Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead

The imposing Ritz-Carlton at Bachelor Gulch cultivates perfection. Consider the rarefied scene on a typical evening at Bachelors Lounge, where the manicured fingers of a precise pianist summon a beloved jazz standard while you puff on an exquisite cigar (a rare $275 Partagas with a vintage 1978 wrapper) and sip a bracingly smooth bourbon, distilled exclusively for the Ritz two barrels at a time. In other words: the panache is real, friends.

So it should come as no surprise that a 4,000-square-foot home here will most likely cost a third again as much as a similarly sized property just west over the ridge in Arrowhead. Like a dialed-down version of Bachelor Gulch, Arrowhead welcomes a different sort of crowd each summer—notably visitors from the humid Southeast, y’all, who flock to Arrowhead to play a round on the Jack Nicklaus–designed course at the Country Club of the Rockies, relishing arid daytime temps and cool evenings supping course-side on the deck at Vista at Arrowhead, serenaded by piano man Micky Poage’s renditions of Andrew Lloyd Webber tunes and, yes, “Stairway to Heaven.”

Both enclaves offer magnificent log villas set on generous swaths of forestland with long northerly views. But Arrowhead feels more lived-in than Bachelor Gulch—it’s home to more locals and permanent retirees, whose grandkids can be found zipping in and out of the many cul-de-sacs on bikes.

“It’s a multigenerational community,” says Slifer Smith & Frampton broker Matt Iverson. “You really get to know your neighbors here.”

Stats
Number of active listings (at press time): 45/30
Active median home price: $2.29 million/$1.96 million
Number of homes sold in 2016: 13/16
Median price of homes sold here in 2016: $2.15 million/$1.5 million
Average number of days on the market: 310/165

Wildridge and Mountain Star

Being a little out of the way is the whole point of living in Wildridge or its gated neighbor, Mountain Star, a five-minute drive (and an elevation gain of 1,650 feet) up Metcalf Road from Avon on the north side of I-70. But what awaits are stunning, unobstructed, south-facing, multimillion-dollar vistas of Beaver Creek and the Sawatch Range. Bonus: there’s no highway noise. None. You can’t say that for some of the valley’s tonier communities, including West Vail.

Because of its relative remoteness (without a golf course or bus access to resorts), this neighborhood appeals primarily to locals who occupy this hamlet of single-family homes, town homes, and duplexes year-round and stroll its rambling streets and trails. Mountain Star, one drainage to the east, cultivates sprawling second and third homes owned by empty nesters from afar.

Wildridge kids love the new pocket park, but adults who live here prefer to waltz out the front door and hike or trail-run with dog in tow into the June Creek drainage, or two-wheel the nexus of a newly developed system of mountain bike trails connecting Wildridge to Singletree.

“We are spoiled up there,” says Onie Bolduc, a Wildridge resident and broker at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.

The price for all of this unspoiled open space? From $435,000 for a starter home in Wildridge up to $22 million for a king-of-the-hill Mountain Star trophy.

Stats
Number of active listings (at press time): 22/1
Active median home price: $1.04 million/
$21.95 million
Number of homes sold in 2016: 5/1
Median price of homes sold here in 2016: $645k/$3.45 million
Average number of days on the market: 99/250