Gold Diggers, Wilderness and The Ute People: The History of Vail Valley in a Ritz-Carlton Redesign

By Janet Mercel on 04.10.23

When Simon Hamui settled in Vail Valley for the summer concert season, it was only supposed to be for six months. But he loved the area enough to stay on that winter, and eleven years later, home is both his native Mexico City and Colorado, where he’s poured all those reasons to linger into newly overhauling the Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch at the bottom of Beaver Creek Mountain. 

Summertime is Vail’s best kept secret, and we’re entering into one of the most enviable territories in the world for horseback riding, fishing, trekking, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, and fly fishing, plus world-class championship golfing. The epic sightseeing starts on the road to get there, spiraling upwards while climbing the road from the village. The Ritz is ski-in ski-out, which, to skiers and snowboarders, means you can get directly to the lifts behind the hotel, and to everyone else, means the woods and trails and endless outdoors are out the literal back door. 

It’s impossible to be in this part of the state without feeling the impression of the land’s wildness all around, and the handmade raw log framework of the hotel keeps a cabin mood within the luxury you’d expect from a property that bears its name. In the final stage of a transformation that marks the property’s 20-year anniversary, the Mexican design firm refurbished the guest rooms, suites and Club Lounge, and extensively refurbished common areas, from The Great Room, (the social heart of the hotel), to the spa lounge, all the while taking pains to ground the interiors with as many area references as possible. 

It must be difficult to connect an operation as storied as the Ritz-Carlton to its environment, but the designers mood boarded everything from “The Fourteeners,” the 14,000-foot mountain range of the Southern Rockies that makes up the valley, to the aesthetic gifts passed down from the Ute People, the family-oriented, extremely social first residents of Colorado. 

Communal living and gathering is a huge part of the experience now as it was then — people here don’t want to immediately retreat to their rooms after a long day outdoors, and the après-everything ritual of eating and talking around the fire pit or a barbeque is strong in every season. There is simply no comparison to starting or ending the day in The Great Room with its leather chairs and nearly threadbare Persian carpets, a space so homey you can trick yourself into believing it’s your living room, and the massive stone fireplace opposite a gobsmacking view of the entire mountain rising above.

As an industrial designer and Mexican artisan, the natural culture at Simon Hamui’s design firm includes a firsthand understanding of the complexities of origin, sourcing, and production, and the firm took every element into account for the redesign. Homages to the Ute are everywhere, in the colors and patterns that recall their skill in beadwork, leather and basket weaving, and pottery. After the Spanish brought horses to the Rocky Mountains in the late 16th century, they were early adopters of the equine culture that still runs rampant in the valley, becoming master horse-mounted hunters and expanding their access to the elk, deer, and buffalo they used in every element of their lives, from diet to wardrobe.

The ancient Aspen trees, with their smooth, slender trunks and silvery white barks, are an unmistakable part of the landscape, standing as signifiers of ancient woodlands. A single tree can live above ground for a hundred years and the root system for thousands. The colors and movement of the trees and surrounding forests run throughout the hotel, from the guest room ceilings laid with reclaimed wood, to the rough-hewn benches in the lobby designed by Hamui and built with local craftsmen. 

The salty side of Colorado history is here, too, when settlers came crashing in from all over the country to mine the mineral belt for silver, zinc, lead, and copper during Pike’s Peak Gold Rush. Echoes of those early fortune seekers filter through all the metalwork details and natural stone, most especially in the 21,000 square foot sublevel spa, where it’s easy to lose track of all time and space in the immersive rock-quarry-looking hot pool.

Should you choose to stay at the Ritz and never leave, you’d probably be very happy, but the warm weather season in Vail Valley and its villages and neighboring towns — Beaver Creek, Vail Village, Lionshead, Golden Peak, Dillon, and Avon — is not to be wasted. 

Sounds & Sports

The summer music scene draws thousands, including the breathtaking lakeside venue, the Dillon Amphitheater, the forest-centered Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, and the summer concert series at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek. 

The free AvonLIVE! Concerts in the Park runs at the neighboring Nottingham Lake & Beach, which sponsors daily yoga programming, paddle boarding, boat rentals, trout fishing and, of course, the beach. (Take the dogs for a swim, too.) 

Along Gore Creek, biking trails span almost 60 miles through mountains, and the shuttle companies will even drop you at the top of Vail Pass if you’re looking for an easy sightseeing ride. 

The Gore Range surrounding Vail has some of the most legendary trekking in the country for hiking, horseback riding, ATV tours, summer and fall foliage, and easily accessed waterfalls. (If you hit Booth Falls or Piney Lake, you will probably see a moose.)

For the Kids

Copper Mountain runs Woodward Copper Summer Camp all season long, or take in the annual Go Pro Mountain Games. 

The popular, on-site Ritz Kids programming starts up for the season at the Ritz-Carlton property on May 27.

Last but not least: the food scene.

The Vail Farmers Market and Art Show and Dillon Farmers Markets start up in early summer, plus, a quick and dirty favorites list from locals: 

Lunch: Pepi’s Restaurant & Bar

Brunch: Vintage

Dinner/Nightlife with a Chic Scene: Chasing Rabbits

Gastropub: Mountain Standard

Best Sushi: Matsuhisa and Sakaba at the Ritz-Carlton

Taqueria & Tequila Bar: El Segundo

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