Aspen Snowmass

Aspen Mountain

Aspen Mountain also known as Ajax has no marked beginner runs. This resort, like Snowmass caters best to the intermediates and advanced/expert riders. The terrain split on offer; 0% beginner, 48% intermediate, 52% advanced/expert.

This resort is not so popular for families due to the lack of kid's facilities and no beginner runs on offer.

Aspen Mountain used to be a skier only resort, and to this day still offers great challenging terrain for skiers. For those skiers hunting challenging mogul runs, this is the resort for you. Bell Mountain in particular offers a variety of wide open mogul runs.

There's no terrain parks on offer at Ajax. The park shredders are best to head to Snowmass or Buttermilk.

Snowmass

Snowmass is a great resort for the intermediates and above. Beginners won't enjoy as much terrain compared to Buttermilk (terrain split 5% beginner, 48% intermediate, 47% advanced/expert).

The resort offers an impressive 3,339 acres of terrain to explore, with 241km of trails. Guests also enjoy the dry fluffy powder snow the Colorado Rockies are known for.

With not too much beginner terrain on offer, novices tend to gravitate to Fanny Hill which is conveniently located near the majority of the ski in/out properties, however due to its logistical convenience this area can get quite crowded.

Intermediates are spoilt for choice with terrain to suit with almost 50% of marked trails. The advanced and expert shredders have a nice variety of terrain, with some challenging chutes and tree runs on offer in Hanging Valley.

Snowmass also has three terrain parks on offer which cater to different ability levels.

Aspen Highlands

Just like Snowmass and Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands is not the playground for beginners. This resort best caters to the advanced and expert riders (terrain split; 0% beginner, 23% intermediate, 77% advanced/expert).

Aspen Highlands offers 118 trails across 1,028 acres of terrain. The resort overall is easy to navigate, and snowboarders tend to enjoy the lack of flat areas. Due to the size of the resort, there are some fun tree runs, but not in abundance. For the advanced/expert riders you'll want to head to Highland Bowl. This area is mainly accessed by hiking and tends to take about 45 minuted to get to the top. At the top you'll find some of the best snow, and steep terrain.

Like its neighbour, Aspen Mountain, this resort does not have a terrain park. Park boarders and skiers are best to head to Buttermilk or Snowmass.

Buttermilk Mountain

Out of all 4x resorts making up the Aspen Snowmass area, Buttermilk best caters to all ability levels (35% beginner, 39% intermediate, 26% advanced/expert).

This is the smallest of all 4x resorts in the area (470 acres), but it certainly caters best to families and novices. The resort is mainly made up of wide tree-lined groomers. The resort has 44 trails, spread across 3 zones that have their own chair lifts.

The intermediate runs could even be deemed quite timid in comparison to other resorts. A confident beginner could tackle these runs quite easily which really makes this resort ideal for beginners transitioning to the next level.

Expert skiers/boarders are best to possibly look at one of the other 3 resorts in the area, but there are a few fun areas for the advanced to explore. The advanced riders are best to head to the black runs off the Tiehack lift where they'll be able to enjoy low crowds as well.

Somewhat surprisingly considering how well Buttermilk caters to beginners, there are world class terrain parks that runs the full length of the Summit Express. The most famous being X Park which is used during the Winter X Games.