The Spirit of Snow and Steel Long before skiers carved the slopes, the mountains of Vail were said to be guarded by Eira, a warrior spirit of snow and steel. Unlike the gentle goddesses of spring, Eira was crowned in frost, her braids bound in ice, and across her chest lay the weight of crossed swords — the emblem of endurance and sacrifice. When war swept across the world, the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division came to train in Colorado’s high country. They battled the peaks as fiercely as they would the enemy, carrying skis and rifles through the biting wind. The old tales say Eira walked among them, unseen but ever present, sharpening their courage and blessing their survival. Many fell, but those who returned carried her spirit home. The Coin of Vail remembers this legacy. One face shows Eira, steadfast, the crossed swords of the 10th Mountain Division etched across her armor. The date 1966 marks the founding of Vail, born from the vision of veterans who carried her mountain spirit into the town itself. The reverse shows a skull, cracked and weathered, symbol of the mountains’ unforgiving trials. It speaks of the ghost towns that faded, of warriors who never returned, and of the harsh truth that only through struggle can something enduring be born. In its hollow eyes, one sees not only mortality, but the resilience that allowed Vail to rise where others fell.
