School may be back in session in a lot of places, but summer has a lot left in it!

To prove the point, here are just a few things going on between now and the end of August:

Click here for our picks on the best things to do over the next couple of weeks.

Bread has been a staple part of our diet for millennia. The wide array of types of bread is a testament to the capacity for human experimentation and the myriad ways in which we use and consume it.

Sourdough bread is the oldest form of leavened bread in human history - at least 6,000 years - probably because it relies on “wild” yeast floating in the air to create a natural rise.

According to a recent article on the health information website Prevention.com, sourdough (the non-commercially produced kind) has a series of health benefits that include better gut health as well as better blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Find out where to snag yourself some fresh sourdough products in the valley and read the full Prevention article here.

We know. It’s August. You’re a couple of boat drinks deep sitting by the pool, while the AC is doing its best to keep your house at the meat locker temp you set it to. This is not, by any reasonable measure, a moment where you should be thinking about skiing.

And yet - here we are, because the calendar math doesn’t care about your tan lines: as of this issue we are inside 90 days until the lifts start turning at Vail Mountain for the ‘26-’27 ski season - it could be as little as 75 days until Loveland or A-Basin wins the annual race for who opens first!

If Vail sticks with its intended November 13 opening date that’s technically 88 days from today, August 17. For context, that’s:

So, while the summer isn’t going anywhere yet, the ski season clock quietly started the moment you opened this email. Here’s what’s worth doing now, while you are still in shorts, so that November-you isn’t scrambling:

So go finish that boat drink by the pool - just maybe do it while you are thinking about where you stashed your ski jacket after your last trip!

Thinking about a trip to the Vail Valley? The Insider can help you make it happen - reach out to [email protected] or call on +1.970.390.2467.

A rare turnkey find in Vail; this 576 s.f. condo at Wren House on Main Gore Drive pairs an over-sized west-facing deck with sunset views, three dedicated parking spaces, and easy TOV bus access, all for $535K.

Great for a first-time buyer or for an investor, this East Vail listing is worth a look. Read more…

Grab a stool at Bart & Yeti’s in Lionshead and there’s a good chance Dennis Foley will know your name - 43 years in the valley will do that. In this week’s Valley Personalities feature, the long time bar owner and local fixture talks about the mountain he’ll never take for granted, a 15 mile hiking loop past Deluge and Snow Lakes that he calls heaven on earth (goats included), and the after-hours skin-up-and-ski-down sunset ritual he’d choose above everything else if he could only do one thing here for the rest of his life.

Read the full conversation on our website!

Long before Vail had a reputation it had Jebbie Browne - the woman in the bright blue jacket at Golden Peak Ski School who somehow kept generations of feral, powder-covered kids upright and moving downhill. In this week’s Mountain Stammtisch, JC looks back on growing up (badly behaved and nicknamed “Dirt Claude”) under Jebbie’s watch - and on the strange full-circle moment decades later when she ended up teaching his own three sons the exact same patient lessons in the same blue jacket.

It’s a funny, warm, and moving tribute to the person who quietly shaped what it means to fall in love with this mountain - not through big powder days, but through someone kneeling in the slush, untangling ski poles, and making chaos feel like play.

Click here for the whole tale, including the Hawaiian Tropic Pro Jumps disaster Jebbie was thankfully not around to witness!