Beaver Creek is one of my favorite ski areas in Colorado and has some of the best lodging and mountain access of any resort in the West. I’ve stayed slopeside and at the Westin in Avon numerous times (it’s easily one of my favorite hotels anywhere) and recently got to experience this convenience and beauty in the summertime.
It’s been one of my favorite spots since the early ’90s actually, as one of my college buddies had a family house there when much of today’s slopes were still out of bounds or accessed through side country gates, and The Beav was still considered Vail’s smaller, more family friendly cousin. Come for the winter, stay for the summer, as they say. And this summer we had the opportunity to come up and check out The Residences Bachelor Gulch, not a new property, but a special one, and to tap into some hyper-local outdoor recreation and fine dining, all world class by any standard.
The Property
The Residences Bachelor Gulch sits between Beaver Creek and Arrowhead villages, steps from the Bachelor Gulch Express lift. Formerly Timbers Bachelor Gulch, it came under East West Hospitality management in late 2024. There are 54 residences, 30 two-bedroom and 24 three-bedroom, each with a gourmet kitchen.
The Residences Bachelor Gulch is a fractional ownership property, providing unparalleled comfort and convenience. Check out this link for more details on what a private residence model can mean for you and your family. Unlike a timeshare, when you purchase a membership, you receive an ownership interest in the Private Residence Club.
And while East West Hospitality does manage other fractional ownership properties, a large portion of its portfolio consists of traditional lodging and vacation rentals, making The Residences Bachelor Gulch a distinct offering within the broader collection, and residences are available for purchase only.
Guests have access to the Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch next door, including the heated pool, hot tubs and the 21,000-square-foot spa. A complimentary shuttle connects to the surrounding villages. Staff run ski valet in winter and shift to golf, hiking and mountain biking support in summer. The service was spectacular at every touch point.
The Trend
Today more travelers are booking residence-style lodging, condos and multi-bedroom units with full kitchens that suit a longer, more flexible mountain trip better than an overpriced hotel room.
The pattern comes as a strong summer follows a dismal winter across the West, the worst season on record in fact. DestiMetrics, which tracks lodging at 17 Western mountain destinations, reported in its most recent briefing that bookings through November were up 1 percent. Occupancy, rates and revenue all dipped during June, but all remain ahead of last summer.
Travelers are also watching what they spend, even at the luxury level. For a big family or a group of friends, a three-bedroom with a full kitchen runs roughly the price of hotel rooms, sleeps more people, has a fireplace and room to spread out, and the kitchen helps take the sting out of eating out every meal. However, becoming an owner at a place like The Residences is actually a smart alternative to purchasing a traditional vacation home, allowing owners to enjoy a second home without the maintenance and management responsibilities. Refer to this link for more information on pricing.
Trails Right Out the Back Door
Bachelor Gulch sits within 1,400 acres of trails, most of them reachable right out the back door of The Residences. And, the Village to Village path connects Arrowhead through Bachelor Gulch into Beaver Creek, roughly 3.5 miles from village to village. Shorter options loop closer in such as Bear Paw Loop, covering the gulch’s eastern half at the easiest rating; and Daybreak Ridge runs 1.8 miles at intermediate, connecting the Primrose and Village to Village trails. Part of the trail network closes May 6 through June 30 each year to protect elk and deer habitat. But the service roads also provide excellent running and biking options.
On-Mountain Dining: Beano’s Cabin
On our first night in town we had the opportunity to experience the famed on-mountain Beano’s Cabin, a private property that is only open to members for lunch during the ski season, but opens for reserved sleigh ride dinners in the evenings. During the summer, we reached the coveted enclave on horseback from Beaver Creek Stables. The ride runs 45 minutes to an hour, climbing through what was once ranch land and is now national forest and ski runs, and ends at the cabin at 9,000 feet on the flanks of Larkspur Bowl.
