Vail Nordic Center — Attraction in Vail

I need to give a big, no HUGE, shoutout to Dan Timm and the staff at the Vail Nordic Center today.

Yesterday afternoon, I had a waking nightmare of a time on the trails. Half mile out my right binding exploded and I had to hike back to the clubhouse in shame. After snagging a pair of loaner skis and heading back out, my left pole shattered in half in almost the exact same spot. Thankfully third time was the charm and I was able to complete a lap around the course on all loaner gear but my only skis and poles were out of commission for who knows how long and I had dollar signs spinning around my head thinking about how much it would cost to replace it all.

Well, after leaving it all in Dan's office that night and writing him a hopeful email wondering if either of my bindings or poles were under warranty, I came back to VNC today to BOTH. OF. THEM. REPLACED. AT. NO. CHARGE. Less than 24 hours later I was completely geared up again and my mind was officially blown.

There's customer service and there's absolutely hitting it out of the park and Dan and his staff definitely fulfilled the latter. I mean, they were already the friendliest and most helpful crew in the Vail Valley before this, but now I can confidently say that they are at the top of the mountain. Happy to call this place my home track!

Highly recommend you give them a visit if you have any interest in cross country skiing, snowshoeing or fat biking in the winter. They will...

From a wedding photographer's perspective, this was a fabulous venue to host a ceremony and reception. The backdrop is stunning, especially at golden and blue hour, and the "Wedding Island" is hard to beat! The venue itself is elegant and filled with rich wood tones and surrounded by bright, light-filled windows. The staff was excellent and took great care of my couple and their guests. Again from my viewpoint, I did wish that they had more to offer in the way of "getting ready" locations. The single room had to be shared at different times (as not to see the Bride) for both parties to put on their final touches. This room does not offer any windows, so can-lighting (which is a photographer's nemesis) is the light you'll have to contend with, and flashes are highly necessary. All in all, the venue did a brilliant job and was the (near) perfect location to hold a chic, Vail wedding. Check out more photos at Blue Canoe...

Fantastic x-country trails and nordic center that are only a couple of miles from central Vail. About 20 km of trails with beautiful mountain scenery. Trails are mostly easy and follow the golf course. Trails are very well groomed. If you want more hills the best trails are toward the ends of the main trails. The nordic center has a great little grill upstairs serving a homemade soup buffet for lunch for $10. Buffalo chili, chicken tortilla and lentil and chickpea on the day we went with jalapeno cornbread muffins and sourdough bread. Just delicious. Id highly recommend the buffet after skiing the trails. Also amazing views from the grill. Trail pass was $10 which is quite reasonable given the amount of groomed trails and location. They also rent equipment if you dont...