By Photo: Xnatedawgx, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Pete Seibert trained at Camp Hale in the 10th Mountain Division during World War II and was badly wounded in Italy. After the war he returned to Colorado and worked in the ski business. In 1957, local uranium prospector Earl Eaton showed him a big, treeless bowl on the back side of a mountain above Gore Creek, then sheep pasture along U.S. 6.
They put together investors, bought land and opened Vail in December 1962. The village at the base was built in a Bavarian style, and the opening of Interstate 70 through the valley made it a short drive from Denver.
A company grows
Vail grew into one of the largest ski areas in North America. Its corporate successor, Vail Resorts, went public in 1997 and began buying other resorts, including Breckenridge, Keystone, Beaver Creek, Park City and Whistler Blackcomb.
In 2008 the company introduced the Epic Pass, a season pass that gave access to its resorts at a price lower than a few day tickets. The pass reshaped how skiers buy access, and competitors created their own multi-resort passes.
The local strain
Vail’s success has driven property prices in Eagle County far beyond what most workers can afford. Employers bus workers in from towns as far as Leadville and Gypsum, and housing is a constant subject of local debate. The company and the town have built some employee housing, but the shortage remains one of the valley’s biggest problems.
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