Dozens of young athletes from Ski & Snowboard Club Vail honored her Saturday evening at Vail’s Ford Amphitheater, swarming the stage and carrying balloons — 82 of them white for her World Cup victories, eight red for her world championships medals, three gold for her Olympic medals. Vonn moved from the modest slalom hills of Minnesota to Vail when she was a girl, getting the big-mountain experience she needed to become America’s greatest female downhiller.

“I moved to Vail when I was 12 years old, along with my four siblings, and we enrolled at Ski Club Vail,” Vonn said. “It was honestly the best decision my family could have made. My journey of becoming a downhiller began (there). Without the help of Ski Club Vail, and all of those runs down Gold Peak, I don’t know if I would have won those World Cup races.”

After Vonn became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, taking home a bronze medal in super-G as well, Vail renamed its International run Lindsey’s. International was the venue for women’s World Cup races in Vail before it built new downhill race courses at Beaver Creek.

“Renaming International to Lindsey’s was honestly one of the most meaningful things that’s happened to me,” Vonn said. “I hope to ski down it with my kids someday.”

When Vonn retired in 2019, her 82 World Cup wins were the most by a woman and only four behind Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86. Mikaela Shiffrin, who grew up in Vail with Vonn as a role model, broke Stenmark’s record in 2023 and now stands at 97. Vonn saluted Shiffrin in her induction speech.

“Mikaela has won an insane number of World Cups, and she’s far from being done,” Vonn said. “It gives me great pride to know the next generation is reaching even higher than I was able to. I know she will inspire someone else, just like me. Congratulations to Mikaela on everything that you’ve done and will do in the future.”

Among the many locals she thanked was Dr. Tom Hackett, a prominent Vail orthopedic surgeon who helped her come back from numerous injuries.

“Even though I have my mother’s positivity, it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses,” Vonn said. “I’m grateful for everything that’s happened to me, all of the highs and all of the lows. (The lows) all taught me something very special — grit.”

Others inducted included John “Johno” McBride, a former U.S. men’s downhill coach from Aspen who was instrumental in the careers of Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves; Bjorn Erik Borgen, who helped Vail land world alpine championships in 1989, 1999 and 2015; Sigurd Rockne, a native of Norway who was a founder of the Breckenridge ski area; Ross Anderson, a Native American who grew up in Durango to become a speed skiing racer.

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Eldora’s owner, Powdr Corp. of Park City, Utah, announced last week that it had reached an agreement to sell Killington Resort in Vermont to an unspecified owner, and that it was putting Eldora up for sale along with Mount Bachelor in Oregon and SilverStar in British Columbia. Powdr’s announcement said the privately held company intended to retain Copper Mountain and Snowbird resort in Utah.

Tregaskis is seeking to reassure the Eldora community that there is “no cause for alarm,” that the ski area is profitable, and that it should be “a very attractive purchase” for potential buyers. Eldora will open a new lodge in the base area this winter that will house a children’s ski school, a home for Ignite Adaptive Sports, restrooms and food-and-beverage facilities.

Eldora has 680 acres of skiable terrain with four dozen trails, along with a Nordic center for cross-country skiing. It is the only Colorado ski area with regular RTD service from the Front Range.

“I want to assure you that Eldora will conduct business as usual this winter, with no changes to the upcoming season,” Tregaskis wrote. “Eldora will remain on the Ikon Pass and continue providing access through its own passes and day tickets.

“Eldora’s hardworking staff will continue to serve the community with the same dedication we always have, and Eldora will remain the same backyard winter playground for Nederland, greater Boulder, and Colorado’s northern Front Range,” he added.

Powdr acquired Copper Mountain in 2009 and Eldora in 2016. Little is known about Powdr’s finances because it is not publicly traded, but Patrick Scholes, a Wall Street analyst for Truist Securities who focuses on lodging and leisure companies, including ski resorts, said he hasn’t “heard anything that Powdr has had financial difficulties.

“Eldora is extremely unique, given its proximity to Denver. I have to imagine demand is strong, with University of Colorado students,” he continued.

Powdr said the reason for selling four of its nine ski areas is to “strategically manage Powdr’s portfolio in alignment with our founder’s and stakeholders’ goals,” adding that the company aims to “balance our ski business with new ventures in the national parks sector and Woodward.”

Woodward is an “adventure lifestyle” company with action-sports programming at Copper Mountain, Park City, Snowbird and six other resorts. Powdr already has concessionaire contracts with Death Valley and Zion national parks, and it plans to bid for more.

