Tips for Vail

H

henrytaylor91

New member
Hey,

So im from Perth, Western Australia and i just got a job with a hotel in Vail and I'm heading over from the end of November till march which i am so incredibly stoked about.

I've spent like 13 weeks in Whistler and so i know how handy it is to have insider info on resort towns so i was hoping you guys might be able to help me out.

a few things im keen to learn about Vail are....

1) what is a good local ski shop where i can buy stuff like armada skis, jibberish or level 1 clothing, tall tees and hoodies etc? For any of you that have been to whistler im kind of thinking along the lines of TMC freeriderz.

2)what are some good places you would reccomend to get good cheap food like burritos and what not.

3) which bars/clubs should i check out and which should I avoid.

4) where is a good place/area to build booters

5) are there any good pillow line areas you are willing to share ;) ?

6) good urban spots?

and i guess if you have any good tips you would reccomend for someone spending a season in Vail, please let me know, i would be hugely appreciative. thanks homies!!!!!!
 
1) Slopestyle in Breck is sick, but I don't really know of anything in vail

2) There is a sick mexican place in vail that I've eaten a few times at, where you can get a giant burrito for a really cheap price relative to summit county. I believe it's called La cantina, and it's located near the transportation center in vail.

Hope my limited knowledge helps you haha, and good luck in vail.
 
1) You'll have a tough, if not impossible, finding freestyle oriented clothes in Vail, like was said, Slopestyle is your best bet for that. As far as local shop, Christy's at the end of Bridge street is my favorite. All the guys working there are super cool, and if you need some work done on your equipment, beer trades are encouraged.

2)The mexican place under the bus station has some fantastic mexican food. On Monday's, the Tap Room has all you can wings, and the best burgers in all of Vail. Pazzo's Pizza is great, and very reasonably priced with a great local's vibe most nights. Mo's Barbecue in Lionshead is fantastic. And the Little Diner, right next to Mo's was my favorite breakfast place.

3)The 'locals' bar is The George, next to Gore Creek and the bus station. Garfinkels is the tourist bar, but still a lot of fun. You'll be there all season, so go check out Altitude and get a beer mug for the season. Samana for a club feeling, some nights is wild, some it's super empty. The Club has $1 beer night, I think it was monday nights. Whiskey Jacks is another club, fun when the get a good DJ. I have a good buddy there, goes by DJ P-Rock, make sure you hit up some of his shows. They're super popular, and get pretty wild.

4) Lots of sidecountry around Vail, but not a whole ton of booter building for some reason. Sidecountry/Slackcountry in the area can be a little sketchy, and is VERY avalanche prone. Make sure you're going out with people who know the area WELL, and are prepared for the backcountry.

5) Good luck with the pillow lines. There's some fun little hits and drops, but I never came across a true pillow lines like I'm sure you were used to in Whistler. On pow days, go hit the Hollywood drop under chair 4 to gets some hollers and props from the chair.

6) I'd forget about urban around Vail. Cops are super tight about that there, and they'll take ALL your equipment (boards, skis, cameras) if you get caught.
 
1. Armada stuff you can grab at Vail ski tech. But you're not going to find any tall tees, level 1, jibberish etc. in Vail. Best if you go the breck.

2. If you want burritos La Cantina. But just eat at Moes.

3. You'll work it out.

4. Big Foots Dick

5. Ski east vail

6. Don' bother

 
This is solid advice. Moe's is the shit for Bama style BBQ, added bonus Makers Mark on tap.

Add Vendetta's to your pizza list.

Avoid the Red Lion unless you love apre tourists...
 
1. Slopestyle in Breck. That's about it.

2. Growing up in San Diego, the mexican food at La Cantina is good, but not that great. Burritos are small vs their price. There's a carneceria in Avon where you can pick up super good carne asada, etc for pretty cheap if you can grill out. Not sure what your transportation setup is like... Vendetta's in the village has big slices of pizza for super reasonable prices. Open late for those drunk munchies. On Mondays, Magusto's in Minturn has $10 large pizzas - free delivery to West Vail.

Moe's for sure. Place goes wild during Alabama college football games.

