Beaver Creek: the back story

About Beaver Creek: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Beaver Creek grew up in a side valley of ranches and homesteads above Avon. It was planned as a gated, pedestrian resort community, with its own resort company, heated walkways and escalators, and three linked villages: Beaver Creek, Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead.

Ranch country

Before the lifts, this was ranch land. Just past the entrance to the resort, Mirabelle still occupies a turn-of-the-century ranch house built by homesteaders in 1898, and up the mountain Anderson’s Cabin was once home to one of the seven bachelors who gave Bachelor Gulch its name.

A resort by design

The Beaver Creek Resort Company of Colorado was incorporated on 30 April 1979, combining a homeowners’ association and a resort association with some municipal services, to help Beaver Creek become, and remain, a unique resort community. The result is a car-free village known for heated sidewalks and covered escalators, linked to Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead by lifts, trails and an on-demand shuttle.

Cookies at three o’clock, every day.

The Birds of Prey

Every year Beaver Creek hosts the Birds of Prey World Cup downhill, on a course the resort counts among the best steep slopes in Colorado. Beaver Creek and Vail co-hosted the World Alpine Ski Championships in 1999 and 2005, and again in 2015.

Arts in the village

At the heart of the village, the Vilar Performing Arts Center presents Broadway musicals, concerts, comedy and dance through the year, while the outdoor ice rink, ringed by fire pits, becomes the evening meeting place. And at 3pm each day, chefs hand out freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies, a Beaver Creek tradition.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Beaver Creek: the back story before you go.