“The concessions we run at Death Valley are a motel called Stovepipe, a gas station, and convenience store,” said Stacey Hutchinson, communications vice president for Powdr. “Zion will be Zion Lodge. POWDR has grown a great hospitality business over the three decades since our inception, mostly on (forest service) land, so we’ll apply our expertise to national parks. And, it presents an opportunity for us to provide year-round employment to our seasonal workers — this would let us provide health insurance and other benefits.”

Eldora is not the only Colorado ski area for sale. In February, Denver-based Alterra Mountain Corp. announced an agreement to buy Arapahoe Basin. That transaction is still pending while the U.S. Justice Department considers whether the sale presents antitrust issues.

Powdr bought Eldora from a trio of investors — Bill Killebrew, whose family sold California’s Heavenly ski area to Japanese investors in 1990, Chuck Lewis, who founded Copper in 1972, and Graham Anderson, a former Sun Valley ski racer. The trio bought it in 1991 when it was on the brink of closure, investing heavily in snowmaking and other upgrades.

“I have been through three different sales in my long career in ski-resort management, the most recent being the purchase of Eldora by Powdr in 2016,” Tregaskis wrote. “In every case, the new owners brought positive change and financial investment.

“Eldora itself has had several different owners since it was founded in 1962, and every owner invested heavily in Eldora’s infrastructure and guest experience,” he added. “The bottom line? While a new owner has yet to be identified, I am very optimistic that the next stewards of this special place will inject excitement and a new wave of capital investment.”

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Tavernetta Vail will take over the space occupied by Flame Restaurant, a steakhouse that shut down earlier this summer to make room for the multimillion-dollar renovation.

While the menu details haven’t yet been hammered out, Tavernetta Vail will have breakfast service, a first for the concept. The dinner menu will travel around Italy with its pastas, gnocchis and Tavernetta classics, as well as some dishes with mountain touches inspired by the country’s alpine regions that will feel at home in Colorado’s high country.

Like the original, Tavernetta Vail also will have an entirely Italian wine list, with the exception of Champagne — because “Italians drink more Champagne than anybody,” said master sommelier Bobby Stuckey, the co-founder of Frasca Hospitality Group, which Tavernetta falls under. Italian-driven spirits and digestifs will join the menu, too.

Last August, Michelin inspectors praised Tavernetta, placing it on the first edition of its Bib Gourmand list that recognizes restaurants where diners can indulge in a high-quality meal that also is considered a good value. “The Italian menu nods to more well-known dishes from multiple regions, and the plates are refreshingly uncluttered,” the famously anonymous inspectors said.

Tavernetta’s sister restaurant, Frasca in Boulder, is among the five Colorado restaurants that received a Michelin star in the state’s debut Michelin guide last September.

The expansion of Tavernetta into Vail makes sense since many of the Denver restaurant’s winter guests are in town for a night, enjoying a cozy meal before heading up Interstate 70 for ski vacations, said Stuckey, a James Beard Award winner who launched his Colorado career at the Little Nell in Aspen.

Stuckey said that lately, when he travels to some of the world’s greatest wine regions — from Burgundy to Barolo — he’s taken notice of how on-the-radar Vail has become.

“Vail has really become such an international ski city,” he told The Denver Post. “I think it’s a great place for Tavernetta.”

Jerome Arribas, the general manager of Four Seasons Resort Vail, said that after a day of adventure in the resort town, nothing sounds better than a delicious Italian meal.

“This blending of our two worlds is certain to bring la dolce vita style to Four Seasons Vail,” he said.

Tavernetta Vail follows the lead of other Four Seasons across the country that have partnered with high-profile local chefs and restaurant groups. James Beard Award winner and Minneapolis native Chef Gavin Kaysen opened a Mediterranean concept called Mara Restaurant & Bar at Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis. A New Orleans resident of 20 years, Alon Shaya (who is the chef-partner at Safta in Denver), opened Miss River, a Cajun restaurant, inside Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans.

In Vail, Tavernetta could be poised to attract some Michelin recognition, since the ski town is in the inspectors’ territory. But Arribas says he’s focused on bringing back the locals, who had stopped coming as frequently to the 14-year-old Flame Restaurant.

“Seeing the local community come in will be the best recognition,” he said.

Studio Collective, an award-winning design group in Venice, Calif., is reimagining the space, blending Italian ambiance with mountain coziness in the dining room, bar and lounge areas with booth seating that’s ideal for après-ski dining.

Tavernetta Vail is among a series of enhancements, including renovated suites, announced by Four Seasons Vail Resort. The luxury resort redesigned its spa and has a forthcoming enhanced Ski Concierge.

