Fun Climbs Around The World

Tristan Hechtel skiing Teacup bowl, January

My son Tristan and I had several days off work (teaching skiing) after Christmas vacation, which allowed us to enjoy skiing in Vail’s back bowls. In early January the mountain is generally quite uncrowded, since the many visitors who come here over Christmas vacation have left.

The easiest way to reach the back bowls starts from Golden Peak. Take the Riva Bahn Express lift (chair #6) past the mid station to the end. While riding this lift, you can often watch racers on the course directly below.   From the top of the Riva Bahn, ski across to the Northwoods Express lift (chair 11) and take this to the top, where Buffalo’s restaurant and the patrol headquarters at Henry’s Hut are located.

From here, several options allow access to China Bowl.  If we have fresh powder, I ski Milt’s Face. Sometimes the Slot has been groomed and gives a quick way down to the Sun Up Lift (chair 17). The quickest route to the back bowls is to ski the Sleepytime catwalk, which then allows you to traverse around to Genghis Khan and other runs in the Teacup Bowl. The runs in the Teacup Bowl - Jade Glade and Genghis Khan, often have the best snow. From here, it’s fastest to ski to the Orient Express (chair 21), but if we want to ski the Teacup Bowl again, we continue on to the Tea Cup Express (chair 36).

The Skyline Express (chair 37), the main lift accessing Blue Sky Basin, starts across from the Tea Cup Express lift.  Watch out here for long lift lines at the end of the day, when everyone is heading back down off the mountain. We usually start skiing early, head over to China Bowl of Blue Sky Basin, and leave early (before 3 p.m.) to avoid crowds.

At the end of the day, when our legs feel like jello, I often download the Riva Bahn. The bottom slopes have either green catwalks, or black bump runs, neither of which is my first choice for how to end my ski day.