Birds of Prey Now Spans Eleven Days, and Beaver Creek's Early December Runs on Its Schedule

"Seven World Cup races across two weekends is a reflection of how far this festival has come and where it's headed," Sarah Franke, Senior Vice President of Operations for the Vail Valley Foundation, said in the organizer's May 7 announcement. For anyone who spends early December in Beaver Creek, the key word in that sentence is "weekends." The Stifel Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup runs December 3 through 13 this year. There's a men's weekend, a women's weekend, and four weekdays between them that have their own events.

Seven races is more than any Birds of Prey has held since the course joined the World Cup in 1997. The festival also arrives early in the season. Beaver Creek is scheduled to open November 25, according to the Vail Daily, so the first downhill comes eight days into the ski season. For close to two weeks of that start, the race organizers set much of the village calendar.

How the second women's downhill changed the shape

The current schedule took shape in two steps. On January 16, 2026, the Vail Valley Foundation, FIS, Beaver Creek Resort and the Stifel U.S. Ski Team announced that women's racing would return alongside the men's events. The organizers said a $10 million gift from John and Karen Arnold helped secure and expand the event to include both. That early schedule was preliminary and listed one women's downhill and one super-G. The May 7 update added a second women's downhill.

With one more race, the women's side became a full three-day weekend. Here is the full race schedule as the organizer currently posts it:

Every race finishes at John and Karen Arnold Red Tail Stadium. The dates are a plan, not a promise. At the 2025 event, weather moved race dates and changed the start and finish areas, according to that year's spectator guide. Mountain racing on a December course always carries that risk.

Weekend one is the familiar Birds of Prey, with a bigger Friday

The men's weekend follows the program longtime spectators already know, but most of its events land on Friday, December 4. The schedule on the organizer's festivities page runs:

• 3:00 p.m. Men's Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team autograph signing
• 5:00 p.m. Warren Miller's "Days Off," first screening
• 6:00 p.m. Men's award ceremony and bib draw
• 6:30 p.m. Fireworks
• 8:00 p.m. Warren Miller's "Days Off," second screening

That's a second downhill in the morning followed by five village events before the night is over. Saturday, December 5, is busy in a different way. "Meet the Cats and Dogs of Beaver Creek" is at 12:30 p.m., and Beers of Prey starts at 2:00 p.m. The organizers said in May that Beers of Prey tickets would go on sale closer to the event.

Saturday and Sunday nights move indoors. Nathaniel Rateliff plays the Vilar Performing Arts Center on December 5 and 6. When the Vail Valley Foundation announced its headliners on October 6, both shows were already sold out. Those two concerts also open the Vilar's winter season, which runs through April 9, 2027.

The four days between the race weekends

This year, after the men's giant slalom on Sunday, December 6, the next race is the women's downhill on Friday, December 11. The organizers fill that gap with events of their own:

• Wednesday, Dec. 9, 4:30 p.m. Birds of Prey Game Show
• Thursday, Dec. 10, 3:00 p.m. Pop-up après
• Thursday, Dec. 10, 7:00 p.m. "Mountains of the Moon" screening with the music of the Grateful Dead performed live

The Oct. 6 release also lists free music in Beaver Creek Village on both race days and training days. So between the two race weekends, the festival keeps going at a lower volume. There's no grandstand crowd, but there are still a few scheduled reasons to be in the village in the late afternoon.

For an owner in the village, these weekdays sit inside the event without the full weekend crowd. The game show and Thursday's pop-up are both scheduled for the hours when people come off the hill. The Thursday-night film is the bridge to weekend two, because the women's downhill starts the next morning.

Weekend two is where the new events are

The men's weekend has decades of tradition behind it. Women's downhill racing on Birds of Prey is only two years old here. In December 2024, the women's downhill on December 14 was the first women's World Cup downhill ever run on the Birds of Prey course, and a super-G followed on December 15. Women had raced at Beaver Creek before that, on the separate Raptor course. They ran downhill and super-G on Raptor in 2013, and Raptor hosted the women's speed events at the 2015 World Ski Championships. In both 2024 and 2026, the women race on Birds of Prey itself.

The village schedule for the second weekend has a few things the first one doesn't:

• Friday, Dec. 11, 3:00 p.m. Women's Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team signing
• Saturday, Dec. 12, 12:30 p.m. Meet the Cats and Dogs of Beaver Creek, second session
• Saturday, Dec. 12, 3:00 p.m. Cheers of Prey
• Saturday, Dec. 12, 6:00 p.m. Women's award ceremony and bib draw
• Saturday, Dec. 12, 6:30 p.m. Fireworks

The Vail Valley Foundation describes Cheers of Prey as a first-time event. The weekend's big concert is in Vail, not Beaver Creek. ILLENIUM plays Dobson Arena on Friday, December 11, with St. Mary and Paws. The Vail Daily's Oct. 7 report on the festival lists that show alongside the Rateliff dates and the free village music.

The free village lineup across both weekends

The Oct. 6 lineup of free music in Beaver Creek Village includes The Hip Snacks, The Great North Special, The Staples, Parton Me, Future Joy, The Runaway Grooms, The Laughing Bones, Rumours Colorado, Big Richard, The Sam Grisman Project, Rattlesnake Milk, MOONLGHT and the Scott Rednor Band. The organizers say set times may change, so check the festival site close to each day for the current schedule.

Getting to Red Tail Stadium

Grandstand seating at Red Tail is free and first-come, first-served. Paid VIP hospitality is sold separately. The organizer's posted transportation guidance describes the route from Avon:

1. Park in the Elk or Bear lot in Avon.
2. Take the regular free shuttle to the base of Beaver Creek.
3. At the Covered Bridge, board a race shuttle. They run every 5 to 10 minutes on training and race days.
4. Walk about five minutes on snow from the drop-off to the stadium.

Plan on about an hour from parking to your seat, and leave skis and snowboards behind, because they aren't allowed on race shuttles. The Village Connect app shows race shuttles under its Express tab with real-time tracking. The organizer's Plan Your Visit page covers ADA venue access and ski-in, ski-out access, which depends on conditions.

Owners staying in the village can skip the Avon lots and start at the Covered Bridge. With seven race days this year, plus training days, the race shuttles will run across most of the eleven days.

If you're hosting guests for the races, renting your Beaver Creek place during those two weekends, or deciding which December dates to block off for yourself, I'm happy to talk through the calendar with you. Led Gardner offers private, no-pressure consultations for owners and buyers across the Vail Valley.