Vail, Colorado

Vail, Colorado is a resort town located in Eagle County, in the central Rocky Mountains of the western United States. Founded in the early 1960s by former members of the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division, Vail grew from a remote mountain site into one of the largest and most recognized ski resorts in the United States. The town is defined by its alpine terrain, world-class skiing, and an economy built largely around tourism and luxury real estate. Despite its reputation for exclusivity, Vail faces significant challenges shared by many mountain resort communities, including a persistent shortage of affordable housing and ongoing questions about land management on the surrounding White River National Forest.

History

Origins and Founding

The story of Vail begins not with developers or investors, but with soldiers. In 1960, former members of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division—a unit that had trained in the Rocky Mountains during World War II—returned to their former training grounds and recognized the potential of the surrounding terrain for ski development. The area's steep runs, reliable snowfall, and dramatic mountain scenery made it a compelling candidate for a planned ski destination.

The resort town that emerged from those early plans was deliberately designed rather than organically settled. Unlike many Colorado mountain towns that grew out of the mining era, Vail was conceived and built as a destination, with infrastructure, lodging, and commercial development planned from the outset. This intentional design gave the town a coherent architectural character influenced by European alpine styles—a quality that would become central to its identity and marketing in subsequent decades.

Growth and Development

Over the decades following its founding, Vail evolved steadily from a nascent ski resort into a major destination. The ski mountain expanded, lifts were added, and the surrounding valley attracted investment in lodging, retail, and dining. As the resort's reputation grew, so did the surrounding real estate market.

The transformation from ski town to luxury destination accelerated over time, as high-net-worth buyers and second-home owners drove property values upward. The scarcity of developable land—hemmed in by steep hillsides, federally protected wilderness, and public lands managed by the White River National Forest—meant that supply could never easily meet demand. That geographic constraint became a defining feature of the local real estate market, producing conditions in which exclusivity was, in part, a product of simple physical limitation.

Geography and Setting

Vail sits within a narrow mountain valley in Eagle County, surrounded by terrain managed largely as public land. The White River National Forest encompasses much of the land adjacent to and surrounding the resort community, a factor that shapes both the town's visual character and its capacity for growth. The presence of sensitive environmental areas, public land designations, and steep terrain limits the parcels available for development within and around the town.

The surrounding mountains provide the natural infrastructure for the ski resort. Vail Mountain, the centerpiece of the resort operation, offers terrain spanning a broad range of difficulty levels and is served by an extensive lift system. The alpine environment is also habitat for wildlife, including bighorn sheep and other mountain species that share the landscape with the resort and its visitors.

Skiing and Recreation

Vail Mountain

Vail Mountain is the primary draw for the millions of visitors who travel to the town each year. The resort has grown into one of the largest ski areas in the United States, measured by skiable acreage and variety of terrain. Its Back Bowls—large open areas of terrain accessible from the mountain's upper reaches—are among the most distinctive features of the ski area and have contributed to the resort's reputation for offering conditions and experiences not easily replicated elsewhere.

Skiers and snowboarders visiting Vail can expect steep vertical terrain, groomed runs, and backcountry-style bowl skiing within the resort boundary. The mountain receives substantial snowfall during winter months, though as with all Rocky Mountain resorts, conditions vary from season to season. For visitors willing to navigate the costs associated with a high-end mountain resort, the skiing is frequently described as the primary reward.

Year-Round Recreation

While skiing defines Vail's identity and drives the bulk of its tourism economy, the town has also developed offerings for visitors during the summer and fall months. Hiking, cycling, and outdoor events draw visitors to the valley when snow is absent from the lower elevations. The Gore Creek, which runs through the town, supports fishing and other water recreation. Vail's position within the broader Rocky Mountain landscape makes it a starting point for excursions into the surrounding wilderness.

Economy

Tourism and Luxury Real Estate

The economy of Vail is built primarily on tourism, with the ski resort serving as the engine of local commerce. Hotels, restaurants, retail shops, and service businesses all depend on the seasonal influx of visitors. Over the decades, the economic profile of those visitors has shifted toward the upper end of the income spectrum, a trend reflected in the luxury real estate market that has come to define much of the Vail Valley.

Property values in and around Vail are among the highest in Colorado. The same geographic constraints that limit development—public lands, steep terrain, sensitive environments—have made the available real estate scarce and correspondingly expensive. Second homes and investment properties account for a significant portion of the residential stock, a pattern common to resort communities across the American West.

Affordable Housing Crisis

The same market forces that have made Vail a destination for wealthy visitors and property buyers have created severe challenges for the workforce that keeps the resort community functioning. The lack of affordable housing in and around Vail is a persistent and well-documented problem. Workers in hospitality, retail, construction, and public services often cannot afford to live near where they work, forcing long commutes or creating staffing difficulties for local employers.

The housing shortage in Vail reflects a broader national pattern, but is exacerbated by the specific physical and regulatory constraints of the mountain environment. Steep hillsides limit where construction is feasible; public land ownership removes large areas from potential development; and environmental sensitivity creates additional constraints on what can be built and where. The result is a community in which the gap between the cost of available housing and the wages paid by the local economy is particularly acute.

Public Lands and Environmental Context

White River National Forest

The White River National Forest, which surrounds much of the Vail area, plays a central role in the character and function of the community. The forest provides the land base for skiing operations, as ski resorts in the United States typically operate under permits on national forest land. Beyond recreation, the forest supplies watershed protection, wildlife habitat, and open space that define the region's environmental quality.

In recent years, the White River National Forest has faced budget constraints and staffing shortages that have affected its ability to carry out routine management functions. The Vail community has, in some instances, stepped in to assist with tasks that the federal agency has been unable to complete with its reduced resources. This arrangement has not been without controversy—some residents and observers have argued that the federal government should bear the responsibility for adequately funding its land management obligations rather than relying on community volunteers and local contributions to fill the gap.

The relationship between the resort, the community, and the surrounding public lands is a defining feature of life in Vail. The economic activity generated by the resort depends on the natural resources and aesthetic qualities of the federal land that surrounds it, creating a complex interdependence between the private tourism economy and public land management.

Arts and Culture

Vail Film Festival

Beyond skiing and outdoor recreation, Vail has developed a cultural calendar that includes film, music, and other arts events. The Vail Film Festival is among the town's notable cultural institutions. In 2026, the festival announced a partnership with ÉCU Paris, an independent film festival based in France, establishing a reciprocal relationship in which each festival would feature programming selected by the other. The partnership reflected an effort to extend the festival's reach internationally and to position Vail's cultural programming within a broader global context.

The presence of arts and cultural programming in Vail is consistent with the town's evolution from a narrowly focused ski destination into a year-round resort community. Cultural events help sustain visitor interest and economic activity during the shoulder and summer seasons, when skiing is not available to drive tourism.

Community Challenges

Vail, like many resort communities, navigates a set of tensions inherent to its economic model. The same attributes that make it attractive to visitors and wealthy property buyers—mountain scenery, limited development, exclusivity—create conditions that are difficult for ordinary workers and long-term residents. The housing shortage is the most visible manifestation of this tension, but it connects to broader questions about what kind of community Vail is and who it serves.

Local and regional policymakers have grappled with these issues for years without arriving at comprehensive solutions. The constraints imposed by geography, land ownership patterns, and market forces are substantial, and the approaches available to local government are limited by those same factors. Vail's experience has made it a case study of sorts in discussions about resort town sustainability and equity that extend well beyond Colorado.