The forthcoming Tavernetta Vail, which is set to open in winter 2024, will join a bevy of new restaurants in Vail. Avanti, which has food halls in Denver and Boulder, is opening with five yet-to-be-announced restaurants in 2025 at Vail’s Golden Peak base area.

Here’s a look at three more new-to-Vail spots to check out:

Makoto: Esteemed Chef Makoto Okuwa opened his first Rocky Mountain concept inside the Grand Hyatt Vail. Makoto boasts a deep Japanese whisky list, sushi and sashimi, plus charcoal-grilled wagyu. 1300 Westhaven Drive, Vail; makoto-restaurant.com

The Gambit Bar: Listen to live music and sip cocktails at The Gambit Bar inside The Sebastian Vail. The Shiffrin 75 (named after local Olympian skier Michaela Shiffrin) is a riff on the French 75 made with ginger-infused gin, lingonberry gastrique and a lemon sparkling wine. 16 Vail Road, Vail; thesebastianvail.com/dining/the-gambit-bar

Archetype Distillery: Try Archetype Distillery’s wine-grape distilled gins and vodkas at its Vail Village tasting room. Signature cocktails call in the distilled spirits, which run the gamut from the traditional (lemon, ginger, lavender) to the inventive (Worcestershire, beef jerky, black truffle). 183 Gore Creek Drive, Vail; archetypedistillery.com

“To strategically manage POWDR’s portfolio in alignment with our founder’s and stakeholders’ goals, we aim to balance our ski business with new ventures in the National Parks sector and Woodward,” the company wrote in a statement. “Over the coming weeks, we will list three of our ski resorts — Eldora, Mt. Bachelor, and SilverStar — for sale.”

Mt. Bachelor is located in Bend, Ore., while SilverStar is in British Columbia, Canada. POWDR is also selling Killington, the famed ski mountain in Vermont.

“Until the sales of these four resorts (including Killington) are finalized, we will remain dedicated to our current operations at those ski resorts, plus Copper and Snowbird which we are retaining, Woodward camps and mountain centers, and our two National Park concessions contracts,” POWDR continued. “In addition, we are dedicated to a seamless transition at all four resorts.”

Founded in 1962, Eldora is known as a locals mountain that attracts people in Boulder County and skiers who don’t want to fight the traffic on Interstate 70. Located about 20 miles from Boulder, the ski area totals 680 acres of skiable terrain and some apres-ski areas.

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You might have a good feel for which two teams have the most talent, but what if one loses its star quarterback to a season-ending injury in November? You also might know that La Niña winters often result in above-average snowfall for Colorado’s high country, but sometimes La Niña winters result in well-below-average snow. That’s why meteorologists hedge when predicting conditions before Labor Day. Nevertheless, they try.

“I think the sports analogy is great,” says Alan Smith, a full-time meteorologist for the OpenSnow forecasting and reporting service. “You’re predicting future events, and you’re taking information that you have, but there’s so much information you don’t have, like injuries. You never know if a player on a team is going to suddenly explode that season – or regress.”

Still, anyone with an Epic or Ikon pass can’t help but wonder what kind of winter we will have. Labor Day is less than two weeks away, and the first Colorado ski area openings are apt to come in mid-October, most likely on man-made snow. So Smith provided his tentative 2024-2025 United States Winter Forecast Preview on the OpenSnow website.

Usually forecasts this time of year focus on the fluctuation of El Niño and La Niña in the eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator. Last ski season played out during a weak El Niño. Currently we’re in a transitional “neutral” status, but not for long.

“La Niña is favored to emerge during September-November (66% chance) and persist through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2024-25 (74% chance during November-January),” according to the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service, which has issued a La Niña watch.

What does that mean for skiers and snowboarders in Colorado? Like betting on the Super Bowl this time of year, it’s all about the odds.

“El Niño and La Niña tend to get rated from weak to moderate to strong,” Smith said. “We never know for sure, but the trends seem to be pointing toward a weaker episode this year.”

Smith researched the six most recent weak La Niñas to see how Colorado resorts fared.

“Four of the six years were snowier than average, so that’s pretty decent odds,” Smith said. “However, one of those was well-below average. “That was in 2017-18, a very dry winter. If you expand it out to look at all La Niña years, Colorado does seem to have a boom-or-bust potential with La Niña.

“It tips the odds slightly in favor of being an above-average winter in the ski regions of Colorado,”  he continued. “But sometimes the winters that end up below average that are La Niñas can be well below average.”

The winter of 2021-22 was a moderate La Niña and snowfall was decent, featuring a slow start but strong spring snows. The winter of 2022-23 was a weak La Niña that capped off a rare three-year “triple dip” La Niña. That was a fantastic season for Colorado resorts.

