Sonnenalp in Vail, Colo., is owned by Johannes Faessler, whose parents founded the resort in 1979 and named it after a resort of the same name that Mr. Faessler’s great-grandparents had founded in Germany’s Bavarian Alps in 1919. He grew up in the German resort. (Associated Press)

Sonnenalp in Vail, Colo., is owned by Johannes Faessler, whose parents founded the resort in 1979 and named it after a resort of the same name that Mr. Faessler’s great-grandparents had founded in Germany’s Bavarian Alps in 1919. He grew up in the German resort. (Associated Press)