SAM Magazine—Aspen, Colo., April 15, 2025—It’s going to be a busy summer at Aspen Snowmass as the resort will take on a broad range of capital projects that will touch all four mountains—Aspen Mountain, Snowmass, Aspen Highlands, and Buttermilk—and cost nearly $80 million. The plans include two new lifts, restaurant reconstruction and expansion, snowmaking upgrades, and forest health projects.
Credit to Aspen Skiing Company
“We have a huge summer ahead for on-mountain developments here at Aspen Snowmass,” said Aspen Skiing Company CEO Geoff Buchheister. “[These projects] support the continued longevity of our business and our legacy of delivering world-class adventures. I’d like to extend my gratitude to our dedicated teams and partners for their hard work and collaboration to see these projects through to completion.”
Headlining the upgrades are two new lifts: a six-pack chair that will replace the existing Elk Camp quad; and a T-bar, which will replace the Cirque platter lift.
The resort noted that the new Elk Camp lift will almost double the mountain bike upload capacity for the Snowmass Bike Park, “which was a major driving factor in the project.” The added uphill capacity will also reduce wait times in the winter.
The new Cirque T-bar will effectively double the capacity of the existing single-rider platter lift, which is one of the highest lifts in North America, according to Aspen Snowmass.
“The areas of terrain served by these lifts are some of the most popular on our mountain,” said Snowmass mountain manager Susan Cross. “These updates allow for guests to more smoothly access Snowmass’ classic wide-open slopes and sweeping vistas at Elk Camp, and the incredible variety of high-alpine terrain we have off The Cirque. I am proud that we continue to invest in making this mountain the best that it can be, and having high-speed, higher capacity lifts is critical to the Snowmass experience.”
Dining projects include the dismantling and rebuilding of the 56-year-old building that houses the mid-mountain Ullrhof restaurant. The new Ullrhof will have twice the seating capacity (500 seats) as the current one. It will also be the resort’s first all-electric on-mountain restaurant.
In addition, Elk Camp restaurant will also see upgrades this summer—pending approval from the Town of Snowmass Village—with a proposed expansion of 120 seats to the outdoor deck footprint as well as the addition of a covered umbrella area outside that will be used year-round.
All four mountains will undergo snowmaking upgrades, including additional investments in automation and new technologies to make snowmaking more energy efficient, as well as expanded snowmaking coverage at the mid- and upper-mountain areas to ensure skiable terrain during the early- and late-season.
Finally, forest health and safety projects are also planned across all four mountains to improve wildlife habitats, reduce wildfire risks, maintain healthy ecosystems—and improve the tree skiing experience—on roughly 40 acres of terrain. This will include the completion of glading work for the new Hero’s expansion on Aspen Mountain.
Aspen Skiing Company thanked the U.S. Forest Service teams with the White River National Forest for their partnership in the review and forthcoming construction processes for each of these developments.
“It is impressive to see this level of investment at Snowmass,” said Monte Lutterman, mountain resorts and recreation special uses supervisor for the Aspen – Sopris Ranger District. “I believe visitors will genuinely benefit from these improvements for decades to come.”
