Aspen Snowmass Ski Resort — Attraction in Snowmass Village

I grew up here and I love this place. It is breathtaking. Absolutely gorgeous scenery no matter what time of year you visit. Amazing hiking, fishing, camping, kyacking, spelunkering, rock climbing, hang gliding and every sort of outdoor mountain area sports and recreation you can think of in the summer; downhill and cross country skiing, snowshoeing, skating, sledding, tubing, camping and more in the winter. Originalky a silver mining tiwn with anazing character abd charm filled with wuaint little businesses and gmrestaurants with home cooked fair alingvwith a sprinkling of top notch cuisine it has evolved into an outrageously overpriced playground for the ruch abd famous and a home for progressuve liberaks with no concept of what it neabs to be a patriot or believer in the constitutional republic of law America was envisioned as by our founders. Over the last 25 years it has become filked with wealthy liberals that advicate socialism but complain sbout having to oay $30/hour or more for their maids and landscaping maintenance of their 10 million dollar homes many of which wete built on properties where historic Victorian homes or log mining cabins were destroyed and replaced wuth contemporary architecture that eventualky all but destroyed what it was they moved to Aspen for: its character, charm, hiistory and unique backdrop in the Rocky Mountains, just west of the Continental Divide. It has lost much of its unique and awesome ambiance over the years as big money has purchased up the homes and businesses and created a mountain town version of Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills complete with the snooty rich and their politics, one upsmanship, and absentee ownership that is de rigeur for people that can afford 5 or 6 homes across the globe. The outdoor activities still abound, but be prepared to pay too much for everything, everywhere you go. Aspen has the highest single day lift ticket price in America. A studio condominimum in downtown at the base of Aspen Mountain (Ajax) less than 400 square feet goes for well over a million dollars. Single wide trailers here sell for over a million in either of the two traiker parks in Aspen. Homes with almost no property are in the millions. Homes wit property anywhare from 5 to 50 million dollars and it keeps going up up up.Cheap single rooms in the 2* older hotels are often well over $300 a night in the off season and 4* or 5* accomodations can run anywhere from $1,500 for a small room with a double bed to $15,000 or more a night for a contemporary designer home durungboeak season. If you can afford it, is it worth it? Yes! But I admit I am...

I couldn't have asked for a much better vacation. I visited Snowmass with 6 friends during Yelp's Winter Break and we all had an amazing time. Because the season hadn't officially started when we went in early December we were able to snag an amazing deal on a 4 bedroom condo at Tamarack and get our lift tickets and rentals at half price.

We had some great food scattered around Snowmass, Venga Venga and Slice were both delicious. There's really everything you could ever want in Snowmass so there's no reason to leave if you don't want to. Everyone we encountered was pleasant and seemed to be enjoying what they were doing. The bus to Aspen took around half an hour and ran pretty regularly however it took over an hour while it was snowing.

We got amazingly hooked up when it came to lessons. I feel terrible that I can't remember her name but thought it was Sara G, my girlfriend seems to think it was Martha. Lessons are normally capped at 5 and after another friend showed up we had 7. They're also around $600 which is pretty steep. Anyway she found a great instructor who would take all 7 of us and got the price to something we could agree on. She really went out of her way to make our vacation amazing. We had Mike from New York as an instructor and he was a great guy. We were all at difference skill levels but he worked with us and got us to a point where we weren't repeatedly falling on our butts. He was super nice the whole time and I felt like he actually cared about our progress.

As far as skiing goes I would be the last person you should take recommendations from. A friend and I were the two weakest skiers and hit up the meadows 20 or 30 times. Sadly because there hadn't been much snow yet many of the beginner areas were closed. We decided to try one of the other greens but the difficulty was enormously higher and we ended up taking the gondola back down. Everyone we were with had a great time and love the selection. Also the food at Elk Camp is pretty decent, I think everyone got chili and it really hit the spot.

Everything about Snowmass was just about perfect. It's a beautiful little town with a ton to keep you occupied, having a stunning view of the mountain was a great way to wake up. I think everyone on the trip agreed that we would go back again in a heartbeat. I really don't think it gets much...

Been coming here for the past several years, spending a week each February. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of the resort by now - I can get just about anywhere on the trail map by sight alone. But no matter how many days I ski here, and no matter how explorative I feel that I am, every single day still shows me something new - a new gully, a new powder stash, or a new pocket of trees to hit. The "mass" in Snowmass is certainly no accident - this place is legitimately huge. There is something for just about everyone - from gentle groomers for new skiers to some of the gnarliest inbounds steeps and cliffs in the state for advanced/experts. The terrain off Big Burn and Sheer Bliss is very rarely groomed but suitable for most intermediates - you will find powder stashes days after a snowstorm up there just about every time. Gowdy's, Headwall, and the Hanging Valley will challenge all but the very best skiers out there. Unlike some other major CO resorts, Snowmass' lift layout makes sense - pretty much every corner of the resort is no more than 2 lift rides from wherever you might happen to be if you are a comfortable all-mountain skier.

The village is also a welcome change from what you'll find over in Aspen or in a place like Vail. The very base area (where the Elk Camp Gondola starts) has several large luxe hotels and shops, but just up the hill (or up the Skittles gondola) you will find the Village Mall and even further up, more reasonably priced ski-in, ski-out lodging. Laurelwood and Timberline are great for small groups/families and almost always cheaper than the hotels - and if you want to get to the hotels/restaurants, they're only a short walk downhill or a short (and free) bus ride.

The downside is in the name - Aspen/Snowmass. You're absolutely paying in part for the name Aspen here. Lift tickets at the window are insanely expensive - over $200 for adults this year. The best way to truly enjoy Snowmass is to do so with a group (at a group discounted rate) or on one of the pass products (Ikon, Premiere, etc). As much as I love Snowmass, I would not pay the single-day, same-day lift ticket to ski here. The good news is that it's not TOO hard to score a deal somehow and bring the price per day down to something...