“November was cold and snowy,” Smith said of the 2022-23 winter. “It really jump-started the season, and it was consistent all season long — one of the most consistent winters I remember seeing.”

Last winter, under a strong El Niño, was slightly above average for snowfall. Now we get to guess the odds for this winter.

“There’s just so many factors you don’t know,” Smith said. “If you’re just looking at history, the odds tell us it’s slightly better than a 50-50 chance of being an above-average winter. But there’s always going to be that chance it could be a well-below-average winter.”

Colorado’s first ski area opening dates over the past five seasons

2019: Arapahoe Basin, Oct. 11

2020: Wolf Creek, Oct. 28

2021: Wolf Creek, Oct. 16

2022: Arapahoe Basin, Oct. 23

2023: Arapahoe Basin, Oct. 29

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Breckenridge is scheduled to open Nov. 8 and Vail on Nov. 15. Beaver Creek and Crested Butte are slated to open on Nov. 27, the day before Thanksgiving.

Keystone will be the first to open. The announcement says it will open in mid-October “pending early season conditions,” which are mostly dependent on the progress of snowmaking. Usually that means sustained temperatures in the 20s, although snow can be made in the 30s when humidity is low.

The deadline to lock in Epic Passes prices before they increase comes on Sept. 2. Currently the Epic Pass is priced at $1,004 and the Epic Local Pass at $746. Epic Day passes make it possible to ski for $73-$95 per day, depending on the mountain and number of days selected. When passes went on sale at early-bird prices in March, the Epic Pass was priced at $982 and the Epic Local Pass was $731.

Vail Resorts also is launching a gear-rental membership program called My Epic Gear, which will allow guests to select gear they want to rent through an app and have it delivered to them if they are staying at lodging within a resort area. If not, they will be able to pick it up and drop it off with a slopeside valet service, eliminating the need to stand in line at ski shops. It debuted as a pilot program last year at Keystone, Breckenridge, Vail and Beaver Creek for a limited number of Epic Pass holders, but this year it will be available at those four resorts plus Crested Butte, Park City, Whistler Blackcomb, Heavenly, Northstar, Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow. Memberships will cost $50. The daily use fee will be $55 for adults and $45 for children.

Beaver Creek will expand its slate of World Cup ski racing at Beaver Creek in December to include women for the first time since the 2015 world championships. Vail native Mikaela Shiffrin and the other U.S. women downhill and super-G racers will be there Dec. 14-15. The men will race downhill, super-G and giant slalom as usual, Dec. 6-8.

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Although it’s been in the 80s, 90s and 100s on the Front Range, there’s plenty of snow at the top of Dercum Mountain, at an elevation of 11,640 feet, and resort officials say their summer sledding operation is the only one of its kind in the U.S.

It’s a pretty ingenious repurposing of resort assets. In the winter, Keystone builds a huge snow fort for kids at the top of the mountain. Now visitors are sledding on its remains.

“A large portion of the snow on our tubing hill is actually recycled from the remnants of our world’s largest mountaintop snow fort, which we tear down at the end of each ski season,” Keystone spokesman Max Winter said. “Our teams use snowcats to push and pack down the snow to help better insulate it against the summer heat, then groom each tubing lane every day to keep the sledding nice and smooth.”

Just being above 11,000 feet in the summer is a good way to cool off and take in great views. Add sledding to the experience makes it that much cooler.

And, despite summer heat waves, Winter says the resort should have enough snow to offer sledding for weeks.

“Our lanes are holding up well, and we are typically able to keep our operations going through August,” Winter said this week. “With variable weather, it’s a little too early to make exact predictions, but our stretch goal is to keep snow tubing through Labor Day.”

You don’t have to hike back up after your run because there is a “magic carpet” conveyor to get you back uphill.

Tickets covering the gondola ride up the mountain and one run on the sledding hill cost $34 for children (12 and under) and $54 for adults. Tickets good for three sledding runs cost $64 for children and $84 for adults. Hours of operation for sledding are 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., Thursday through Monday.

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This week, Monarch Mountain near Salida announced it received approval from the U.S. Forest Service to expand the ski area. According to the announcement, the expansion will extend into No Name Basin, adding 377 skiable acres. That equates to about 50% more terrain than is currently available to skiers at the 800-acre ski area.

Going forward, No Name Basin, which is currently used for Monarch’s backcountry-style cat skiing operations, will offer cleared trails and gladed terrain for intermediate and advanced skiers and snowboarders. Construction is expected to begin later this month to build an access road to the area, extend a powerline and start cutting runs through the forest.

