Aspen Highlands

Aspen Highlands Ski Resort has ski and snowboard terrain for intermediate to advanced levels, but it’s most well known for the expert runs – the type you’d love to send your mother-in-law down! Subsequently Aspen Highlands is often the preferred mountain for hard core ski bums and the local old-hands.

Aspen Highlands is unassuming and doesn’t have the same high profile as its Aspen Snowmass counterparts, or ski resorts like Vail or Beaver Creek. Aspen Highlands also lacks the over-the-top glamor and bling bling of these other ski resorts, and has a rather down to earth vibe.

Pros & Cons of Aspen Highlands

Pros 

• Aspen Highlands Ski Resort has great expert terrain and the hike-to alpine terrain of the massive Highland Bowl is the bomb.
• The killer views of the Maroon Bells are a major plus.
• Aspen Highlands has a relatively laid back vibe.

Cons

• Aspen Highlands Ski Resort is a small ski area if the Highland Bowl is closed.
• The base area has very limited nightlife, but the town of Aspen is close by.
• As with the rest of Aspen, the costs of equipment rentals, ski lessons, lodging and lift tickets (unless you have an Ikon Pass) are rather high. Considering the cost of a lift pass, you think they might have developed the lifts and/or terrain a little more.

Aspen Highlands Ski and Snowboard Terrain

Aspen Highlands is the second largest of the Aspen Snowmass ski resorts, but at only 1,040 acres (421 hectares) it is pretty small, especially in comparison to the Big Daddy Snowmass. The lift accessed vertical rise is 3,635 feet (1,108 metres) up to an elevation of 11,675 ft (3,559 metres), or you can hike up to 12,392 ft (3,777 metres) if your lungs are up for it. Even with the lift accessed terrain you’ll need to be fit, because you won’t get much rest on the lifts (3 of the 5 lifts are high speed quads).

The Aspen Highlands ski resort has trails for very confident beginners and various eye-watering groomers for intermediates. Aspen Highlands doesn’t have many single black runs, and these tend to be mogul runs. Many of the double black trails are also mogul runs, so if you love bumps you’ll adore Aspen Highlands! The moguls may even give the famous Mary Jane a run for her money.

The Highland Bowl is the pièce de résistance of Aspen Highlands. It features steep backcountry style terrain in an open bowl that fans down to tight trees. Some of the pitches are as steep as 48 degrees, and much of the terrain can be rather humbling. The bowl is partially snowcat accessed but mostly hike-to-terrain, and the hike can be brutal at that altitude if you’re not acclimatized! At least the views of the Maroon Bells from the top are a reward in themselves.

Another upside of the Highland Bowl is that the hike scares enough punters away from this slice of heaven to ensure the bowl is not crowded, so freshies last a while and the snow quality is reasonably good. Fresh tracks across the rest of the resort don’t last particularly long. Aspen Highlands isn’t crowded like Vail ski resort or the Summit County ski resorts on a weekend, but it certainly isn’t an undiscovered secret.

Where is the Aspen Highlands Ski Resort?

Aspen Highlands is to the west of the town of Aspen Colorado, about 3.5 miles by road (10 minute drive). Aspen Highlands is accessible from Aspen or Snowmass via a free shuttle bus system.

The Aspen-Pitkin County Airport (aka Sardy Field) is just a stone’s throw away from Aspen Highlands. See the Aspen travel page for more information on getting to Aspen.

Aspen Highlands Lodging

Aspen Highlands doesn’t have a village per se; rather a base area with a couple of shops, a pub, a restaurant, and various condo buildings including the Ritz Carlton Club. Aspen Highlands lodging is a good choice if your main focus is just skiing or snowboarding, because there’s little else to do.

The other option is to stay in Aspen and catch the shuttle bus to Aspen Highlands. The advantage of staying in Aspen is easy access to non-skiing activities such as the restaurant scene, the nightlife, and the fabulous Aspen shopping. The only downside may be that Aspen lodging generally costs a little more, although it is possible to find moderately priced lodging in Aspen. See the Aspen hotels page for more information.

Another alternative is to commute to Aspen Highlands from Snowmass which is a very family friendly village. See the Snowmass lodging page for more information.

Aspen Snowmass Lodging Listings

Ski Resort Facilities

Aspen Highlands has a Four Mountain Sports shop at the base that provides ski and snowboard rentals, and there are also a couple of retail shops.

Other facilities include overnight storage, lockers and a snowsports school. There are no child care facilities at Aspen Highlands – you’ll need to head to Snowmass for that.

Lunch is available at the mid-mountain Merry Go Round restaurant. The food is self-service cafeteria style, and on sunny days you can sit outside. Further up the mountain is the Cloud Nine Bistro that serves up European fare such as raclette, fondue and strudel, which can be topped off with glühwein and views of the Maroon Bells. Cloud Nine is also available for snowcat dinners.

Or down at the base area, the Highlands Alehouse has an awesome sunny outdoor patio that’s great for people watching.