Vail closed for the season this last weekend, and went out with a bang. Musical headliners like Wyclef Jean, Robert Earl Keen, and Guster played to thousands of eager listeners. Sunshine on Sunday provided extra slush at the World Pond Skimming Championships on Sunday. From the Vail Daily, “Vail Resorts served up free barbecue brisket and turkey legs as winter sports enthusiasts packed into the Golden Peak ski area to watch skiers and riders in ridiculous costumes attempt to skid across a 100-foot, ice-cold pond.” In the eight-year history of the event, this may have been the largest crowd yet. Skiers proved successful while most snowboarders had trouble achieving any distance.

The winner of the pond-skim event was first-timer Chris Conrad, age 19. How did he do it? “I anticipated it,” Conrad said. “I kept my center of gravity.”

“The sun was shining, the weather was warm and it seemed like all of Colorado was in Vail for the festivities.” A major mountaintop party kicked off at 4pm to close off the season.

A bittersweet moment, though, came when Vail’s famed High Noon Lift (chair 5) made its last lap around the bullwheel before it’s retired later this summer. A high-speed quad will replace the fixed-grip triple chair.

According to the Denver Post, “Vail patrollers sent off the chair with their version of a 21-gun salute when they detonated a series of leftover avalanche charges buried in the snow beneath the closed lift as the boisterous crowd roared its approval.”

Thanks for a great season- see on the snow next winter, and have a great summer!!