Aspen has four ski mountains on one lift ticket, and they suit very different skiers. Snowmass is the one for families and mixed groups. It's bigger than the other three put together and has something for every level. Buttermilk is for kids, beginners and anyone who wants a quiet, old-school day. Aspen Highlands is for the Highland Bowl hike, lunch at Cloud Nine and empty runs. Aspen Mountain, the one that drops into town, is for expert skiers. Adult day tickets run roughly $210 to $280 this season depending on the date, and kids six and under ski free.
People say "Aspen" as if it were one ski resort. It's four separate mountains strung along about ten miles of valley, and they don't connect on snow. You pick one each morning. A free bus runs between all of them, and one ticket works everywhere.
Pick wrong and a beginner ends up staring down a mountain with no green runs, or a strong skier spends the day on flats. We are Aspen/Snowmass locals, and ski over 100 days a year. Here’s our take on which mountain to ski.
Best for families: Snowmass
Best for beginners and kids: Buttermilk
Best for experts: Aspen Mountain
Best for an adventure: Aspen Highlands
Best for a quiet day: Buttermilk
Cruising corduroy on Snowmass Mountain
Snowmass
If you only ski one mountain, make it this one. Snowmass covers about 3,340 acres. Aspen Mountain, Highlands and Buttermilk add up to about 2,400 between them, so you could fit all three inside it and still have room. It also has the biggest vertical of the four, at 4,440 feet.
Size is why it works for families. Roughly half the mountain is intermediate, there's a proper beginner area up at Elk Camp, and the Cirque and Hanging Valley will keep an expert busy for days. A group with a first-timer, a cautious parent and a teenager who wants steeps can all ski here and still meet for lunch. No other mountain in the valley can do that.
It's also the easiest place to stay. Most of the lodging is ski-in, ski-out, so there's no bus and no carrying kids' skis across a parking lot. For lunch we like Sam's, which hands you slippers at the door. The big mid-mountain restaurant, Ullrhof, has been completely rebuilt for this winter.
The tradeoff is the town. Snowmass Village is a resort base, not a place with a hundred years of history, and the best restaurants and shops are 20 minutes away in Aspen. Our Aspen vs Snowmass guide covers that choice.
Ski it if: you have kids, a mixed group, or one day and no idea where to start.
Skip it if: you want to walk from the lift to a bar in downtown Aspen.
Top of Buttermilk Mountain
Buttermilk
Buttermilk is where you learn. More than a third of it is green runs and none of it is expert terrain, so nobody is going to come flying past your six-year-old. The kids' ski school is based here at a building called The Hideout, and there's a free beginner lift, Panda Peak, right at the base. Both of our kids learned to ski here.
It's also our pick when we want an easy day. Buttermilk is small, at 470 acres, and it's rarely busy. The runs are wide and rolling, the views of Pyramid Peak are some of the best in the valley, and the whole place feels like skiing did before everything got fast and expensive. Strong skiers write it off. They shouldn't. A sunny morning of long cruisers here is hard to beat.
The exception is X Games week in late January, when Buttermilk hosts the event and the mountain is anything but quiet. Lunch is easy any other time. Home Team BBQ at the base is good value and has room outside for kids to run around.
Ski it if: you're a beginner, you have small kids, or you want a relaxed day with no lift lines.
Skip it if: you need steeps to stay interested.
Skiers hiking the bowl at Aspen Highlands
Aspen Highlands
Highlands is the locals' mountain, and it's where we go when we want to have the runs to ourselves. It's a few minutes outside town and has no real village at the base, so most visitors never make it over. That's their loss. Even in a busy week you can ski here without a lift line.
The reason to come is the Highland Bowl. It's about 270 acres of steep, open terrain that you reach on foot, carrying your skis up a ridge to 12,392 feet. The hike takes most people 45 minutes to an hour. It's in bounds and patrolled, but it's serious skiing, and nearly two thirds of the whole mountain is rated expert. There are no green runs at all.
The other reason is lunch. Cloud Nine is a little cabin partway up, known for fondue and raclette and for a second seating that turns into a champagne party. Book well ahead. If that's not your scene, Merry-Go-Round at mid-mountain is the casual option.
Ski it if: you're a strong skier who wants a challenge, a hike and a long lunch.
Skip it if: anyone in your group is still on greens.
Ajax Express on Aspen Mountain
Aspen Mountain
This is the one in the photos. Aspen Mountain, which everyone calls Ajax, rises straight out of downtown, and you ride the gondola from the middle of town. Skiing back down into Aspen at the end of the day is one of the great finishes in American skiing.
But be honest with yourself about your level. There isn't a single green run on Aspen Mountain. The trail map calls about half of it intermediate, and we'd take that with a grain of salt. The blues are steep and often bumped, and they'd be black runs at plenty of other resorts. We think of it as an expert's mountain, and we'd only send strong, confident skiers here.
If that's you, it's a joy. Bell Mountain is the place for bumps, there's a newer chair serving it from the gondola plaza, and the Hero's expansion added more steep terrain in 2023. Stop at Bonnie's for pancakes mid-morning and the Sundeck at the top for lunch.
Ski it if: you're an advanced skier staying in town.
Skip it if: you're a beginner or a cautious intermediate. Take the bus to Buttermilk or Snowmass.
