Vail Opening Day: The Waiting Game

John Elliot

We're a mere month away from the opening of Vail Mountain. It's weird to say, I know, and we've got the turning of the leaves and Halloween to contend with before we get there, but still that hallowed day looms. I'm not sure what made me come to this realization. I don't think it was the date. I think it's the frost I noticed this morning on tips of grass blades. And the fact that I had to give my car the classic 10-minute winter warm-up. Whatever the cause, the idea has firmly lodged itself in my skull and I find myself excited, but impatient.

It's a lot of fun looking forward to the new season. First, and I'm a little behind in this department, you get to rationalize spending a pretty big chunk of change on shiny new gear. Co-editor Miz Farnell has already dropped $700 on what she freely admits are not necessities, but we disagree. You got to look stylin' on those slopes! Locals have it a bit easier financially as every sports store between Silverthorne and Eagle is peddling some killer winter gear deals right now. No rush. We've still got a month until the legendary Ski and Snowboard Club Vail's Annual Ski & Snowboard Swap, where awesome deals are born. Top of my list? A helmet with that essential iPod plug-in and some new goggles. This cocky cowboy went helmet-less last year, and while I plan to make my ski experience more interesting this season (read: a lil' bit of cornice hucking) I don't plan on cracking my cabasa. As for goggles? Somehow I managed to scratch the heck out of them like some amateur DJ.

Secondly, and there's no real arguing here, the Valley is a bit more hoppin' once the mountain opens. While things may be approaching a slow crawl right now, in a scant few months, the Village will transform into a thriving mini-metropolis with epic powder days and endless après nights. The best concerts, competitions and local events of the year occupy the time between November and April. Already, Vail has managed to secure Ludacris and The Roots to headline Vail Snow Daze for a one-of-a-kind, raucous concert experience the likes of which the Valley has not seen in many months. While the rest of the Northern Hemisphere goes into hibernation mode, Vail is as vivacious and vivid as you'll ever see it.

But what I'm most excited for, beyond the gear and the concerts and the parties, is the first day. At 9 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 16, I'll be there. Will you? Snow Gods willing, we’ll receive a heavy dump of powder in October and November and a few of the back bowls will be open. Once in the promised land, it'll be run after run of Avanti, Ouzo, Simba, Born Free and Riva Ridge until I'm sweaty and spent lying in the snow beside Vista Bahn. At that point an even sweeter realization will dawn: that I've got another 180 days of this.