Vail’s Checkpoint Charlie gets a new Christmas tree
John LaConte/Vail Daily
Visitors to Vail Village in the coming years will have the opportunity to watch a new tree take root and grow in one of the most iconic spots in town — Checkpoint Charlie.
The large tree that formerly adorned the Checkpoint Charlie area was cut down last week, and a new, much smaller and younger tree has been put in its place this week.
The previous tree was decorated with lights and lit up each winter season in Vail, making it a popular landmark in town.
Gregg Barrie, the town’s landscape architect, said the tree had been there since 2010.
“The tree was showing pretty significant decline,” Barrie said.
Support Local Journalism
Barrie said the recently removed tree also replaced another tree from that same location which had died in 2010.
Barrie said it’s a tough location for trees due to the fact that it’s in a raised planter and surrounded by snowmelt for much of the season.
The new tree that has been installed in the planter is a spruce tree which is expected to live for 15-20 years in that location.
And it could live longer than that, Barrie said, due to new topsoil and soil amendments that were added to the planter.
