Vail Mountain has been ranked #2 in Ski Magazines reader poll rankings once again. Vail has been in the #2 spot 4 of the last 5 years and has held the #1 position 14 times in the past, the most of any resort. Vail was beat out for the top spot by Deer Valley, a resort that bans snowboarding, one of only 2 in the country to do so. Alta, another Utah resort, is the other. Beaver Creek Resort came in 7th in the rankings.

Vail ranked #1 in Digital Services. This is mostly thanks to the EpicMix, which is an online tracking system that allows skiers and riders to log in online and see the # of days they have been out and the runs they have done.  They can then share this information with their friends and family. They have also added the ability to upload pictures to the site as well.  Anyone with an Epic Pass can go to the site once the season starts and check on their progress: www.epicmix.com/

This Saturday and Sunday, September 3rd and 4th, is the annual Beaver Creek Oktoberfest. There will be a beer garden and food vendors selling brats and other delicious items. A kids fun zone will have activities for the kids and the Helmut Fricker Band will be playing all day. “Queen Nation”, a Queen tribute band, will play at 4:30 PM both nights as well. Complimentary culinary demos will be going on both days from noon until 3 PM. The Bavarian costume contest on Saturday at 4:10 PM should be an interesting event as well. So head on up to Beaver Creek and joint the celebration.

The annual Rotary Club Duck Race will be taking place Labor Day weekend, this Sunday, September 4th. Activities will start at 10AM including food vendors and live music. The kids duck race will start at 2PM and the main event takes place at 3PM. The first place prize is $3,000, 2nd is $2,000, and third is $1,000. Come on out and enjoy the fun.

This Labor Day Weekend marks the 6th annual Gourmet on Gore event in Vail Village. The event will take place from September 3rd – 5th. It will include food and wine tastings from various Vail restaurants and several wine demonstrations. There will be live jazz music playing for your enjoyment, and new this year will be a brunch on Labor Day morning from 11AM – 2PM.

The inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge will take place next month in Colorado. The race will be coming to the Vail Valley August 25th and 26th and is hosted by the Vail Valley Foundation. A planning committee has been finalizing the logistics of the race, including advertising and traffic controls, for months. The general media operations are run by King of the Mountain Sports.

Stage 3 of the race will start in Vail and make it’s way up Vail Pass. It is a time trial 10 miles long and gaining 1,783 feet in elevation. Avon will be the starting line of Stage 4, ending in Steamboat Springs after 83 miles and climbing 5,034 feet. The races will bring not only the athletes but also media, support crews, and many spectators. There will be many vendors and entertainment including concerts. Avon will have an “Autograph Alley” at the start of the race so anyone can get autographs from the riders. Amateur riders can join in for a race from Avon to 4 Eagle Ranch before the pro riders come through the course.

Rose Bowl will have a new high speed lift this coming season. The old triple lift has been taken down and construction has begun on the new lift. The resort is also talking about plans for improvements at Red Tail Camp. The resort is currently going through the Forest Service approval process for a new 25,000 square foot building, which would seat 600 people at a time.

 There will be several upgrades made to the ski race courses in preparation for the 2015 Vail & Beaver Creek World Ski Championships. There are also new black and gold signs being placed around to give the resort a more sophisticated look.

The 2011 Teva Mountain Games started yesterday, Thursday June 2nd, with the Steep Creek competition on Homesteak Creek past Red Cliff. The men’s kayak race ended in a tie, with both Mike Dawson of New Zealand and Honza Lasko of the Czech Republic taking first place. Adriene Levknecht of North Carolina blew away the competition by 17 seconds to win the woman’s race. The creek is quite the technical challenge for the kayakers dropping 480 feet per mile and has 4 drops, two of which caused a number of competitors to swim for shore.

Today the games continue with the Big Air Wave dog jumping competition at Gold Peak starting at 5PM, and at 6PM the Teva Slopestyle Finals occur, a freeriding bike competition at Golden Peak. The night will finish off with 3 Outdoor Reels Films:

“Kadoma” – The adventure of two men kayaking the Nile, “Frontier” – A movie about kayaking all around the world including a waterfall descent of  Big Banana Falls in Veracruz, Mexico standing at 128.6 ft, “Deflated” – About two brothers experiences Stand Up Paddle Boarding in Central America.

Saturday the fun continues with the Kayak Freestyle Finals at 4:15PM, and the Bouldering Wold Cup Finals following at 5PM. There will be a free concert following the competitions at 7PM by Xavier Rudd located at Checkpoint Charlie, Vail Village.

Sunday will be the last and most exciting day of competition. At 2PM will be the Teva Raft Cross Finals on Gore Creek. 3PM Will bring the Big Air Wave finals of dog jumping competition. Also at 3PM will be the Stand Up Paddling Surfcross finals, and the day will end with the much anticipated 8 Ball Kayak Sprint on Gore Creek.

The annual Taste of Vail celebration starts today. Some of the highlights include:

Thursday April 7th is the 6th annual Colorado Lamb Cook-Off. The cook-off takes place in Vail Village from 3:30 – 6:30.

The Mountain Top Picnic @ Eagles Nest will happen from 12:30 – 2:30 on Friday April 8th.

The festivities end on Saturday, April 9th, with the Grand Tasting and auction at the Cascade Hotel & Resort. This will be held from 5:45 – 11:00PM.

The back bowls of Vail Mountain will stay open through the end of the ski season, April 24. This will be one of the latest closings Vail has ever seen and will follow right to the end with the back bowl lifts still in operation. A great snowfall this winter and a late Easter is to thank for the late closers.

There was some good news in Eagle County real estate for 2010. Total sales transactions were up 33% and total sales numbers increased 67% over 2009. Sales of single family homes in Eagle County also increased over 2009. The slow rebound of the stock market should help to encourage second home buyers to purchase in the coming months.

The average sale price in 2010 was the second highest ever at $1,197,738. This number was due in large part to the sales of  new developments including the Westin, Solaris, Ritz @ Vail and ArraBelle.

The average per square foot price on multi family homes in 2010 increased 21% over the previous year, while the 2010 average sales price for multi family homes was up 28%.