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If you marked Thanksgiving Day on your calendar as the first day of skiing in Aspen and Snowmass for the 2024-25 season, you’ll be grateful to know it has arrived early.
Some of the chairlifts on Aspen Mountain and Snowmass Ski Area start spinning today ahead of the scheduled opening date of Thursday, Nov. 28. Blame the five-day headstart on the snow — 2½ feet of the white stuff fell locally in November, including more than 8 inches this week, according to Aspen Skiing Co.
If you’re hitting the hills today, the Silver Queen Gondola at the base of Aspen Mountain will provide top-to-bottom skiing, running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The last upload is 3:30 p.m.; the final download is 4 p.m.
Skiers and snowboarders will get access to 132 acres on Aspen Mountain via the gondola and Ajax Express. Open terrain includes Deer Park, Dipsy Doodle, Little Nell, One and Two Leaf, Silver Bell, Silver Dip, Pussyfoot and Spar Gulch.
In Snowmass, the Elk Camp Gondola will be open for uploading and downloading from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with the final download at 4 p.m. Starting today through Dec. 19, the Village Express lift will run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It will shift to 8:30 a.m. Dec. 20 through Jan. 4. Starting Jan. 4, Village Express will return to the 9 a.m. daily starting time.
Snowmass will open with 109 acres of terrain, with skiing and riding across Max Park, Lunchline, Upper Scooper, Lower Hal’s Hollow, Fanny Hill and the Meadows Beginner area at Elk Camp. A pocket terrain park will be open on Fanny Hill.
At Elk Camp, the Breathtaker Alpine Coaster will be open from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekends only from today through Dec. 20, with additional operations on Thanksgiving Day and Nov. 29.
Free parking is available at the Snowmass Base Village parking garage and numbered lots today through Wednesday. The Snowmass Village Shuttle starts operations today from Town Park Station.
Single-day lift tickets today through Wednesday start at $82 for adults and $62 for children, teens and seniors. On Thanksgiving Day, that price will more than double to $179 for adults and $129 for child, teen and senior tickets.
All season passes are valid for early opening. Returning passholders who have bought one for this season can go straight to the lifts with an existing Aspen Card.
With Aspen and Snowmass open, that means the mountains are open to uphillers with an uphill pass. SkiCo is reminding uphillers to stick to designated routes.
Find up-to-date information on weather, conditions and open terrain at aspensnowmass.com. A mobile app also is available.
“We look forward to welcoming guests and the community as we kick off the ski season early together this Saturday,” SkiCo CEO Geoff Buchheister said in a statement. “The mountains are a space for inspiration, challenge and reflection for so many of us, and we’re excited to open our lifts and reconnect to that unique feeling that time spent on our mountains provides.”
Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk are scheduled to open Dec. 14.