This is one of the best times of year in Vail. While the leaves are turning color, people are outside hiking and also inside relaxing at some of the great local spas. It is also when Vail Restaurant Month takes place. Delicious.

Vail Restaurant Month is made up of four fabulous weeks of one-of-a-kind events, activities and special offers. Star chefs, singular dining experiences, wine and beer tastings, spa packages, romantic getaways, family fun, cooking demonstrations, fashion trunk shows, art gallery receptions, celebrity author readings and book signings, outdoor adventures, and many more special activities take place during this month-long event.

The full details can be found here and below is a sneak peak at what the different themed weeks have to offer.

Market to Table Week: September 20 – 26

Entertaining and inspirational events, seminars and dining experiences all tied to healthy living and delicious fresh food, highlighted by a special Vail Farmers Market.

Health, Wellness and the Outdoors Week: September 27 – October 3

Biking, running, yoga, golf, rafting, hiking, flyfishing, and ballooning – Vail in the fall is the perfect season for outdoor adventures, beer and food pairings . . . and unforgettable dining experiences.

LoveFest: October 4 – 10

Get ready for romantic activities for couples, champagne and wine tastings, late night romance, celebrations with friends, pampering spas, and thrilling surprises from Vail’s star chefs.

Family and Little Foodies in the Kitchen Week: October 11- 17

An old-fashioned family vacation, remixed for today. Family activities, dining and just plain fun featuring “Little Foodies in the Kitchen” cooking classes, parties and special events

If you are interested in renting a property during this stay or anytime, please contact me. I’m happy to help.

As I introduced last month, I have begun to feature a hiking report. The fall climate clearly supports some great hiking and also compliments the ski report and golf report that I also feature in this newsletter and on my blog.

Hiking is one of my favorite activities and Vail has gorgeous mountains, creeks and trails that are perfect for this activity. This month, I’ve featuring the Wilder Gulch Trail. If you have suggestions for future hiking reports, please send them my way.

The Wilder Gulch Trail is located west of Copper Mountain. It climbs up Wilder Gulch from the Vail Pass Recreation Trail toward Ptarmigan Pass. From the base of the trail, travel south up the valley away from the interstate. The trail climbs continuously as it parallels the stream where numerous beaver ponds are found. After 2.3 miles the trail swings to the right and ends on a dirt road, which winds up to Ptarmigan Pass at the head of the valley. Ptarmigan Pass offers a good view of the Sawatch Range and the west side of the Gore Range.

The area is closed to motorized vehicles in the summer, but snowmobiles do use the area in the winter.

Directions: From Beaver Creek, Go 23 miles east on I-70 to exit #190, near the summit of Vail Pass. Turn right and park in the large parking area. Hikers can follow the Vail Pass Recreation Trail (a paved bicycle trail) to Wilder Gulch. Cross through the tunnel under the interstate which and follow the recreation trail to just before the stream crossing.

The stats:

Elevation: 10,500 feet

Ending Elevation: 11,500 feet

Elevation Gain: 1,000 feet

Distance: 3.0 miles

Usage: Light

Difficulty: Easy

Between rafting, hiking, biking, golf, tennis, horseback riding, and a number of special events, there is an endless supply of things to do in Vail in the fall.

Labor Day Jazz Party

September 03, 2010 – September 06, 2010

This internationally acclaimed event features five days and nights of the world’s greatest jazz musicians – enjoy over twenty-four hours of music.

Hosted at the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort in Lionshead, the Vail Jazz Party brings together an extraordinary lineup of great jazz musicians in an intimate, cabaret-style setting. Watch the masters jam with the up and comers, and enjoy the spontaneous style of this one-of-a-kind celebration of jazz.

Tickets to the Vail Jazz Party are $45/afternoon, $55/evening and $350 for an event pass and can be purchased through the Vail Jazz Foundation office at (970)479-6146, or (888)VAILJAM (824-5526). Online tickets are available here.

Vail Oktoberfest in Lionshead

September 10, 2010 – September 12, 2010

Oktoberfest is the yearly festival of beer, music and fall. It is a time to dust off the lederhosen, throw on the dirndl, and toast your steins to the most popular party in the world.

