Vail has enriched Eagle County's cultural and economic character since the ski mountain opened in 1962. The alpine-style village sits in a fruitful valley formerly home only to sheep and the ambitious ranchers who dared to settle Colorado's wilderness.

Map of Vail Mountain Trails: Front Side, Back Bowls, Blue Sky Basin

The town was established in 1959, incorporated in 1966 and was named after Charlie Vail, a highway engineer, who in the 1930's directed construction of the first highway over the 10,662-foot mountain pass east of town.

Although the skiing is unsurpassed, Vail is also noted for its charm, European-style architecture and pedestrian village. Most lodges, condominiums and many of the 400 shops and restaurants are clustered around the village center adjoining the ski mountain. Three other base areas are connected by a free bus system.

The Town of Vail encompasses 13 square-miles in the scenic Gore Valley, which is about 10 miles long, one mile wide, and is surrounded by 350,000 acres of national forest lands.

In addition to its pristine natural resources, Vail's amenities include 17 parks, a public library, a hospital, schools, numerous biking and hiking trails, an indoor ice arena, alpine gardens, a ski museum, an 18-hole championship public golf course and an outdoor amphitheater named for the valley's most famous resident, President Gerald R. Ford.

Vail hosts World Cup ski racing every year and has been discovered as ideal locale for the World Mountain Bike Championships. In 1989, Vail welcomed the World Alpine Ski Championships to town, an honor officials repeated again in 1999.