Beaver Creek is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Eagle County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, United States. Beaver Creek is located immediately south of the town of Avon and encompasses the

Beaver Creek Resort Beaver Creek Resort is a major ski resort in the western United States, near Avon, Colorado. The resort comprises three villages, the main Beaver Creek Village, Bachelor Gulch, and Arrowhead to the west. The resort is owned and operated by ...

and adjacent business, lodging, golf course, and residential areas. The

U.S. Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the Federal government of the Uni ...

at Avon ( ZIP Code 81620) serves Beaver Creek postal addresses.

History

The Beaver Creek area was settled about 1865. Tucked away in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, Beaver Creek Resort has had a rich history since it first opened to the public in 1980. Located in Eagle County, Beaver Creek is a major ski resort owned and operated by

Vail Resorts Vail Resorts, Inc. is an American mountain resort company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. The company is divided into three divisions. The mountain segment owns and operates 40 mountain resorts in four countries, Vail Resorts Hospitality o ...

. Talks of opening a ski resort in Beaver Creek first arose in 1956, as Earl Eaton and John Burke sought possible ways to enter the ski resort operation business. When

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

won the bid for the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label= Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

, Beaver Creek would have hosted the alpine skiing events.

White River National Forest

Beaver Creek ski area operates on

National Forest System In the United States, national forest is a classification of protected and managed federal lands. National forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned collectively by the American people through the federal government, and managed by t ...

lands under special use permit to the

White River National Forest White River National Forest is a National Forest in northwest Colorado. It is named after the White River that passes through its northern section. It is the most visited National Forest in the United States, primarily from users of the twelv ...

. The 30-year permit assigns a portion of the bundle of rights associated with land ownership to the permit holder. All lifts, ski trails, and facilities must be approved by the Forest Service in advance prior to construction. Master development plans, construction plans, and summer and winter operating plans are approved by the federal agency prior to each season of operation. Vail Resorts pays a fee to the U.S. Treasury for the use of federal lands amounting to about one dollar per skier. Beaver Creek was originally conceived by Erik Martin, Forest Service Program Manager for Ski Area Administration (1972–2003), White River National Forest, to be a small portion of a larger ski area connected on the east by ski lifts and trails to the Town of Minturn via Meadow Mountain and Grouse Mountain, as well as, Battle Mountain, and Vail ski resort, and on the west to a new entrance portal in Lake Creek. Grouse Mountain was rated excellent for skiing and comparable to Snowmass-at-Aspen by the Forest Service. Skiing connections to Minturn, Battle Mountain, and

Vail Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the numer ...

ski resort was stalled in 1976 due to public opposition.

1976 Winter Olympic Games

When Colorado sought to host the

, Beaver Creek development was part of its successful bid in May 1970. The prestigious alpine downhill race, the showcase event of the Winter Olympics, was planned for Beaver Creek by the Denver Olympic Organizing Committee. After state voters handily passed a referendum in 1972 to stop state funding for the Olympics, the 1976 games were reassigned to Innsbruck,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, which had hosted in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

Alpine racing

The

Birds of Prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predat ...

downhill course was constructed in 1997 and Beaver Creek resort has regularly hosted

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

races in early December, primarily in the men's speed events.

and Beaver Creek co-hosted the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 1989, 1999 and again in 2015.

Grand opening

The

opened in 1980 with of skiable terrain, 4

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. Th ...

s and 28 runs. Although he had originally opposed it, Governor

Richard Lamm Richard Douglas Lamm (August 3, 1935 – July 29, 2021) was an American politician, writer, and attorney. He served three terms as 38th Governor of Colorado as a Democrat (1975–1987) and ran for the Reform Party's nomination for Preside ...

referred to the ski area during the grand opening ceremonies as the "Tiffany's" of ski resorts. As a legislator in 1972, Dick Lamm was a leader of the opposition to the 1976 Olympics. As of December 2014, the Resort reported of skiable terrain, 24 lifts, and 150 trails. The late U.S. President Gerald Ford (and wife

Betty Betty or Bettie is a name, a common diminutive for the names Bethany and Elizabeth. In Latin America, it is also a common diminutive for the given name Beatriz, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin name Beatrix and the English name Beat ...

) owned a home in Beaver Creek. Adventurist

Steve Fossett James Stephen Fossett (April 22, 1944 – September 3, 2007) was an American businessman and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer. He was the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon and in a fixed-wing aircraf ...

also lived here, and actor

Kelsey Grammer Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and producer. He gained notoriety and acclaim for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1984-1993) and its spin-off ''Frasier'' (1993-2004), ...

(and his ex-wife Camille) had a house in Beaver Creek, and an episode of ''

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills ''The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'' (abbreviated ''RHOBH'') is an American reality television series which has been broadcast on Bravo since October 14, 2010. Developed as the sixth installment in ''The Real Housewives'' franchise, it has ...

'' was shot here.Ali Trachta, 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: The Creaky Beavers Hit Beaver Creek', in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', Sep. 13 201

Gerald Ford

The community is home to the annual AEI World Forum, founded by Ford, and the annual Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. Beaver Creek was the host to Gerald Ford hosted annual summits for the retired heads of Europe at Beaver Creek.

Geography

Beaver Creek is located at (39.604895,-106.515305).

References

External links

Vail Valley Partnership – The Chamber and Tourism Bureau
*
Beaver Creek Lodging Rentals
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Eagle County, Colorado Unincorporated communities in Colorado