The restaurant opened in 1986 and is named for Frank Bienkowski, the Polish immigrant who homesteaded the slope a century ago, raising lettuce and hay and working the nearby Aurora mine. The kitchen grows many of its herbs and vegetables on-site, and the wine list runs deep. Inside you’ll find vaulted ceilings, antler chandeliers, a stone hearth, and often an acoustic guitarist playing through dinner and the most incredible views.
The stable crew takes the horses back down during the meal, and guests ride a free shuttle back down the mountain afterward.
Angling on the Eagle
The next day was a guided wading trip with Gore Creek Fly Fisherman, the Vail Valley’s oldest fly shop and its most prominent guide service, operating out of Avon since 1983. Its guides carry nearly 200 years of combined experience and hold the most extensive National Forest Service permits in the valley, with access to the Eagle River, Gore Creek, the Colorado, and the Roaring Fork. Half-day wade trips run four hours, full days seven to eight. Waders, boots, rods, reels, flies and beverages are included; lunch comes with full-day trips.
The Eagle runs through the valley below Bachelor Gulch, and it’s the reason the fishing here holds up against better-known Colorado, gorgeous, full of fish, and convenient. The river rises near Tennessee Pass at the Continental Divide, where the East and South forks meet, and runs about 60 miles northwest through Camp Hale, Red Cliff, Minturn, Avon, Edwards and Wolcott before joining the Colorado at Dotsero. It drops roughly half a mile of vertical in its first 25 miles, then flattens out through the valley. Average flow is around 577 cfs.
The Eagle is also one of Colorado’s few remaining undammed rivers, so the flows follow natural runoff cycles, the hatches come off heavy, and the brown and rainbow trout are wild fish that have never adjusted to an artificial release schedule. From the Gore Creek confluence at Dowd Junction down to the Colorado, the Eagle carries Gold Medal designation.
Seasonally, the river runs high and off-color with snowmelt through May and into June. Once runoff drops, roughly mid-to-late June, the dry fly fishing is among the best in the state. The prime window is July through September, with flows settling into the 200 to 500 cfs range that wades comfortably. Pale morning duns and green drakes carry midsummer; terrestrials, hoppers, ants and beetles, take over along grassy banks and undercut willows from late July. Evening caddis hatches come off hard in the faster riffles near Nottingham Park and the Eagle River Preserve in Avon. By September and October, brown trout stage for the spawn and the streamer fishing peaks.
Dining in Avon
Down in town, just a few minutes drive down from Bachelor Gulch using the free shuttle service, you’ll find restaurants of all persuasions, fast food, coffee shops, grocery stores, retail, and more. We rolled the dice and ate at Agave, at 1060 W. Beaver Creek Blvd., a Mexican restaurant and concert venue that makes its flour tortillas fresh daily and keeps a long tequila list. It runs music and dancing on select nights starting at 10 p.m., with a daily happy hour from 3:30 to 5:30 and Taco Tuesdays from 4 to 9, very popular with locals.
Beyond the Gulch
The Residences Bachelor Gulch are one piece of East West Hospitality’s portfolio across Beaver Creek and Avon, which includes The Charter, with a spa, pools and on-site dining; the new mountain-modern residences at Frontgate, designed for extended stays; Riverfront Village, walkable and gondola-accessible; and the multi-bedroom One Riverfront Townhomes. The summer calendar in the valley includes outdoor concerts and movie nights in Avon all season, and the Beaver Creek Art Festival over Labor Day weekend.
East West Hospitality operates across the West’s mountain towns. In Vail: the Lodge at Lionshead, Lodge Tower at the base of Gondola One, Solaris Residences and The Lion, all within reach of the Bravo! Vail Music Festival and the Vail Dance Festival. In Aspen and Snowmass: Aspen Mountain Residences steps off the gondola, the all-electric Electric Pass Lodge, and the slope-side Havens homes, with the Aspen Music Festival and the Snowmass Rodeo on the summer calendar. Farther afield, the company runs Tahoe Mountain Lodging in Northstar Village and the Truckee area, and Founders Place in Deer Valley, near the Mountaineer Express lift.
