The Legendary Back Bowls of Vail
Vail’s Back Bowls are vast, and this expansive portion of Vail is what helps to make this the largest ski resort in Colorado. You won’t find anything like Vail’s Back Bowls on the east coast. The bowls are mostly open terrain with patches of trees throughout. You’ll find guides to each of the bowls below.
China Bowl
This is one of the more popular bowls due to its location and mix of terrain. You don’t have to be an expert to make it down the China Bowl, but there are difficult trails here if that’s what you are looking for.
Tea Cup Bowl
This is one of the smaller bowls on Vail’s backside. You’ll find this bowl nestled in between the Sun Up Bowl and the China Bowl.
Sun Up Bowl
The Sun Up Bowl is one of the most popular bowls, along with the China Bowl. Access this bowl from the top of Chair #4 or Chair #11 if you are coming from the front side.
Sun Down Bowl
The Sun Down Bowl is a fun bowl with lots of variable expert-level terrain. You’ll need to take the Wildwood Express Lift from Midvail or the Game Creek Express Lift in the Game Creek Bowl in order to access this bowl from the front side.
Siberia Bowl
The Siberia Bowl can be found between the China Bowl and the Mongolia Bowls. This bowl is mostly filled with mildly-sloped black diamond runs, but it can be a lot of fun to ski.
Inner & Outer Mongolia Bowls
These two bowls are accessed by the Mongolia Poma Lift and these are on the far eastern portion of the Back Bowls. These are usually considered to be the easiest of the bowls to ski.
Vail Back Bowls Trail Map
View full-size, current trail map for the Back Bowls on Vail’s official website: here.
Back Bowls FAQ
The Mongolia Bowls have the flattest slope.
The enormous amount of available terrain here is unmatched in Colorado. The microclimate within this part of the Gore Range tends to yield lots of snow for the Back Bowls, so you’ll find fresh tracks well into the day here on a powder days.
No, neither of Vail’s gondolas will bring you to a point where you can directly access the Back Bowls. You’ll need to get yourself to Wildwood, Buffalo’s, or the Two Elk Lodge in order to make it to the backside of the mountain.
Did You Know?
The Sun Up and Sun Down Bowls were included as part of the ski resort during its first year of operation in 1962. The bowls were serviced by one chairlift which took the same path that the High Noon Express Lift (Chair #5) takes now.
See Also...
Game Creek Bowl
The Game Creek Bowl isn’t technically a Back Bowl, but it isn’t really part of the front side either. If it looks like a Back Bowl and smells like a Bowl Bowl, but faces to the west, what do we call it? Read on…
Blue Sky Basin
Blue Sky Basin is located beyond the bowls and this is the farthest area from the front side of the resort. Blue Sky Basin has a reputation for having deep snow on powder days.