Vail Colorado

A man called Vail: and a tough road to build.

How Vail Began

The Ute indians first used the fertile valley land as their summer hunting and fishing grounds. 1854 Lord Gore and Jim Bridger ventured into this beautiful mountain area and revealed its existence. Eagle County was carved out of Summit County in 1883. 1884 brought miners looking to get-rich-quick after news spread that there was gold. As it turns out the real gold was White. As one long time local put it "Back in 1962 there were several mountains and mountains of snow. We all thought it would be fun to have a ski lift here, so we built it" A group of buddies from the famous 10th Mountian Division ski troop returned from WW2 to their training grounds in Gore Valley. Pete Seibert joined in 1954 by Earl Eaton, a uranium prospector with a similar vision, teamed up and drew up a plan for a ski resort. Spring 1962 construction began on what we now know as Vail.

The name of the town and mountain was originally the name of the pass between the Gore Valley and Summit county. Charles Vail was the chief engineer for the State of Colorado in the 1930's. Vail Pass had been named in honor of the work he had done, developing the hundreds of miles of roads that connected Colorado's mountain communities. When Vail's founders were deciding what to name the resort, some suggested 'Shining Mountain', which had been the name the Ute Indians had used for the area over the years. Pete Seibert, a native of New England and sensitive to the thought that 'shining mountain' suggested that the slopes were icy.....So it became Vail; Short, easy, euphonious and adopted from the name of the pass to the east. More interesting facts on Vail mountian and the naming of the runs can be found at www.vail.snow.com/info/mtn.overview.trailnames.asp

Vail Memorial Park

some say it gives Vail a soul. For others it is the natural progression in the development of a town. How ever you view it Vail Memorial Park is a special place. The Vail Memorial Park is an 11 acre site located southwest of the East Vail exit from I-70. You can get there by parking in the exit lot on Bighorn Rd., cross the street and walk 1/4 mile west along the hiking path to the Circle K. Ranch.This site was originally a part of the Katsos Ranch and was purchased as open space by the Town of Vail in 1977 after years of study by a citizen task force and approved by the Town Council for use as a memorial park.