Happy Holidays from the Vail Valley Insider!

The end of the year is upon us, and full of its usual bluster… parties and dinners, interspersed with a variety of activities from skiing (us), to binge watching the Home Alone movies, decorating the house, watching way too much football while eating way too much food, hanging out with family and friends, and realizing that when it’s over… you need a vacation!

Amidst all of that chaos and fanfare, the holidays also afford us the opportunity to reflect on the soon to be finished year, and to cast our vision forward to the next year and the promise it holds.

Gratitude is the sense we should all be focused on at this time. We love the reminder to ponder “what if you woke up tomorrow with only those things you were grateful for today”.

We are certainly grateful to live in these awesome mountains with the playgrounds of Vail and Beaver Creek Mountains, as well as the rest of the valley, at our doorstep.

And we are most definitely grateful for the relationships we have with so many of you - they are fundamental to the fabric of our lives.

So from our home to yours, we hope that you enjoy this time - relax, have fun, connect, re-charge - and we wish you all the best for a happy, healthy and productive 2026!

Oh, and one last thing…. make sure you get out here soon!

Dana Gumber & Mike Connolly

As ski season finds its groove, there are tons of things going on. Discover Vail has a full season calendar of events that is regularly updated.

Every Saturday and Sunday afternoon at the base of Gondola One there’s a party sponsored by LALO Tequila and featuring live DJs - a cool spot to hit at the end of your ski day.

For a few days each month Vail goes to the dogs - the avalanche dogs that is! Every Sunday in January from 10:30-11:30am there’s a meet & greet with Vail Ski Patrol and their avalanche dogs - one big pile of cuteness at Buffalo’s, just beside the top of Chair #4.

If EDM is your thing (or more likely your teenage kids’ thing) Chasing Rabbits nightclub is hosting Dillon Francis (aka DJ Hanzel) January 9th and 10th.

Every Thursday evening in Beaver Creek there is a ski down followed by fireworks. Young skiers can register that day to accompany ski school pros on a night time ski down, light baton in hand. Sure to be a lasting memory!

The Vail Symposium’s winter series is on. From 5:30-7:30 on January 7 at Donovan Pavilion in Vail, the Symposium dishes the goods on one of the most important criteria for human health - sleep! Check out Optimizing Sleep: Why It Matters.

The Vilar – there’s a pretty full and diverse slate on tap at the Vilar in Beaver Creek during January - Old Dominion team up with Edwin McCain, Hannah Berner brings her comedy tour, there’s a Simon & Garfunkel tribute, and the fabulous Sinfonica de Mineria returns to the valley to play Mozart and Dvorak.

If Vail had a spirit animal, it might just be a shaggy dog with a frosty beer in hand—so it makes perfect sense that the valley’s most legendary hangout is named after two of them. Tucked into Lionshead Village like a secret only the locals pretend not to talk about, Bart & Yeti’s is the kind of bar where ski boots are always welcome, the beer is always cold, and nobody cares if you still have a raccoon-stripe from your goggles.

Walk inside and you’ll instantly feel like you’ve joined a club—no membership required, just a love of good vibes, casual eats, and enough local color to fill a chairlift ride. The walls tell stories, the regulars tell even better ones, and the bartenders somehow keep every order straight even on those rowdy après days when the patio becomes a packed snow-globe of helmets, puffy jackets, and laughter.

And that patio… it might be the closest thing Vail has to a neighborhood backyard. Sunny days turn into slow afternoons with burgers, tots, or Normie wings (the absolute best), while winter brings that cozy, slightly chaotic energy unique to ski towns when the lifts close and nobody’s quite ready to go home.

Bart & Yeti’s isn’t just a bar—it’s an experience captained by the legendary Dennis Foley, with some help from his older brother and Town of Vail Council member Kevin. A place where you might run into your ski instructor, your neighbor, or the guy who swears he once met the actual Yeti. The vibe has a little bit of that old Cheers feel - so if you want to hang with the locals for a night (and maybe catch a glimpse of the world famous Calvin) stop into Bart’s on your next trip to Vail!

Bart & Yeti’s - 553 East Lionshead Circle, Vail, CO 81657. 970.476.2754

Vail Resorts Press Release on December 9, 2025 -

BROOMFIELD, Colo., Dec. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In its latest move to make skiing and riding more accessible, Vail Resorts announced a new discount averaging over 30% off lift tickets at 12 of its top destination resorts for guests who purchase four or more weeks in advance.

"Up until this season, there were two ways to save on lift access at our mountain resorts – you could either purchase an Epic Pass or Epic Day Pass pre-season for a huge value, or save a smaller amount on lift tickets by purchasing online at least seven days in advance – our goal is to fill that gap," said Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz. "While we will always give the best deal to our Pass Holders, with this new discount, our hope is to make the sport more accessible for guests who aren't thinking about skiing and snowboarding until winter arrives."

The new lift ticket discount will be available for skiers and riders who plan to visit Vail Mountain, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Crested Butte, Park City Mountain, Whistler Blackcomb, Heavenly, Northstar, Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow during the 2025/26 season. At some of the company's largest destination mountains, skiers and riders can save over $100 per lift ticket, depending on the day, by purchasing four or more weeks in advance. If purchased today, the first eligible day for the new savings is January 5, 2026. Lift tickets are available now on all Vail Resorts' 37 North American resorts websites. Lift ticket prices vary by resort and peak period.

Today's announcement follows the company's debut of Epic Friend Tickets earlier this year, which provide friends of season-long Epic Pass Holders with half off lift tickets to celebrate the social side of skiing. The Epic Friend Ticket discount is off window pricing and cannot be combined with this new discount. As an additional step to make skiing and riding more accessible, Vail Resorts guests with a lift ticket this season can turn their ticket in for savings on an Epic Pass for next season. Epic Friends can use the total cost paid, and all other lift ticket purchasers can apply up to $175 of what they paid. Restrictions apply.*

So get busy planning that visit to Vail or Beaver Creek and reach out to me for help booking your accommodations, ground transportation, etc.

See you here soon!!

We’ve added a few more things to the Insider schwag shop. How good would that coffee mug look on your desk at work?…!