SNOW - Life | Lifts | Luxury

photo: Ric Stovall

I set my alarm early on a recent morning in Vail, but the town was up with the sun and whistling like a teakettle after a much-needed powder dump. Far more quickly than I would have liked, I downed a European-style breakfast at the new-in-2011 Sebastian Vail hotel — hearty breads, smoked salmon, and homemade Muesli that could hang with any Swiss alpine concoction — and bee-lined it to the Vista Bahn for first tracks. A handful of corduroy swooshes later (punctuated at every chance by that untouchable feeling of floating a snowboard through fresh powder stashes alongside the runs), and you wouldn’t have thought I’d be ready to retire the old snowboard to its lean-to position on a rack and pad the stomach some more. But I had a reservation at Vail’s new table-service, on-mountain restaurant, The 10^th, and it was alarming how willingly I popped off those powder-caked boots and slipped into the fuzzy slippers proffered to diners at this beautiful glass, wood, and stone restaurant at Mid-Vail.

The 10^th’s “modern Alpine cuisine” menu places Savoyard-style specialties such as gratin potatoes with house cured ham alongside gourmet brick oven pizzas and hearty sandwiches, salads, and pasta dishes (the Angus burger with Vermont cheddar is only $17 — not too much of a price departure from the mountain’s cafeteria-style restaurants). The heritage chicken and pheasant potpie caught my eye on this bitterly cold but bluebird-sky day, but I opted for the hand-cut fries with black truffle and Parmesan cheese followed by a bowl of the spicy Colorado lamb chili. It all went down with mesmerizing views through the restaurant’s enormous windows of the snowy peaks of the Gore Range —not to mention a landscape of my fellow mountain-goers slogging it in their ski boots just outside, exhalations billowing from their mouths in big puffs. The powder was calling. But I wiggled my toes inside my slippers and ordered a green tea, content to draw out the delicious meal just a little while longer. The snow might have been getting shredded ever thinner by the second, but pleasure on the mountain, I reminded myself, comes in many forms—some warmer than others.  And anyway, it was forecasted to snow all through the weekend. On this afternoon, the mountain could wait.  

The 10^th  is open daily for lunch. Walk-in seating is available, but you’re best off booking a table in advance by calling 970-SKI-VAIL (754-8245)