The Town of Vail is hosting two full weekends of parties, lively demonstrations and traditional German fare in Lionshead and Vail Village. Festivities include brat-eating and Keg Bowling contests, yodeling and alpine horn blowing, and Bavarian dancing. Oktoberfest is two full weekends the whole family will enjoy.

Vail Restaurant Month

September 20 – October 17, 2010

Visit Vail in all its fall glory and spend four weeks enjoying events, activities and special offers during Vail Restaurant Month. Star chefs, wine and beer tastings, health/wellness/spa packages, outdoor adventures, dog-friendly activities, romantic getaways, family fun and more. Each week of Vail Restaurant Month will feature a special theme.

Market to Table Week: September 20 – 26

Health, Wellness and the Outdoors Week: September 27 – October 3

LoveFest: October 4 – 10

Family and Little Foodies in the Kitchen Week: October 11- 17.

All summer! – Vail Farmers’ Market and Art Show

The Vail Farmers’ Market & Art Show is the largest farmers’ market in Colorado. There are more than 100 vendor tents weekly along with two live music venues and activities for kids. Vendors in colorful tents sell farm fresh fruits and vegetables while local artists display and explain their finest works.

Attend to buy the freshest foods, have lunch, and to browse the many tents and nearby shops and galleries or to simply enjoy all the activities.

All summer! – Yoga in the Gardens

Join a group of fellow yogis at the tranquil Betty Ford Gardens. The regularly scheduled summer program of Yoga in the Gardens is Mondays and Fridays from 9:00 to 10:15 a.m. Cost is $12 and they run thru September 2010.

Vail, Colorado’s reputation as a premiere global ski destination has been earned from nearly 50 years of excellent service, world-renowned mountains and slopes, and great entertainment for the whole family.

And now Vail is forging ahead into the tech space with a new app that intertwines up-to-the-minute snow and trail reports, various aspects of social networking services like Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare, and a personalized history of your ski experiences. The app – EpicMix – will be launched this upcoming season, premiering November 5 at Keystone Resort. It will be available with all of the PEAKS lift tickets along with Vail’s Epic, Summit, Heavenly and Colorado season passes which will come equipped with wireless Radio-Frequency (RF) transmitters. The RF chips already enable instant lift access and will allow skiers to comprehensively “capture, connect and share” their ski experiences.

What does EpicMix actually do? It tracks movements, determines skiers’ total vertical feet skied and records every lift ride and ski day. By connecting the app to Facebook and Twitter, participants can instantly share accomplishments with their social networks. The app also boasts a networking link which allows skiers and riders to find friends who are on the mountain, and then – through an instant messaging system – arrange meeting times and locations. As family-friendly as Vail is, EpicMix follows by offering kids under 13 access to their own specific social networking club that is protected by strict privacy settings.

RealVail.com reported on Wednesday that Colorado is still poised to potentially host the Winter Olympics in 2022. Denver would be the host while Vail – and surrounding areas – would support Denver with their resort and skiing amenities. The full article can be found here.

Tourism is a huge industry in Colorado as visitors from all over the world come here to enjoy the mountains, ski and gold amenities. And the Colorado bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics could boost the state as a global tourism destination even more.

Vail and Beaver Creek will be well-positioned for the Olympic bid from an alpine skiing facilities and organizational standpoint. As I’ve blogged about before, we are already the hosts of two world championships (in 1989 and 1999) and Vail this year was awarded the 2015 championships — second only to the Olympics in ski racing prestige.

Top international ski racing officials are visiting the Vail Valley the first two weeks of September to begin planning for the 2015 championships, and U.S. Forest Service officials expect a definitive proposal from Vail Resorts for terrain and facility changes in the next month or two.
As reported earlier, Vail Resorts officials have said they plan a new women’s downhill course to rival the adjacent men’s Birds of Prey course at Beaver Creek, as well as major upgrades to the finish area and the building of a new restaurant. Vail, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies, will see a “dramatic new stadium” in Vail Village. All of these upgrades would obviously position the resorts well for a possible future Olympic bid.

It’s an exciting time to be a Vail resident!