedented breadth of information tailored to each resort. Emma will debut for the 2018-19 winter season at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado; Park City in Utah; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in Tahoe; and Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada. As Emma evolves, she will be able to support summer at the resorts as well. More information can be found at www.EmmaIsEpic.com.
Colorado Mountain Express and Colorado Ski & Sports/Golf Rebrand to Adopt Epic Brand
This fall, both Colorado Mountain Express and Colorado Ski & Sports/Golf adopted Vail Resorts’ Epic brand and rebrand to Epic Mountain Express and Epic Mountain Gear. For Colorado Mountain Express, the majority of the fleet was branded with a new, modernized logo and a sleek design that reflects the new Epic Mountain Express brand. For Colorado Ski & Sports/Golf, five Front Range locations were brought under the Epic Mountain Gear umbrella in August. In addition to continuing to provide exceptional customer service and expertise, these locations will also now provide access to an Epic service desk, which will sell and reprint Epic Pass products as well as lift tickets, ski school lessons and Epic Discovery passes.
Easy Access from Eagle Airport (EGE)
Eagle County Regional Airport provides non-stop flights from 14 major markets in the winter, and three in the summer, which makes getting to Vail and Beaver Creek easy no matter when you visit. One-stop connections are available from over 250 cities worldwide, making EGE the number one choice for frequent visitors to Vail and Beaver Creek. This winter season, Eagle Airport will be serviced by Air Canada, American, Delta and United from markets including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/JFK, Newark, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington DC. Eagle County Regional Airport is located just 30 minutes from Vail and Beaver Creek. For more information and current flight schedules visit www.flyvail.com
Epic Discovery
Summer in the mountains has taken on a whole new feel with the launch of Epic Discovery in June 2016. Vail Resorts lead the ski industry by being the first to submit and develop a comprehensive new summer activities plan in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and Nature Conservancy. Vail Resorts’ Epic Discovery program encourages “learn through play,” promoting environmental education and forest stewardship through a variety of outdoor activities and interpretive programming. The Company also worked closely with the Nature Conservancy to bring scientific content to the eco-discovery experiences and will contribute one percent of all summer lift ticket and activity revenue toward forest restoration projects. Vail Mountain was one of the first destinations in the Vail Resorts family to launch Epic Discovery. Epic Discovery was designed to connect both kids and adults with our national forests in an active, fun and engaging way, offering guests a unique opportunity to try new outdoor activities, challenge themselves physically, discover an appreciation for nature and create lasting family memories.
Media Contacts:
Sally Gunter (970) 754-3001, sgunter@vailresorts.com
Maggie Meisinger (970) 754-4528, mmeisinger@vailresorts.com
Vail Resorts Communications news@vailresorts.com
Vail Resorts Newsroom www.news.vail.vailresorts.com
For more story ideas, facts and figures, and the latest news on Vail, visit https://news.vail.vailresorts.com.
Images and b-roll for editorial use only can be found at https://vailresorts.box.com/VailResortsMediaAssets.
Please credit the photographer listed and Vail Resorts in a visible location near the image.
Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum Re-Opens
The Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum, located in Vail Village, has reopened after a year-long, $2.6million renovation. The newly renovated museum features six exhibit bays, a theater, and three state-of-the-art interactive touch screen exhibits that allow visitors to dig deeper into Colorado snowsports history.
Vail Mountain Snowmaking Receives Upgrade
Vail Mountain installed 10 large-capacity, low-energy fan guns on Born Free Trail for the 2018-2019 winter season. The snowmaking system on Vail Mountain will also receive upgrades to pumps and pump controls for. Both upgrades will increase snowmaking productivity and set the mountain up for additional upgrades in the future.
Vail Junior Ski Patrol
Last season, Vail Mountain and the Vail Ski Patrol debuted a Vail Mountain Junior Ski Patrol Program for 24 select Eagle County students, grade 8 through 10. The inaugural program gave students an inside-look at Ski Patrol and paired participants in groups with a ski patroller to learn mountain safety, the duties and responsibilities of ski patrol, CPR and first aid, patrol tour of outposts, end-of-day sweeps, avalanche awareness, gates and closures awareness, toboggan training, and non-medical training.
