September 7th, 2010
A group of 9 African American students, more commonly know today as the Little Rock 9, were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. These students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school until the intervention of President Eisenhower. Despite the violence and hardships all 9 students were eventually allowed to attend the formerly all white school under the protection of the U.S. Armed Forces. On September 1st several Antlers employees, owners and friends were treated to a luncheon at the Park Hyatt supported by the Women’s Foundation of Colorado. The Vail Valley luncheon was titled, A Place at Carlotta’s Table: Education & Civil Rights. The key speaker was Carlotta Walls LaNier, one of the Little Rock 9. She was inspirational and a true role model. It was a wonderful presentation, incredibly educational and moving. Susan Hagy Humphry, Antlers condo owner, said, ” The Women’s Foundation has a commitment to make a difference in the lives and education of as many children as possible. There wasn’t a single person in the room that wasn’t touched by the speakers.”
Eliza, Rob and Darla
Rob and 9 of his favorite women
All Smiles
Tags: Carlotta Walls LaNier, Little Rock 9, Women's Foundation of Colorado
Posted in Vail Events | No Comments »
September 4th, 2010
Deluge Lake, located in off exit 171 in East Vail (only a 10 minute drive or 20 minute bus ride from the Antlers, is a great hike for a amateur hiker. Its fairly steep at first giving you a good warm up, then levels out to a nice long gradual ascent to a lake nestled in a valley between several peaks. The hike is about 7 hours round trip so be sure to bring food and water. Now a minor drawback to this hike is for the first 2 miles or so you are still within sight and sound of route 70. So it takes away from the whole nature experience early on. Still, I was blown away when we got behind the mountain, out of sight of the road, and into the Rockies. Gore Creek valley is an awesome sight to behold with many jagged cliffs overlooking the creek below. Then as we got further up the trail we discovered a valley straight out of the sound of music. Grassy knolls dotted with white rocks, a picture perfect creek running right down the middle. It was really an awesome place to be. Getting over that stream was pretty fun, it is a log hanging over a small waterfall that wasn’t exactly secure. We nearly lost one of our hiking members into that stream but luckily he was able to regain his balance. As you follow Deluge Creek up the valley, you will reach your destination, a secluded lake hidden between some massive, scree covered rocky crags.
View Deluge Lake and Gore Creek Hiking Trails in a larger map
This map includes the trailhead location in relation to the Antlers and Vail (just move the map a little west/left), Deluge Lake Hiking trail, and I included Gore Creek trail as well which is a hike I plan to accomplish very soon.
Tags: antlers in vail, Deluge Lake, deluge lake hike, lake hike, Vail, vail hikes
Posted in Vail Hikes | No Comments »
September 4th, 2010
Two Elk mountain biking trail is a LONG… ride. Figure on 4-6 hours. It starts at the Antlers at Vail hotel and conference center and ends up being a 30 mile loop. It offers around 4000+ vertical feet of climbing. Just click on the attached map for details or even to print out the route. Two Elk mountain biking trail is usually open from July 1 – until the end of September and travels through Vail’s Back Bowls (see our Vail ski map). It is a combination of double track, single track, regular road and Vail bike path. If you do ride by yourself, mention to someone where you are going, because you’ll be a LONG way from anything on this ride. And bring tools and tubes. I seem to get one flat tire each time I do this ride. Chris R.
View Two Elk Trail mountain biking trail Vail in a larger map
On the top of Benchmark overlooking the Gore Range and I-70. Great place for a snack and a drink.
Up on top of Outer Mongolia Bowl ready to take the single track along the China Wall heading West above Vail’s Back Bowls. We are at 11,600 feet at this point.
Looking up towards China Bowl from the Trail. The base of the China Bowl lift is behind me.
Tags: Antlers at Vail hotel, Gore Range, Two elk, two elk mountain bike, vail hotel, Vail mountain biking, Vail's Back Bowls
Posted in Vail Biking | 1 Comment »
September 1st, 2010
Labor Day Weekend
Sunday, September 5, 2010, at 2:00 PM.
Presented by the Marketplace on Meadow Drive
Thousands of rubber ducks travel through the heart of Vail on Gore Creek once a year for The Vail Rotary Duck Race!
