Why Vail Mountain Closes Its 'Legendary Back Bowls' During the Summer

Across North America, a handful of in-bounds terrain elements, zones, or runs have become famous amongst skiers.

Vail Mountain, Colorado’s contribution to the who’s-who of ski area lore is their highly-marketed 'Legendary Back Bowls'. This area encompasses a whopping 3,017 acres of gladed skiing, offering a counterpoint to Vail’s groomer-centric reputation.

While getting “I need to call Search & Rescue” lost in the Back Bowls isn’t easy—most of the zone’s runs lead back to a lift—their expansiveness means that wandering astray and discovering a new, hidden cache of powder is always possible.

The Back Bowl’s snowy coat melts away in the summer, leaving a similarly boundless landscape ripe for off-season endeavors like hiking. Don’t lace those boots up so quickly, though—Vail shuts down the Back Bowls (and Blue Sky Basin) for summer access between May 6th and July 1st. Why? Elk.

The ongoing closure, instituted in the mid-1990s, stems from a partnership between the US Forest Service (USFS) and Vail. Initially designed to mitigate ski area expansions, the initiative protects elk during calving season, which occurs during late spring and early summer.

Calving season is wildlife biology expert speak for the period in which cows—mother elk—give birth and nurse their young. Elk tend to return to the same place for calving season. In this case, that's the Back Bowls.

“Spring seasonal closures provide the cow and calves the necessary security to feed, develop, and eventually rejoin the herd,” wrote White River National Forest Mountain Sports Ranger Calen Orlowski via email. The Back Bowls are catnip for adventure-minded skiers, but elk prefer the area for different reasons, chowing on the grass and foliage that abound after the spring runoff. The tree-dense Blue Sky Basin provides ample cover from predators.

The presence of humans can disturb the balance found in this elk paradise. The elk view us as predators. Our scent, along with that of our dogs, spooks elk, impacting their behavior. After a human encounter, elk foraging and nursing patterns can become disturbed. Sometimes, the elk become nocturnal, exposing them to predation from night-time critters.

Given elk's sense of smell, they don't need to see a human or a dog for these issues to arise—one whiff is enough. "Repeated human visitations into a calving area can impact calf survival," noted Orlowski. "Lowered calf survival can impact the ability of the population to grow over time."

According to Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW), in the early 1900s, only 40,000 elk remained in North America. After numerous conservation efforts, that number has massively increased.

In 2022, over 300,000 elk lived in Colorado alone. “Rocky Mountain elk are now one of the greatest conservation success stories in Colorado,” wrote the CPW in a blog post.

Despite the rebound in population across the state of Colorado, Eagle County's (the county in which Vail resides) elk population has been the cause for concern in recent years. Vail Daily reported in November of 2023 that Eagle County is home to 5,500 to 8,500 elk, but that numbers have been slowly decreasing over the last decade due to human interference.

Initiatives like the Back Bowl elk sanctuary are part of a growing movement to protect the elk population, and suggest that something akin to harmony among nature, chairlifts, and lodges can exist.

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