Snowmass Village's Quiet Weeks: What Stays Open, and the Order Everything Comes Back
The Viceroy's three restaurants are some of the last kitchens in Base Village still open. Cafe V, Lift Line and Toro all close on Sunday, Nov. 1, about five weeks after Crepe Therapy Cafe closed on Sept. 27 and JUS Snowmass followed two days later. After that weekend, the gondola plaza runs on a skeleton crew until a reopening calendar starts up. That calendar runs ahead of the mountain. Snowmass is scheduled to open for skiing on Thursday, Nov. 26, according to The Aspen Times. The first dining rooms come back on Friday, Nov. 20.
So the off-season here is shorter than it looks. Every business sets its own dates, but most of the village's kitchens are back within a single week, the week before the lifts start.
Snowmass Tourism publishes a fall closures and reopening list. It's the most useful page in town for the next four weeks, and it's shorter on "open" than most people expect. At the Mall, The Tavern and Zane's Tavern are the two restaurants listed as open through the fall season. On the retail side, Challenge Aspen, Daly Bottle & Grain Fine Food and Guapodog are listed open all season, and Christy Sports stays open with reduced hours. In Base Village, Eye Pieces of Snowmass stays open but may shorten its hours. Alux Spalon closes for a single week, from Nov. 2 to Nov. 9.
The Snowmass Center carries the most day-to-day weight. Clark's Market, Ajax Supply, Snowmass Dispensary and Sundance Liquor & Gifts are all listed as open all season. That center is also in the middle of a long redevelopment. The Center's owner says the town has completed its purchase of the 2.9-acre residential parcel. The larger commercial redevelopment has no fixed timeline, and the residential and commercial pieces can now move separately. When Town Council approved the design in January 2025, The Aspen Times reported that it included a larger Clark's Market and an expanded post office. For now, the market that carries the village through every shoulder season is where it has always been.
The tourism office adds two cautions. During the off-season, businesses often close on Mondays and Tuesdays, and hours can change as reopening dates get closer. Its advice is to call ahead or check online before you go. That matters most for the places with no posted return date at all. Fuel Cafe closed Sept. 30. Montevino, Slope & Hatch at The Collective, Sundae Ice Cream and GG's Market inside JUS all have blank reopening fields.
Here's the return order for dining and the shops most people use, based on the Fall 2026 list:
The Viceroy has the shortest break in the village, closing Nov. 1 and reopening Nov. 23. The rental and repair shops time their return to the lifts, while several kitchens come back days earlier. Between Nov. 20 and Nov. 25, a resident can eat out on most nights of the week, and the slopes are still closed.
The biggest change on Snowmass this winter is at the base of the Big Burn lift. The Aspen Times reported that the original Ullrhof was built in the 1960s and that the replacement was planned for the same site. In June, the paper put the rebuild at $42 million. Snowmass Tourism's winter announcement says the new building is Aspen Snowmass's first fully electric restaurant, with seating for more than 600. It's part of a multi-year push to add restaurant seating across the mountain.
The menu stays familiar. Aspen Snowmass's Ullrhof page promises burgers, fries and shakes all day, and it lists the reopening as November 2026. That page doesn't name a day. Opening day for the lifts and opening day for Ullrhof could match, but nothing published so far says so, and anyone planning a first-run lunch there should check before Thanksgiving.
Snowmass also has a new way in for visitors this season. Aspen Snowmass has joined the Ikon Base Pass, which includes five days at Snowmass with select blackout dates. It's valid at Snowmass only, not Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands or Buttermilk. If friends are visiting this winter on that pass, Snowmass is the only one of the four mountains it covers.
Not everything comes back in Thanksgiving week. The Stonebridge Inn, which opened shortly after Snowmass welcomed its first guests in 1967, reopens in December after a $15.7 million top-to-bottom renovation of its 93 rooms. Heather's, the restaurant inside it, has no posted dates on the fall list. Across the slope, The Timberline Condominiums is finishing the final stage of a $25 million, multi-year renovation for this ski season, covering exteriors, siding, common areas and guest amenities.
In Base Village, Ro + Fern returns Monday, Dec. 7. Three days later, Wintersköl starts its 75th year, Dec. 10 to 13. The festival is centered on Aspen Mountain and includes a holiday market in Snowmass Village. This year adds a drone show over Aspen Mountain to mark Wintersköl's 75th, Aspen Snowmass's 80th and Colorado's 150th.
Anderson Ranch Arts Center has Spooktacular Creepy Crafts this Friday, Oct. 30, at 3 p.m. At The Collective Snowmass, the Game Lounge and Selfie Den are closed for the off-season from Sept. 28 through Thursday, Nov. 26, according to its events calendar. The winter lineup there has several new additions. Collective Conversations is a series of talks by community members on topics they care about. There are new Community Lunch & Learn workshops and a Sunday Social Club with game nights and craft workshops. Toddler Time returns on Sunday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon, free in the Game Lounge, for families with kids under 5.
For anyone who works at a Chamber member business, the Premier Chamber Pass has a $100 early-redemption benefit for passes redeemed by Friday, Dec. 4, according to The Aspen Times. That deadline falls a week after opening day.
Looking past this winter, Snowmass Tourism says the Town of Snowmass Village, Snowmass Water & Sanitation District and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science will return to Ziegler Reservoir in summer 2027. They'll start the next phase of research at the site of the 2010 Ice Age discovery, which turned up more than 6,000 large-animal bones, mammoths and mastodons among them. The airport is a different story. Aspen/Pitkin County Airport will close temporarily from April 4, 2027, through Nov. 19, 2027, as part of its modernization project. So the dig will run through a summer when nobody flies into Aspen.
Over the years, Karen has watched how the village's seasonal clock affects owning in Snowmass, from which buildings stay lit in November to which renovations wrap up before the holidays. If you'd like to talk through what this winter's openings mean for your own place on the hill, Karen Peirson is glad to sit down with you. Book a consultation.
Start your Aspen home search with a trusted local expert. Whether you're looking for a ski-in/ski-out retreat or a cozy home in the valley, Karen will guide you every step of the way.