Next summer, Monarch plans to install a 3-person lift that’s 2,700 feet long, as well as a restroom and warming hut.

Monarch has been planning this expansion for a decade, the announcement said, and comes after officials with both the San Isabel and Gunnison national forests spent three years reviewing potential impacts to the natural area.

“This has truly been a labor of love,” Randy Stroud, Monarch’s chief operating officer and general manager, said in a statement.

According to its website, Monarch became a ski area in 1939 with “a 500-foot rope tow powered by a gearbox from an old oil derrick and a Chevy engine.” In 1955, the town of Salida sold the area to its manager Ray Berry for $100. In 2002, it was purchased by a group of ski enthusiasts who invested millions to create a destination “ski experience.”

With an average of 350 inches of snowfall per year, Monarch Mountain remains an off-the-beaten-path alternative to mega-resorts like Vail.

“Monarch is sort of the artisanal, indie experience that people seem to be hungry for today,” co-owner Liz Mumm Meier told The Denver Post in 2018.

UPDATED July 12 at 12:28 p.m. to clarify where Monarch Mountain is. It is located in central Colorado and spans the Continental Divide, with skiing on both the west and east sides. 

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Alterra officials characterized it as a “customary” review that the U.S. Department of Justice requires for large transactions.

The investigators have asked for business data on skiers at resorts across the Rocky Mountain region from the National Ski Areas Association.

Department of Justice officials were mum. “We will have no comment on any open investigation,” federal spokeswoman Melissa Brandon said.

The DOJ has demanded financial and visitation data that the NSAA and its market research partner RRC Associates collect from ski areas. Federal investigators sent a Civil Investigative Demand, which is an administrative subpoena, and NSAA officials notified ski areas in a letter, according to the snowology website that first reported the demand.

“A filing with the DOJ was required, which is customary given the size of the transaction,” according to a statement from Alterra’s chief legal officer Karen Sanford. “We are working through the process,” the statement said, and “we cannot otherwise comment on the status of the ongoing review with the DOJ.”

NSAA officials, too, have cast the scrutiny as a routine review and on Friday declined to comment.

In the letter sent to ski areas last week, NSAA officials said DOJ investigators were looking into whether the proposed acquisition would stifle competition in the Rocky Mountain region. The letter said the feds were seeking survey data from 2023/2024 and the 2018/2019 ski season, when Alterra first introduced its Ikon Pass.

RRC officials did not respond.

In February, Alterra officials announced that they were acquiring Arapahoe Basin, which has been owned since 1997 by a Canadian Real Estate company.

Federal justice officials often look into mergers and acquisitions. The ski industry has gone through consolidation, leading to corporations controlling much of the skiing landscape in Colorado.  Alterra owns the Steamboat ski resort and manages Winter Park for the City of Denver – among 17 resorts.

Alterra’s rival Vail Resorts owns five resorts in Colorado: Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge and Crested Butte — along with three dozen others. These companies rely on sales of season passes — Vail Resorts sells Epic passes while Alterra sells Ikon passes. In 1996, federal officials reviewing Vail’s deal to acquire Keystone, Breckenridge and Arapahoe Basin forced Vail to sell Arapahoe Basin to preserve adequate competition for Colorado Front Range residents to afford skiing.

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On Monday, Snöbahn announced a deal with Unrivaled Sports, a new business that aims to expand access to youth sports through camps, leagues and more. Unrivaled Sports invested money to become a minority owner in Snöbahn, though it expects to become a majority owner as the company expands, a spokesperson said.

Unrivaled Sports was founded by billionaires Josh Harris and David Blitzer, who manage teams in the National Basketball Association (Philadelphia 76ers) and the National Hockey League (New Jersey Devils), among others. Pro snowboarder Shaun White is one of the company’s partners under its “action sports” division.

The hallmark of Snöbahn is its facilities and equipment that help beginners learn how to ski and ride on the mountain – no snow required. Venues also include jumps and obstacles for BMX and skateboard training.

Snöbahn opened its first location in Centennial in 2016 and its second in Thornton earlier this year. Founder Sadler Merrill is expected to remain with the company.

Unrivaled Sports’ investment is intended to expand Snöbahn beyond the Rocky Mountain region. It’s too early for the company to determine exactly where, but Texas and California are likely at the top of the list, Kevin English, Unrivaled Sports’ Action CEO, said by email.

“Snöbahn is revolutionizing how young athletes engage with action sports year-round,” White said in a statement. “This investment isn’t about adding facilities; it’s about breaking down the barriers to these sports, wherever you are located. It’s about cultivating passion and skill in a whole new generation of athletes.”

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