Vail on a POW Day!

We had an EPIC day at the largest and in my opinion, best resort in the US, Vail; all on a POW day!  If you don't know about about Vail, here are some quick facts:

• Vail Ski Resort is located in Eagle County, Colorado, next to the town of Vail.  Vail Mountain, at 5,289 acres (2,140 ha), is the largest single mountain ski resort in the United States.  Vail Mountain rises from 8,120 feet (2,476 m) to 11,570 feet (3,527 m), giving a vertical height of 3,450 feet (1,052 m). It has 33 ski lifts, 193 marked skiing trails on three faces: the front side, the back bowls, and Blue Sky Basin.  The seven back bowls are Sun Down Bowl, Sun Up Bowl, Teacup Bowl, China Bowl, Siberia Bowl, Inner Mongolia Bowl, and Outer Mongolia Bowl. Blue Sky Basin includes Pete's Bowl and Earl's Bowl

Pretty dope right??!!  Now you know why we love this place.  So, here are some pics I would like to share with you from one of the best days of the season, for me.  Enjoy.

We knew it was going to be good from the very start when we started to drive up from Denver.

 The snow kept falling, and the stoke level kept rising.  Shit was gonna be epic!

 If you have never driven to the Rockies from Denver than you have never driven through the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnel.  Let us drop some more knowledge on you regarding this tunnel:

• This is a dual-bore, four-lane vehicular tunnel approximately 50 mi (80 km) west of Denver, Colorado, United States. The tunnel carries Interstate 70 under the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. With a maximum elevation of 11,158 ft (3,401 m) above sea level, it is one of the highest vehicular tunnels in the world. The tunnel is the longest mountain tunnel and highest point on the Interstate Highway system. Completed in 1979, it was one of the last major pieces of the Interstate Highway system to be completed. The westbound bore is named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, the U.S. President for whom the Interstate system is also named. The eastbound bore is named for Edwin C. Johnson, a governor and U.S. Senator who lobbied for an Interstate Highway to be built across Colorado.

 With snow falling the entire way, we finally get to our Spot, VAIL!

Once you make your exit to Vail, you have to park in their parking structure.  It costs $25 for the day (sucks I know) but here's are lil secret to you.  Peep the next pic.

 Drive all the way though the structure and down to the bottom level to the Golden Peak Exit.  This will set you up to walk straight out of the structure, right through the Village to the Riva Bahn 6 lift.

So from the structure we pass Vail River

 And the Bavarian style Village..

Then we get to the mountain.  Only takes like 10 mins to walk.

 Now Vail is huge, as I noted earlier.  On a POW day, anywhere on the mountain is going to be epic but IMO, it is best to get your booty on over to Blue Sky Basin.  This is where the POW always seems to be world class.  I do want to point out with the below pic, it was pretty damn cold this day.  When the wind picked up on the lift, it was said to be -16 below, but in the trees riding POW, it was a hot mess! 

 So, as you can see, it was time to get loose in the trees!

A nice shot from within the trees.  So much POW and it kept dumping, all day!

 As always, a Trees Sesh goes down.  After all, refreshments are needed when you shred as hard as we do!

The trees from the lift didn't look like this earlier in the day!  It just kept coming!

 Here is the last run of the day and visibility was low.  Check Lucas in the red and Donald is fading off into the snow.  Sure was hard to leave when the POW conditions were this good.

Here's a shot of myself, looking back on where we started.  Sad that it has to come to an end.  All we can do is say some prayers to Ullr and hope for another POW day!

Of course, when it's snowing out, the drive back to Denver sucks!

So that was Vail on a POW day!  It was a dream come true and I definitely cannot wait for the next one!  If you are ever considering riding Vail on a POW day you should hit us up, seriously.  We would love to shred with you.  Tweet or Instagram us @shiftdunion and we will do the damn thing!