Vail Map
The Town of Vail is a Home Rule Municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,589 in 2005. The town is primarily known as the base village to Vail Ski Resort, with which it was originally master planned and conceived. Vail Ski Resort was established in December, 1962 and is the second largest ski mountain in North America (after Whistler Blackcomb).
Vail was incorporated in 1966, four years after the opening of Vail Ski Resort. The ski area was founded by Pete Seibert and local rancher Earl Eaton in 1962, between the town of Eagle and Vail Pass. The pass was named after Charles Vail, the highway engineer who routed U.S. Highway 6 through the Vail Valley in 1940, which eventually became a leg of Interstate 70.
Seibert, a New England native, served in the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division during World War II, which trained at Camp Hale, 14 miles south of Vail between Red Cliff and Leadville. He was seriously wounded in Italy and told he should become a professional skier when he recovered.
Nearby cities include Edwards, Frisco, Silverthorne, Wolcott, Dillon.