How to Choose, and How to Split a Week
Start with your weakest skier. If anyone in the group is a beginner, your choice is Buttermilk or Snowmass, and that's the end of it. Aspen Mountain and Highlands have no green runs.
If everyone can handle blues, base yourself on Snowmass and treat the others as day trips. If everyone is advanced, flip that around. Ski Aspen Mountain and Highlands, and give Snowmass a day for the Cirque and Hanging Valley.
For a five-day family trip, we'd do three days at Snowmass, one at Buttermilk for the kids, and one where the strongest skiers sneak off to Highlands while everyone else has a slow morning. Couples who ski well might do two days on Aspen Mountain, two at Highlands and one at Snowmass.
You don't need a car for any of this. Free buses link all four mountains, and Aspen to Snowmass takes about 20 minutes.
Where to Stay for Each Mountain
Here's one hotel for each mountain, the one we'd book if that mountain were the point of the trip.
Snowmass: Viewline It's in Base Village with real ski-in, ski-out access, so you click in at the door and ski home at the end of the day. The rooms are residence-style with kitchens, which is what you want with kids. Our guide to the best hotels in Snowmass Village has the other options.
Check rates at Viewline Snowmass—>
Aspen Mountain: The Little Nell. It sits at the base of the gondola and is the only true ski-in, ski-out hotel in downtown Aspen. It's also the most expensive room in town, at roughly $2,000 to $3,000 a night in peak winter. If that's too much, anything downtown is a short walk to the lift, and our best hotels in Aspen guide covers seven more.
Check rates at The Little Nell—>
Aspen Highlands: The Ritz-Carlton Club. This is the only place to stay at the base of Highlands, and the lift is steps from the door. It isn't a regular hotel. It's a residence club with two- and three-bedroom apartments, full kitchens and two heated pools, and rentals usually run Saturday to Saturday with a seven-night minimum. That suits a family or two couples who plan to ski the Bowl all week. For a shorter trip, stay in Aspen and take the free bus, which is about ten minutes.
Check rates at The Ritz-Carlton Club, Aspen Highlands—>
Buttermilk: The Inn at Aspen. It's the only ski-in, ski-out hotel at the base of Buttermilk, right next to the ski school and the lifts, with Home Team BBQ downstairs and an outdoor pool and hot tub. It's also two minutes from the airport. Be clear on what it is, though. This is a simple, practical hotel and not a luxury one. We'd pick it for a few days of ski school with small kids, when rolling out of bed and onto the snow matters more than the thread count.
Check rates at The Inn at Aspen—>
If being on the snow matters most, our guide to the best ski-in, ski-out hotels in Colorado compares Aspen and Snowmass with the rest of the state.
Lift Tickets: What They Cost and How to Save
One ticket covers all four mountains, and you can switch day to day. Adult day tickets run roughly $210 to $280 this season, with the highest prices over the holidays and in peak weeks. Kids, teens and seniors pay less, around $195 at the top end. Children six and under ski free all season.
Buy ahead. Booking a week or more out saves up to 20% on tickets of four days or longer, and booking 30 days out saves up to 25%. If you're taking a group lesson, the lesson bundle drops the ticket to $174 for adults and $86 for kids aged 7 to 17.
The cheapest skiing of the year is early and late season. From opening day through December 20, and again from March 29 to closing, tickets drop to $103 for adults when you book at least two nights of lodging through the resort's own booking service a week ahead.
Best Time to Ski Aspen
Aspen Mountain and Snowmass open on Thanksgiving, November 26, 2026. Highlands and Buttermilk follow on December 12. Buttermilk closes first, on April 4, 2027. Snowmass and Highlands close April 11, and Aspen Mountain runs through April 18.
January has the coldest snow and the fewest people, apart from X Games week. February and early March are the sweet spot for snow and sunshine together, and they're the most expensive weeks after Christmas. Book hotels for Presidents' week and spring break four to six months out.
Highland Bowl usually needs a good base before it opens fully, so if the hike is the point of your trip, come from late January onward.
FAQ
Which Aspen mountain is best for beginners? Buttermilk. More than a third of it is beginner terrain, the kids' ski school is based there, and it has no expert runs. Snowmass is the second choice.
Which Aspen mountain is best for families? Snowmass. It has terrain for every level, most lodging is ski-in, ski-out, and a mixed group can ski together.
Which Aspen mountain is the hardest? Aspen Highlands. About 65% of it is rated expert, and the Highland Bowl is hike-to terrain topping out at 12,392 feet.
Can beginners ski Aspen Mountain? No. Aspen Mountain has no green runs, and its intermediate runs are steep. Beginners should take the free bus to Buttermilk or Snowmass.
Does one lift ticket work at all four Aspen mountains? Yes. Every Aspen Snowmass lift ticket covers Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass.
How do you get between the four mountains? Free buses connect all four. Aspen to Snowmass takes about 20 minutes, and Highlands and Buttermilk are about ten minutes from downtown Aspen.
How big is Snowmass compared to the other Aspen mountains? Snowmass is about 3,340 acres. Aspen Mountain (906), Highlands (1,040) and Buttermilk (470) total about 2,400 combined.
How long is the Highland Bowl hike? Most people take 45 minutes to an hour from the top of the lift to the summit.
When do the Aspen mountains open for 2026-27? Aspen Mountain and Snowmass open November 26, 2026. Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk open December 12, 2026.