A Healthy, vibrant community

In the athletics, the Vail Valley Foundation hosts two marquee events:

Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup

These events bring vibrancy, economic impact, and international attention to our community while cultivating a culture of physical and behavioral health through activity, shared experiences, and athleticism. In 2022 the VVF also hosted the Winter Mountain Games ‘preview’ event. Although the test event was a success in many ways, it is not likely to return in the near future.

Historically, the Vail Valley Foundation has hosted three Alpine World Ski Championships (1989, 1999, and 2015), and has organized many international events including World Mountain Bike Championships (1994, 2001), the Session snowboard jam, the Alpine World Ski Championships, cycling events, and more.

Celebrating
20 years
of mountain games

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Two decades of stoke

Celebrating 20 years, the Mountain Games has established a reputation as the country’s most celebrated festival of adventure sports, art, music and mountains based in Vail, CO.

DUAL SLALOM

The NEW GoPro Dual Slalom event was a huge hit amongst athletes and spectators in the beautiful setting of Minturn, taking the Mountain Games biking competitions to a new level in 2022.

BIGGEST EVER

This was the biggest year yet for the Mountain Games, with over 89K spectators making new memories and traditions over the six days of 35+ competitions.

Mountains of impact

When the outdoor world needs a place to gather, they come to Vail, Colorado. Each June the Vail Valley Foundation and our partners unite the outdoor community in the spirit of health, fun, competition, music, art, and more. Since 2002, the GoPro Mountain Games have been the epicenter for “Athletes, Art, Music, and Mountains,” and in 2022 we celebrated 20 years in style. Concerts at The Amp, art in the streets, and more than 35 competitions in whitewater, climbing, biking, trail running, disc golf, fishing and, of course, DOGS, helped bring fresh air, and a fresh, post-pandemic, perspective, to everyone gathered for this iconic annual event.

Growing the games for 20 years

“

It was refreshing and encouraging to see the 20th anniversary GoPro Mountain Games event return to full capacity with over 35 competitions, 3 nights of concerts, countless happy dogs, and over 89,000 spectators over 6 days. The Mountain Games is a special event for the Vail Valley, the outdoor community and all of our sponsors, partners, athletes, volunteers and staff. There is no better way to kick off summer in Vail than with the best outdoor sports and music festival in the world. We can’t wait for 2023!

Dave Dressman
GoPro Mountain Games Event Director

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Where winter begins

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Kilde repeats

Four races have been held on the Xfinity Birds of Prey course since Dec. 3, 2021. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway has won them all. Only one other racer has won four races in a row (by calendar date), in multiple disciplines, in the event’s history: Hermann Maier of Austria won three races in December 1999 followed by the fourth a year later.

Read about Kilde’s repeat

Breakthrough for Radamus

A very bright spot for the Americans was a stellar performance for local racer River Radamus who was the best American racer of the day, finishing 16^th from a start position of 57^th. The United States team had a tough race otherwise, with both Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Travis Ganong skiing off course and with DNFs also from Kyle Negomir and 2019 Xfinity Birds of Prey giant slalom champion Tommy Ford.

Powder day!

The skiing was fantastic in Beaver Creek during the races. More than a foot of snow fell on Thursday night and into Friday. Although Friday’s race was canceled, our on-mountain teams received international acclaim for their ability to host a race on Saturday, and create world class course conditions, despite the weather conditions. Spectators were also able to ski-in and ski-out of the weekend’s races.

Audi FIS Ski World Cup's No. 1 Stop

90 Competitors
14 Countries
2 Races

North America's Downhill

Two downhills and a super G were on the schedule for the Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup in 2022. Downhill 1 was canceled due to heavy snow, but the second downhill and super G were a success!

Russi’s Ride

Vertical Drop: 461’ | 141m
Distance: 1,945’ | 593m

“Racers were '...amazed,' how well the track was prepared.”

–Markus Waldner

A celebration of winter's opening

The festivities of BC World Cup weekend celebrate “Where Winter Begins” in North America.

Redtail Jump

Final jump before the finish line.

The Flyway

Vertical Drop: 295’ | 90m
Distance: 1,877’ | 566m

The brink

Vertical Drop: 174’ | 53m
Distance: 493’ | 150m
The talon

Vertical Drop: 404’ | 123m
Distance: 956’ | 292m
Pete’s Arena

Vertical Drop: 448’ | 136m
Distance: 1,059’ | 323m

$3.4

Economic Impact
10,000+

Attendees
645

Attendance at Beers of Prey (Sold out!)

The abyss

Vertical Drop: 697’ | 212m
Distance: 2,224’ | 678m

PURE SPEED

Watch valley local River Radamus’ incredible super G run, where he leaped out of bib 57 to take an astonishing 16th place.

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Watch Top American Downhill runs

Travis Ganong

Bryce Bennett

Ryan Cochran-Siegle

Visit Birds of Prey site

Winter Mountain Games

In 2022 the Vail Valley Foundation hosted the Winter Mountain Games ‘preview’ event Feb. 25-27. Free concerts brought warmth and dancing to the wintertime streets at the Solaris Concert Stage, the USA Skimo Championships made headlines as the sport gears up for its Olympic debut in 2026, and athletes, art, music and mountains were once again made part of the Mountain Games winter/summer series for the first time since the Vail Valley Foundation held the wintertime version of the event in 2013. Although the event is not planned to return in 2023, the foray back into Winter Mountain Games showed that the event still has promise as a potential option for the future.

10,232 attendees
4.3/5 satisfaction rate
676 room nights booked
$2m economic impact