Many thanks to my sister-in-law, Marcia Mahoney, who took notes on her recent summer trip to Vail, CO and wrote the following:

“We went to a free concert at the Gerald Ford Amphitheater. The sidewalk down from the parking lot was free of bumps and negotiation nightmares (as shown) but despite that, they offer a shuttle service for those who might need it, which was quite handy for my mother who just has stability issues. Both entrances to the amphitheater were accessible. The seating for wheelchairs had a prime viewing spot without viewing complications and included places for able bodied friends and family. 

The following day, some of us who are lucky enough to have legs that can walk up a hill, hiked to the top of the Vail Ski Area mountain. My brother easily joined us on the gondola as the grandmother guardian. The restaurant at the top was fully accessible with stalls in the bathroom where both you and Marianne could both have done a jig. But what was amazing, at least to me me, was the path down to the zip line viewing spot as well as the restroom and ticket sales building was accessible. Granted a tad of four wheeling capability would have been necessary, but Marianne’s chair would have made it. This allowed my mom to walk down and watch our zip line silliness, which made her feel included.

Just a small snippet of what Vail seems to be doing well. I saw more of it all over the city. The buses had wheelchair lifts.”

I’ll add that Vail also has a handicap ski program; for more details see here.  A quick google search for “wheelchair accessible lodging” yielded many results – not surprising for an area with a well-developed handicap ski program.