Vail Mountain to open both gondolas Friday for earliest opening since 1998
John LaConte/Vail Daily
Vail Mountain will open both gondolas on Friday, with beginners encouraged to visit Lionshead while intermediate skiers and riders access the mountain via Vail Village.
Intermediate skiers will have access to Swingsville and Ramshorn atop Gondola One, and beginners will be able to take laps on the Little Eagle Chair (No. 15), John Plack with Vail Mountain confirmed on Tuesday.
Plack assured attendees to the Vail Chamber and Business Association’s annual Winter Update Meeting Tuesday that he can guarantee Swingsville, Ramshorn and Chair 15 will be open, but the rest could be a moving target.
“We will continue to make snow and connect village to village, top to bottom as quickly as possible, once we get out of this warm spell,” he said.
Plack said Vail Mountain will open ski and snowboard shops in the villages and restaurants on the mountain in the areas near the open runs starting Friday. The rest of the restaurants will likely open as the terrain near them starts to open, Plack said.
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Earlier and earlier
The Ramshorn and Swingsville layout has been in use now for several years following the completion of Vail Mountain’s massive snowmaking overhaul during the fall of 2019.
The new layout takes advantage of the colder temperatures at the higher elevation areas atop Gondola One, with the top of the gondola serving as the base village area. Guests then download upon completion of the ski day, 2,000 vertical feet back to Vail Village.
Swingsville and Ramshorn are now lined with large, permanent snow cannons, which connect directly to a water line buried beneath the run. While it was an expansion of the amount of snowmaking taking place on the mountain, new efficiencies helped to offset the system’s expanded carbon footprint, including weather sensors and automation which help ensure unnecessary energy is not being used.
Vail Mountain has opened earlier in the years that followed the snowmaking system upgrade. From 2013 to 2017, the mountain’s earliest opening was Nov. 20. In 2016, the mountain’s Nov. 25 opening was the latest since 1986, when the mountain opened on Nov. 26.
Vail’s Nov. 12, 2021, Opening Day was the earliest since 1998, when the mountain opened Nov. 9. That achievement was repeated again last year, with the mountain’s Nov. 11 opening, and will be claimed again this year with the Nov. 10 opening.
‘We’re seeing the benefits’
Plack said the snowmaking system has helped Vail Mountain to meet early season demand, which he said Vail Resorts starts to see “the second there is a little bit of cold-ish in the air,” he said.
Plack said early season access is especially important for “never-ever skiers,” he said, “which is awesome because then they come all season long.”
Former Vail Mayor Dave Chapin, a longtime Vendetta’s Bar worker and minority partner, saluted Plack for the early season access on Tuesday.
“We’re seeing the benefits, now, of the snowmaking at MidVail,” Chapin said. “Hopefully that’s an economic boost for everybody in this room.”