The rubber ducks, which sell for $5 each, are dropped into the Gore Creek Sunday at the Covered Bridge. The ducks then float quickly down the creek toward the finish line at the International Bridge. The first 20 ducks to finish win prizes for their owners. The money raised goes toward the Salvation Army’s food bank, scholarships for local students and the Children’s Medical Voucher Program, which gives local children without health insurance vouchers for medical care. The Antlers at Vail will be purchasing a large amount to help out as always and we’re still offering 15% off your Vail room rate for Labor Day Weekend! So, if you’re looking for a great option for Labor Day Weekend, pack up the kids and head to Vail.
Tags: CO, Vail, Vail Colorado, Vail duck race, Vail Events, Vail Rotary Duck Race, Vail Summer
Posted in Vail Events | No Comments »
September 1st, 2010
Congratulations to April Ramker, winner of Vail Restaurant Month’s “Great Yoga Sweepstakes” sponsored by all of us here at the Antlers at Vail (http://www.antlersvail.com/)! Our karmic winner receives a transcendentally blissful fall package for two, including lodging and tickets for a complete day of nirvana at the Antlers at Vail hotel on Saturday, October 2: Hatha Yoga Class, Healthy Recipe Seminar and an Organic Live Food Luncheon & Tea! For more information on all of the activites happening around Vail during this event please visit the Vail Restaurant Month web site, www.vailrestaurantmonth.com
Tags: Vail hotels, vail restaurant month, yoga
Posted in Antlers at Vail NEWS, Antlers at Vail specials, packages and discounts, Vail Caterers, Vail Chefs | No Comments »
August 30th, 2010
The Lost lake mountain bike trail is one of the top mountain bike trails in Vail Colorado. It is quite a long loop depending on how many “add ons” you do. It is a 3-4 hour 25 mile ride. So bring food and water. You start at the Antlers at Vail condominiums and conference center. Head up the road, across the pedestrian bridge and take a left down the bike path for about a 1/4 of a mile. Take a right up Red Sandstone road and continue up a couple of switch backs until you get to the rock/gravel road of Red Sandstone going to Piney lake. You then travel up this road about 3 miles? until you get to a fork. Take the right fork to Lost Lake. Continue for another 30 minutes or more until you get to Lost lake. If you hit any forks, just stay on the most traveled path. If you get off, virtually all the roads end up at the hiking trail head to Lost Lake anyhow. From here on it is single track around the lake and back down to a parking lot off of Red Sandstone. You might be 2-3 hours into your ride at this point. Take a left on Red Sandstone but only go a block before taking a right onto another forest service road. You are now heading south back to Vail on top of a big ridge. When you top out at a camp site, take a left off the main road to a faint double track. Follow the trail/road down until you pick up a crazy single track called Buffehr creek. You’ll be taking a number of switch backs before intersecting the Vail North Trail on your left. Follow this back for even more vertical downhill until you exit onto Red Sandstone road again near Vail village.
View Lost Lake Trail to North Trail Vail in a larger map
Map of the trail
An elk we saw along the trail almost at Lost Lake (perhaps it was sleeping?)
They should call this trail “one elk”
All smiles
Nice single track section
Big hairpin turns coming down into Vail
Tags: Antlers at Vail, Lost lake loop, Red sandstone road, vail lodging, Vail mountain biking
Posted in Vail Biking | No Comments »
August 27th, 2010
Vail Firefighter Combat Challenge, August 28 – 29, 2010
The “toughest 2 minutes in sports” Vail Firefighter Combat Challenge is scheduled for Ford Park parking lot on August 28-29, beginning at noon on Saturday the 28th at 10am on Sunday the 29th. There will be a special “Kids’ Firefighter Combat Challenge” that the kids will love. Bring the family.
The Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge provides a snapshot of one of the most physically demanding and respected of occupations. It is an intense, spirited competition that demonstrates to the viewing public the nature of the job – and no job is more dependant upon the physical prowess of its work force. The Challenge is an embodiment of the essence of firefighting – an urgent race against time, and time is the mortal enemy of firefighters as fire doubles in size every 90 seconds! Visit www.firefighterchallenge.com for more information.
Tags: Firefighters, Ford Amphitheater, Vail Colorado, Vail Events, Vail free
Posted in Vail Events, Vail Summer | No Comments »
August 23rd, 2010
I 70 looks a lot brighter today. That’s because the Antlers Staff cleaned it up for the 22nd year in a row. It’s gotten to where we feel that our 2 mile stretch of highway atop Vail Pass is an extension of the Antlers property, or maybe even like a very lazy employee that can’t clean up after himself. Either way, we know when this extra piece needs to get polished.