3. Most bars are already covered above. However, The Club is no more - it's called Shakedown and has a pretty good house band. They play Grateful Dead, Gov't Mule, The Doors, Tom Petty, Van Morrison, Lynard Skynard, etc etc etc.

4. Some decent spots in East Vail for booterage and cliff huckery. Just hike out and scope the terrain.

5. Closet thing you'll get to true pillow lines is again, East Vail. Obviously, make sure you know what you're doing. A couple lines at East Vail Chutes end in 50+ foot cliffs and these typically cannot be seen from the drop-in.

Also, there's some sick lines at Beaver Creek. The Darkside, Football Fields, Grandpa Glades. Mostly cliffs and tree lines, but there are some small pillows sections to be had. FYI - the Darkside is super prone to slides.

6. Most cops are pretty loose butthole in Vail. Almost got a ticket for jay walking last week.

 
Vail is sick and you will love living here! In the winter the burrito spot if the cantina in the village parking garage. but there are wayyy better places in avon. los tacos is my spot. The local ski shop is off of bridge street next to big bear. can't remember the name for some reason. but they have a good selection. Silverthorn though is worth the trip if you really plan on doing some shopping. Back bowl are where the powder is at and you can build basically anything you can imagine back there if you find the right spot and put in the time if your a strong rider i would loo into backcountry courses which open up east vail chutes to you which are sick. keystone and breck are where you want to go for park hands down. although that may change since we have the us open at vail this year it should step up the park game. urban is everywhere but definatly have to watch out for the 5-0 everywhere. best of luck to you man!
 
There is urban over by the golf course park area, but you will probably get kicked. Also in the frisco/dillon/silverthorne area.

And what everyone here said.

 
For any ski work go to gravity jones ski werks under the vail village parking garage I don't trust anyone else to do my mounts. The guy that runs it, Adam, is a wizard. (never go to christy sports)
 
Slopestyle in breck, do it.

Also, Vail pass is fucking sick and you can see pillow lines/perfect drops from the road

Vail cops suck
 
Haha, I was going to mention Red Lion, but forgot. Go there for the rich cougars on vacation. And go to Pepi's for the ultra-rich elderly women (get her to put your name in the will before she breaks a hip!).

I was never a huge fan of Vendettas, got in more arguments with bros there than any place else. But yes, love their pizza too. P-Rock plays there a lot too.

And just wondering why the one guy says avoid Christy's? Yes, it's a front range chain store, but all the people working there are long time locals that really know their stuff. It had the best 'local' shop vibe in Vail I felt.
 
and, we got our super 30 year shitty season out of the way LAST YEAR, so it will hopefully snow some.
 
I like seeing how many people are saying the George. Place is awesome. My brother was a bartender there for around 7 years, and a lot of my friends worked there.
 
the best shop to have work done in Vail is Troy's, just around the corner from the top of bridge street. Troy is always in there and always willing to help out people as needed.

The George has the best apres deals. also check out loaded joe's underneath the UA MTN store. they have an awesome shot club. Tap Room also has 6.95 burger night on tuesdays and affordable beers. garfs in lionshead has $3 wells on friday night.
 
The Cage in Copper has some Jibberish and more freeride stuff. It's a bit closer maybe 20 min instead of 40 or so to Breck. It's on the way and worth a shot. Plus, The Barn (also a woodwarrd at copper facility) is an awesome training center with am indoor ski jump to foam pit and trampolines.

I've seen some pretty burly booters while driving hwy 24 on the way to Leadville but they're aren't any "popular" spots. I've mostly been up on vail pass or slackcountry stuff for that. But again, CO snowpack is much different than PNW (or really anywhere) so be careful when you leave the resort.
 
Very true, also Vail has one of if not the best pipe I've ever skied, both the mini 14 ft and the 18. Both hittable in one run along with tons of jibs. Only other one comparable that I have skied to that one is maybe Brigton's which is perfect snow and shape IMO. Maybe also the pipe at Copper or Steamboat, but it's 22 and can get icy and steamboats gets icy too.
 
Got my final interview tomorrow. hope everything goes to plan. Any more info that people have would be greatly appreciated. What's the quality of buds in and around vail?
 
