{{Infobox newspaper
, name = Vail Mountaineer
, image =
, caption =
, type =
Free daily newspaper
Free newspapers are distributed free of charge, often in central places in cities and towns, on public transport, with other newspapers, or separately door-to-door. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising. They are published at d ...
, format = Tabloid
, foundation = June 20, 2008
, ceased publication =
, price = FREE
, politics = Independent
, publisher = Jim Pavelich
, associate publisher = Erinn Hoban
, editor = John LaConte
, headquarters = 295 Main St., Suite C103
Edwards, Colorado
Edwards is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Eagle County, Colorado, United States. Edwards is the principal town of the Edwards, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The Edwards p ...
81632 {{USA
, Slogan = Made by cool people for cool people
, website vailmountaineer.com
The ''Vail Mountaineer'' was at max volume a 12,000-circulation free daily newspaper distributed in the Eagle Valley Tuesday-Saturday.
Now defunct, it was founded by Jim Pavelich, who started the Vail Daily in 1984 and sold it in 1993. The name "mountaineer" is a tribute to the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division, which fought World War II on skis. Many members of this honored unit relocated to the Vail area.
Pavelich started the Mountaineer because he became frustrated over the editorial direction of the Vail Daily, which he said seemed to be written and edited by people who didn't want to live in a ski resort.
He tol “It was the biggest tourist holiday of the year, and the big headline on the front page, and I’m paraphrasing, said something like, ‘I hate living here.’ And although I don't remember the details, I remember that the headline was so unbelievably negative about nothing."
Labeling
The Vail Mountaineer folded without notice or remark on June 1, 2011.
As with his struggling Denver Daily News, Pavelich pulled the plug on the Mountaineer without preserving its archives and has since gone into the restaurant business