Vail Mountain Goes Strawless
Last summer, Vail Resorts announced the Company will aggressively pursue a comprehensive sustainability commitment, called “Commitment to Zero”. This ambitious undertaking commits to zero net emissions by 2030, zero waste to landfill by 2030 and zero net operating impact to forests and habitat. Vail Mountain has eliminated the use of straws at all on-mountain dining facilities in an effort to aid the goal.
Epic Pass Celebrates 10 Years
Vail Resorts’ industry-leading season pass – Epic Pass – returns for its 10th season, providing skiers and snowboarders with not only the best value in the industry, but also unprecedented worldwide access. The Epic Pass offers unlimited, unrestricted access to 19 mountain resorts plus additional access to 46 more, including 20 new mountains for the 2018-19 season. Discover 65 of the world’s premier resorts throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria.
Emma: A Digital Mountain Assistant at Your Fingertips
This spring, Vail Resorts introduced Emma, the Epic Mountain Assistant, and the world’s first digital mountain assistant to help guide guests visiting participating Vail Resorts locations. Using artificial intelligence and natural language processing, Emma has the ability to answer a wide range of guests’ questions in real time about their vacation through SMS text. Emma demonstrates Vail Resorts’ commitment to providing its guests with the best possible experience as on-demand information, such as weather and grooming conditions. From the early planning stages to arrival and all the way through departure, Emma offers guests an unprecedented breadth of information tailored to each resort. Emma will debut for the 2018-19 winter season at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado; Park City in Utah; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in Tahoe; and Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada. As Emma evolves, she will be able to support summer at the resorts as well. More information can be found at www.EmmaIsEpic.com.
Colorado Mountain Express and Colorado Ski & Sports/Golf Rebrand to Adopt Epic Brand
This fall, both Colorado Mountain Express and Colorado Ski & Sports/Golf adopted Vail Resorts’ Epic brand and rebrand to Epic Mountain Express and Epic Mountain Gear. For Colorado Mountain Express, the majority of the fleet was branded with a new, modernized logo and a sleek design that reflects the new Epic Mountain Express brand. For Colorado Ski & Sports/Golf, five Front Range locations were brought under the Epic Mountain Gear umbrella in August. In addition to continuing to provide exceptional customer service and expertise, these locations will also now provide access to an Epic service desk, which will sell and reprint Epic Pass products as well as lift tickets, ski school lessons and Epic Discovery passes.
Easy Access from Eagle Airport (EGE)
Eagle County Regional Airport provides non-stop flights from 14 major markets in the winter, and three in the summer, which makes getting to Vail and Beaver Creek easy no matter when you visit. One-stop connections are available from over 250 cities worldwide, making EGE the number one choice for frequent visitors to Vail and Beaver Creek. This winter season, Eagle Airport will be serviced by Air Canada, American, Delta and United from markets including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/JFK, Newark, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington DC. Eagle County Regional Airport is located just 30 minutes from Vail and Beaver Creek. For more information and current flight schedules visit www.flyvail.com
Epic Discovery
Summer in the mountains has taken on a whole new feel with the launch of Epic Discovery in June 2016. Vail Resorts lead the ski industry by being the first to submit and develop a comprehensive new summer activities plan in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and Nature Conservancy. Vail Resorts’ Epic Discovery program encourages “learn through play,” promoting environmental education and forest stewardship through a variety of outdoor activities and interpretive programming. The Company also worked closely with the Nature Conservancy to bring scientific content to the eco-discovery experiences and will contribute one percent of all summer lift ticket and activity revenue toward forest restoration projects. Vail Mountain was one of the first destinations in the Vail Resorts family to launch Epic Discovery. Epic Discovery was designed to connect both kids and adults with our national forests in an active, fun and engaging way, offering guests a unique opportunity to try new outdoor activities, challenge themselves physically, discover an appreciation for nature and create lasting family memories.
Media Contacts:
Sally Gunter (970) 754-3001, sgunter@vailresorts.com
Maggie Meisinger (970) 754-4528, mmeisinger@vailresorts.com
Vail Resorts Communications news@vailresorts.com
Vail Resorts Newsroom www.news.vail.vailresorts.com
For more story ideas, facts and figures, and the latest news on Vail, visit https://news.vail.vailresorts.com.
Images and b-roll for editorial use only can be found at https://vailresorts.box.com/VailResortsMediaAssets.
Please credit the photographer listed and Vail Resorts in a visible location near the image.