Skiing Beaver Creek & Vail the week of MLK day. Never been to vail and have only skied one day at beaver creek in the past. Staying at the Sheraton in Avon. Looking for any recommendations food, bars, on mountain, etc. Leaving the family behind and going with a buddy of mine. I'm seeing that there's possibly a shuttle that runs from Avon to Vail but haven't researched the details. Should I try and utilize this to get over to Vail or just drive and deal with parking? Thinking about making the drive one night down to Leadville to hit up that bar down there as I've never been there and figured I ought to swing by while I'm relatively close, is it worth it?

It will be pretty crowded that week so if you park go early so you get a space and don't have to park in the road. The drive to Leadville from Avon is a good 45 minutes if the weather is good. I guess it depends how long you are staying if it's worth the drive out there. I live here and have only been to Leadville a couple times.

For restaurants it's easy enough to see what's in the villages. If you want something a little different and it's a dude trip check out the Gas House in Edwards. Kind of a hole in the wall but has all sorts of game meats. Really good but make a reservation.

There's also a relatively new place pretty close to your hotel (5 min walk) called Ein Prosit which is a small low key place that has good sausages and German Beer.

Vail Brewing Company in Eagle-Vail is good but the best beer is at Bonfire Brewing in Eagle. It's a beer only place and small but they always have between 20 and 23 of their own beers on tap. I'm there more than I would like to admit. It's not a big nightlife place but it has great beer.

If you want to take a day off of skiing there's tons of snowmobiling around but one thing that gets overlooked a lot is snowshoeing in McCoy park in Beaver Creek (at the top of the Strawberry Park lift). They are about to expand the ski area in there this summer (forest service approval happened yesterday) so this will be the last year of that area as it is today.

Like I said there tons of place in the villages that you can't go wrong with but I tried to give some alternative ideas. That said after a day of skiing there's not a lot that beats sitting on one of the decks on the base of the mountain having a beer, listening to a band and watching people come off the mountain.

Snow has been awesome this year already and by the time you come it should be peak conditions.

Is there a good shuttle between vail airport and beaver creek? Traveling with kids and parents in Jan

There are a bunch. CME (Colorado Mountain Express) is the biggest. There's a good amount of taxi's at the airport during the winter. You can also get a private car service (Suburban) if you want to go that way. All of the above are equipped to carry skis.

There's also Uber but that's a little more hit or miss and don't count on Uber ski (cars able to carry skis) being available when you land. It could be but there's a good chance it won't.

Go to Mountain Standard for a meal!

mountain standard in Vail for sure--make reservation now.

E Town in Edwards is a good casual place