You took my job. I had a interview and am still waiting for a second, dammit Vail. On another note i've been down to your part of the world and Perth was one of may favorite spots in Australia. Welcome to the states
 
22 is the only way to go. once you figure it out theres no going back. but mini pipes are fun to mess around in.
 
lmao dude, Vail is not the place for tall tees ill tell you that right now. I live in beaver creek. 10 minutes away. I mean obviously, nobody cares if you wear them, but you can find or buy that stuff anywhere in eagle county. Your gunna have to ride to Breck for that. And for skis, i suggest driving or getting a ride down to Powder 7 ski shop in golden, near denver. They have prices matching evo and backcountry, they have online shopping and can ship to you in 1-2 days for free.

Only cheap food IN Vail is McDonalds and this asian place thats pretty good. safeway and city market (grocery stores) should have cheap Burritos lol.

The clubs are alright, but i moved from miami soo i have high standards. Nothing too shady. like i said, not really a tall tee kinda crowd. and you may get some dickheads who are rich pricks. but overall you will have fun, especially if you have an aussie accent. your gunna pick up a lot of chicks. I dont know if you've ever even seen the BREED of chicks your about to meet this winter. Rich, Thoroughbread BABESSSS!. Str8 up...

Good Urban spots and places to build booters, i really dont know too much about that as i dont ski park but maybe a couple runs a week.

BUT AS FOR POWDER LINES...i dont mean to sound like a dick, but nobody is going to tell you jack squat until your here and on the mountain for a while. Secret lines with secret stashes are extremely important to people here. But dont worry your gunna be living here so youll be in there like swimwear in no time.

TIP: Drop the tall tees and baggy pants, solely for that you will pick up twice as many chicks as you would if you dont...No LIe

 
For local shop go to buzzs boards inbetween golden peak and vail village

pillow lines are almost inexistant

and for secret stashes get to the chair before it opens and eventually people will let you in on some
 
OH crap! I'm sorry dude, I basically only got the job because my friend worked for them last year and hooked me up, I tried to apply for jobs at whistler before that but didnt get anything so i know how it feels to miss out, hope you find something though!

I am so glad to hear you liked Perth! we don't have mountains or big tourist attractions or a huge party scene or anything really really cool like that, but the majority of people are really nice we get some pretty good weather and the surf nearby is insane, plus it's a really significant area for biology in that we have a lot of very rare plant species that have adapted over thousands of years to growing in some of the worlds shittest soils ( i study environmental science and find it pretty interesting ahaha)

I am really looking forward to spending some time in the States, i have always wanted to, i really want to try/ see things you would only see in the US ahaha
 
dude, I dont particularly care, I mean, I dont generally wear like 7XL tall tees that stop below my knees anyway, i just prefer hoodies that are a bit longer so they dont pull up over your waist every time you turn let alone try some kind of trick, i just think wearing tight clothing skiing looks whack. And besides, im probably not going to be trying to pick up girls in the park anyway ahaha. Thanks for the tip with powder 7, i might have to check that out, sounds good.
 
Yeah it's super nice down there man but expensive as hell I was always poor traveling down under hahah. Australia was great I hope you have a awesome time in Colorado. You came at the right time I'm sure you've heard but right now its the most liberal Marijuana area in the world if your into that.
 
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yeah man, dont even get me started on the price of shit here:

standard coffee: $4

Pint of beer in a bar: $7.50-$9

carton of 24 corona (not even real corona, an even shittier version legally brewed in oz) fucking $50

3 bedroom house in a nice area $1million+

renting the same house: at least $500 a week

25 cigarettes: $20

and our dollar is 1:1 with the american dollar.

However, i work in an outdoor store selling stuff as a casual and get payed $21.14 an hour (24 on saturdays and 36 on sundays :D) so that does kind of balance it up for us, but yeah, if you're travelling from somewhere else you are completely fucked.

And yeah, I'm not a huge stoner but i do smoke occasionally and am a big supporter of legalising weed, so im pretty stoked on what colorado just did hahaha
 
In addition to everything above, Gravity Jones in the Village parking garage is a good shop to get work done on your skis. The owner adam is a really good guy and gives good deals to loyal customers
 
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