Image Credit: Olivia Klein, Aspen Snowmass.

Aspen, Colorado — This offseason at Aspen Snowmass will see expanded activities and work on two major ski resort projects.

As part of its summer events and activities announcement this week, Aspen Snowmass also revealed its two big projects for the 2026 offseason.

The first big project is happening over at Ajax. This offseason, the Bell Mountain (1957) and Little Nell (1986) are being removed. These two were considered secondary lifts, meaning they didn’t operate that often. The two chairlifts will be replaced by a detachable high-speed quad chairlift. This will create a new lift that people can use outside of the Silver Queen Gondola.

Called the Nell Bell chairlift, the base terminal will be situated next to the Gondola Plaza. The top terminal will be where the Bell Mountain chairlift used to end. The new chairlift will carry up to 1,800 people per hour, a major improvement over its predecessors. According to the Aspen Times, tree clearing for this project took place last week, indicating that work is underway.

The other big project is the completion of the new Ullrhof restaurant at Snowmass. $42 million has been invested in rebuilding the mid-mountain lodge, which will be Aspen Snowmass’ first all-electric restaurant. The menu will include burgers, hot dogs, fries, and shakes.

Other planned projects include snowmaking upgrades and forest restoration work. At Aspen’s Shadow Mountain, tree clearing and the removal of overgrown vegetation are planned to improve glade skiing and reduce wildfire risk.

Summer Activities & Events

Snowmass will see an improved mountain biking experience, thanks to the new Elk Camp Chair. This new chairlift gives them double the bike-carrier capacity compared to beforehand.

Snowmass will also debut e-bike access on a small number of trails for this summer. These trails include Fanny Hill, Discovery, Village Bound, Luge, Thornton and Dawdler.

Some of the events going on at Aspen Snowmass include the Aspen Ideas Festival, Up in the Sky Music Festival (with acts like John Summit and Passion Pit), the inaugural Snowmass Mountainside Music Festival, the 34th annual Snowmass Free Concert Series, Aspen Mountain Yoga, and their first-ever Daybreaker event.

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For more information about those events and the summer attractions, check out Aspen’s press release.

Image/Video Credits: Aspen Snowmass

Born and raised in New Hampshire, Ian Wood became passionate about the ski industry while learning to ski at Mt. Sunapee. In high school, he became a ski patroller at Proctor Ski Area. He travelled out...