Letter: Vail’s bike park needs to do better
I was out at Vail’s bike “park” (if you can call it that) recently and couldn’t help but notice how run down the trails have become. Trails that were fun back in late June have become rutted, mangled messes that are no longer enjoyable, which is comical considering the overly extensive and outrageously costly grooming operations it undertakes in the winter.
You’d think that in light of Vail Resorts’ recent conquests of acquisitions and lift expansions (including this summer), it could spend a few measly dollars to at least keep its already “mediocre on a good day” trail system in working order, but this seems too daunting a task for the Vail mountain management.
You’d also think that Vail, which prides itself as one of the biggest, baddest resorts in the whole world (and is increasingly focused on its summer presence) would care that it is falling well behind its competitors with the bike haul, and it currently appears that it does not care one bit. For the small fortune of $384 for a season pass (cheaper if you have an Epic Pass), Vail is hardly cheap compared to other, much more well-funded bike parks across the state. Yet, none of this money seems to go toward improving the trail system or even taking care of the existing trails.
For $164.50 a season for winter pass holders, the Snowmass bike park is always raked, and the trail builders are continuously developing excellent trails. Crested Butte and Keystone (part of the Vail Resorts family, mind you) are much more developed, and Trestle Bike Park at Winter Park, while $429 for a season pass, is considered one of the best in the country, if not the world. There is nothing world-class about Winter Park, and it still does a better job than Vail does!
Would it be so much to ask that the trail system at Vail Mountain is at least taken care of every few weeks? Is it so much to ask that part of our money to ride the bike lift should go toward building a new black diamond jump trail that literally every other bike park in the country already has? Is it too much to ask that you build some decent beginner terrain to keep the out-of-towners off trails where they don’t belong? I can’t tell you how many 6-year-old children I found napping in the middle of PMT and Mane Lane, and it was about 100 too many. It’s downright embarrassing, and worse, hardly their fault for getting stuck with Vail’s perpetual mediocrity.
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We’re not even asking Vail to “exceed expectations,” or make it truly “epic,” or make it the “adventure of a lifetime!” All we want is for something “decent at best.” Don’t bore us with your tag lines and unfulfilled promises— do all of us that visit your “world-class” resort a small favor and do better.
Lastly, bring back Big Buck Hunter at the George!
Graham Gray Wren
Eagle