There were 18 of us this year and we even had a few guests help out (thank you Katie, Bob, Linda and Tim for joining us). These are some smart people. They saw the ad for the Highway Special and took advantage of the “Stay one Night and Get one Night Free with a catered Lunch afterwords and you get to keep any Valuables you may find if you help Us clean up on Highway Special Day”.
Together, we managed to leave 40+ orange bags of trash along our 2 mile stretch of highway. That may seem like a lot (and it is), but those of us that have been doing this for awhile observed that it wasn’t as much as last year. This means one of two things; 1. Either there is less traffic on I70…or… 2. People are actually conscience of the fact that throwing garbage out your windows at 65mph is really not a cool thing to do anymore. I don’t think it’s number one, so I choose number two. (Just an aside to throwing things away in the wrong place; Darwin, one of our houseman extraordinaires, who joined us on our “walk”, didn’t mind at all that someone; 1. consciously or 2. unconsciously, threw away a $100 bill. I don’t think it was number one, so I’m going with number two).
Lots of sunshine, a great lunch, a bunch of laughs, and a good feeling about getting all that junk out of the gutter. It was a great day and thanks to everyone that helped out including our buddies from CDOT that follow up and the other buddies we work with that stayed behind to run the “ranch”.
I Guess a Little Green,
I need to pick up this milk carton and I can’t get this stupid bag to open.
Greg
Tags: Antlers at Vail, antlers staff, Green Hotel, Highway Special, Vail pass clean-up
Posted in Green Environment | 2 Comments »
August 21st, 2010
Hello, I am Tyler the new night shift guy at Antlers in Vail. Just last week a friend of mine came out from Massachusetts to camp and hike Mt. of the Holy Cross just around the corner from us in Minturn. We had a great time from start to finish and I recommend the hike to any moderately experienced hiker. Not having a car, we took the bus to the I70 exit 171 and walked to the trailhead on our first day. It was only about 10 miles at 10000 feet so it was a good warmup for my friend who was still adjusting to the lack of oxygen. We camped at the trailhead overnight which was my first time camping in these mountains. Got a pretty heavy thunderstorm that night, had a deer curiously investigate our camp, and managed to forget only one item for our entire trip… eating utensils. So we made due with what we had, some sticks shaped like a Y wrapped in duct tape! Not to confuse anyone, let it be known that this is a one day(8-10 hour) hike, we just decided to make it two since we had no car and wanted to camp anyways.
The next day we woke up early (highly suggested for this hike as the mountain is known to create bad weather) and continued on towards the top. The trail crosses over Notch mountain and down into the valley between the two mountains, then back up along the rocky North Ridge for the final ascent. The last 2 miles or so you are clambering over some pretty large boulders to reach the top so watch your footing, especially if it rained. Once we reached the top we had a great view of the Rockies in all directions, we could see the back bowls of Vail Ski Area and Eagles Nest, and you are standing on top of a massive rock face descending to the valley below and the Bowl of Tears, a lake in the valley. Well worth the trip, we signed the register and decided to head back down since it looked like bad weather was approaching. The only drawback to this whole hike is when you are leaving, you must climb again over Notch mountain to get home. Not fun when you just hiked 6 miles there and your legs are sore. Still, overall the hike was an awesome experience, especially for me since I worked as a lifty at Vail Ski Resorts last year and nearly everyday I saw that peak to the southwest and yearned to climb it. Now I have, and I recommend you try it too.
This is a basic map depicting how to get to the trailhead, and then the North Ridge trail to the summit. Zoom out to see other points such as Antlers in Vail and the road leading to the trailhead.
View Holy Cross North Ridge in a larger map
Tags: Antlers, camping spot, coulair, hikes, hiking, Mt of the Holy Cross, Vail
Posted in Vail Hikes | No Comments »
August 20th, 2010
It’s been great year and a half, but I’m sorry to say that I’m moving on from the Antlers. The greener (but only because of all the damn rain) pastures of Seattle await. Thank you to everyone who has made it such a pleasure working here, the owners, frequent guests, and most of all, the rest of our awesome staff. I’m going to miss you guys. But I’ll be back to visit, because who can really leave behind the gorgeous Vail Valley and the colorful cast of characters here at the Antlers? So until then it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later!
Rob Gray
Tags: Antlers, Robert Gray, Vail Valley
Posted in Antlers Employees and Parties | 1 Comment »
