Topic: Vail Nordic Center

Blink your eyes and the Vail Golf Course is suddenly covered in snow. The golf course is completing its metamorphoses into the Vail Nordic Center and from Nov. 10 to 14, you've got the opportunity to buy a discounted season pass for months of free access to the center's smooth, groomed trails.

Glide into The Vail Nordic Center

While downhill skiing and riding is Vail's big draw, nordic skiing offers a peaceful, more cardiovascular alternative. Although no alpine ski area can beat the deal of Vail Resorts' Epic Pass, the Vail Nordic Center's season passes can provide an entire winter of fitness for less than $100.

Between Nov. 10 and 14, the Nordic Center season passes are $75 for adults, $70 for Vail residents and $40 for students. Beginning Nov. 17, pass prices go up to $90 for adults, $85 for Vail residents and $50 for students. Without a season pass, the fee for daily use of the trails is $8 per person.

The center consists of 17 kilometers of groomed trails for skate and classic Nordic skiing and 10K of snowshoe-specific trails. The center rents classic, skate and telemark skis as well as snowshoes and offers lessons and clinics throughout the season.

The Nordic Center is owned and operated by world champion mountain biker Mia Stockdale and Shane Sluder. The trails are groomed by the Vail Recreation District, which just purchased a new SnowCat that will make for an even silkier glide through the valley. New this season, Happy Valley Grill, a fully operating restaurant inside the Vail Golf Club, will offer homemade soup and cookies at the Nordic Center.

The Nordic Center has not yet determined an opening date, but, with a few more inches of snow, it should be soon!

The Vail Nordic Center offers a track for classic skiing and a groomed path for skating.

Advanced skate skiers can reach speeds on the flats that contend with that of alpine skiers going downhill.

Skiing downhill gets bitterly cold during multiple days of single-digit temperatures, but Nordic skiing offers a higher road less traveled. Not only is gliding on skinny skis a great way to keep warm on the coldest days, it’s also the best winter workout you could find … scenic, too.

How is it that you stay so warm on those skinny skis? Well, both classic Nordic (think Nordic Track, back and forth motion) and skate skiing (sideways motion similar to ice or inline skating) involve nearly every muscle in your body.

The beauty of it is that you don’t feel you’re working that hard because the sensation of gliding is just that thrilling.

It’s not as hard as you’d think, and is very low impact. Bruises and sore muscles don’t abound while learning to Nordic ski as they do learning to alpine ski or snowboard.

A season pass at the Vail Nordic Center (which, by summer, takes on its alter ego as the Vail Golf Course) sets you back less than $100 ($50 for students) and a day pass is only $8. The center offers 17 kilometers of groomed and tracked ski trails and 10K of separate snowshoe trails. Equipment rentals range from $10 for children to $25 for backcountry equipment and lessons range from $30 to $50.

If sitting on the chairlift is making you feel fat – and cold – give skinny skis a try. Learn more about the Vail Nordic Center.

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Glide into The Vail Nordic Center

The Vail Nordic Center is a world-class facility catering to Nordic skiiers and snowshoers alike. Take a tour through the retail shop, tune shop, and onto the course itself, groomed and tracked daily for skate and classic skiers. Nordic recreation offers a fantastic, cold-weather, all-body workout and breathtaking scenery through a winter wonderland.

Vail Nordic Center
970-476-8366
1778 Vail Valley Dr
Vail, CO 81657