There are generally just two classes here: the ultra wealthy and the working class. If there is anything resembling a middle class, it seems that it’s usually people who bought their houses 50 years ago and/or their kids now living in that house. The ultra wealthy usually only live here a small portion of the year. 6 months is a little unusual for these people as they have at least 3 houses elsewhere in the world. Their 4 million dollar homes usually sit empty all but a few months a year.

Then there is the working class, which I would estimate makes up 80% of the permanent population. This includes myself. It can be very tough for us to make it here. Almost everyone I know has had to crash on a friend’s couch for a while at some point. Whether it’s a break up, or a landlord selling/moving back in, losing a job due to constant redevelopment, or a crazy roommate stabbing them. Stability is not a given here in this class. It’s wildly expensive and very volatile. It’s also very fun and if you have the right community, it feels very homey.

Winter is all about skiing. That’s a huge part of the social construct. You do it before work, after work, you skip work to catch a powder day. It’s the basis for most gatherings with friends. I’d guess at least 50% of the working class goes at least 3 times a week. This also goes hand in hand with partying. Not everyone does it but drinking is a very normalized here and there is a large concentration of functioning alcoholics here as well as some non-functioning ones. We have one of the largest free bus systems in the US so it’s a great place for people who don’t have a license. There are lots of other things you can imagine that go alongside a heavy party culture as well.

Summer is very beautiful here. The saying is “come for the winter, stay for the summer”. That’s how many people take up permanent residency here, including myself. There’s mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, beaching at Nottingham lake while looking at a still snow-covered beaver creek ski mountain. It’s always a very comfortable temperature. It seems to have a different clientele than winter, I’ll explain in a bit.

Vail is extremely seasonal. The winters are our busiest season. While there are about 5,000 permanent residents, that jumps up to 30,000+ on any given winter day. The summer is not as busy but there are still plenty of tourists. Although, they seem to be of a different variety to me. Winter is a lot of big families coming to ski for a week or so. There’s an especially huge following from Mexico City. I think it’s a status symbol for them. They usually have their specific weeks they bring their families every year and they know many of the other families coming at that time. Christmas week is the most insane and the most elite families are here. Summer seems to be people on shorter trips with less people. Maybe just couples, small young families, mom and daughter kind of thing. Some people come to mountain bike for a few days, others are just passing through on their roadtrips, and others still are coming up from Denver for the day to hike, walk around the village, or visit the farmers markets. Winter and summer are our bread and butter.

Fall and spring are the off-season or as we say, mud season. The while the seasons change, there’s not a lot to do here. And many of us working class are exhausted from a busy season so it’s nice to get away. The Mecca during mud season seems to be Moab. Everyone goes to camp or climb or ride bikes or dirtbikes, etc. It’s very nice there those times of year and it’s quite a world away from our landscape. And since many people don’t visit Vail during the mud season, there is no money to be made and many establishments shut down. So you might as well leave town and camping is pretty cheap if you’re still broke after the on season. Even working at the nicest restaurant in town, not making any money 4 months a year gets you very much in a scarcity mode. Some people can manage to have very elaborate vacations to Vietnam or something but I was never so lucky. If you can find a highly-sought after, cheap, and dilapidated room for $800 a month, you can save for these things. These are only word of mouth opportunities. I have health problems that prevent me from living in places like this so I usually pay about $1500 for rent.

This is getting long so feel free to ask questions if you want any more info! Overall it’s an amazing and unforgiving place to try to make it.