Ullrhof sits at the base of the Big Burn lift, and the new building reopens this winter. Aspen One describes the rebuild as a $42 million, 26,000-square-foot replacement for a 56-year-old building, with more than 600 seats across two floors. Snowmass Ski Area is scheduled to open on Nov. 26.
The planners behind the project said the Big Burn side of the mountain did not have enough places to sit down at lunch, and the new Ullrhof was sized to close that gap. Its effects reach well past the Lunch Line catwalk.
The number that drove the rebuild
When Snowmass Town Council took up the project in December 2024, Aspen Skiing Co. Senior Planning Manager Dana Dalla Betta explained the plan with one figure. The Aspen Daily News reported her remarks:
"We're short roughly 400 seats within the Big Burn skiing pod alone. We're also trying to think forward to future growth and our annual year-over-year skier growth."
The old Ullrhof had about 325 indoor and outdoor seats. The council's unanimous approval allowed a maximum of 725. Aspen One's October 2026 announcement puts the finished building at more than 600 seats. That is close to double the old count, and the jump of nearly 300 seats covers most of the 400-seat shortfall Dalla Betta described.
Earlier, during the town's planning review, Dalla Betta called the proposed building a "workhorse dining experience" meant to feed people efficiently, The Aspen Times reported. That word fits. The building's job is to move a large lunch crowd off the snow and back onto the Big Burn and Sheer Bliss terrain around it.
| Original Ullrhof | Rebuilt Ullrhof | |
|---|---|---|
| Built | 1969 | Reopening winter 2026–27 |
| Seats | About 325 | 600+ |
| Size | Not stated | 26,000 sq. ft. |
| Dining floors | Not stated | Two |
| Energy | Not stated | All-electric, no propane or natural gas |
| Approach on skis | Lunch Line catwalk | Lunch Line catwalk |
Four counters under one roof
Doubling the seats only helps if people can get through the building quickly. The new layout splits the crowd. Rather than one line, Aspen One describes four concepts under a single roof, each built for a different kind of stop.
| Concept | What it serves | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Ullrhof | Gourmet burgers and sandwiches, salads, shareables, the milkshakes | Casual mountain dining |
| Ullrmarket | Espresso drinks, fresh pastries, grab-and-go snacks | Full-service espresso bar and market |
| Ullrbar | Upscale shareable plates, craft cocktails | Top floor, table service, opens onto an outdoor deck |
| Ullrgrill | Hot dogs, brats, doughnuts | Outdoor bar and grill, open on sunny days only |
The milkshakes made the move, and Aspen One's winter announcement says the Ullrhof Bloody Mary returns too. Those two items are a big part of what longtime skiers remember about the old building.
Each concept takes a different share of the crowd. Ullrmarket is for the skier who wants coffee and a pastry and does not want a table. Ullrgrill moves sunny-day traffic outside. Ullrbar gives the slower, sit-down lunch its own floor, away from the main counter. According to the Aspen Daily News report on the 2024 approval, the plan the town approved also set the main dining flow around kiosk and mobile ordering. Guests would find a seat, order on a screen, and pick up their food when notified, and at least one cashier would stay on for anyone who prefers to order in person.
Why Elk Camp and Alpine Springs should feel it
The 400-seat shortage was not only a Big Burn problem. Dalla Betta told council that the expansion was also meant to take pressure off the Elk Camp and Alpine Springs pods. When Big Burn lacks seats, hungry skiers ride somewhere else to find them. A bigger Ullrhof gives that overflow a place to stop where it started.
Snowmass has been adding seats around the mountain at the same time. In the Big Burn pod, the former Lynn Britt Cabin, now called The Cabin, was renovated and expanded by about 80 seats. Last winter, Elk Camp Restaurant opened a 120-seat east-side deck with a retractable umbrella and a glass wall system, and the Elk Camp lift became a six-pack. Alpine Springs, according to the same 2024 council discussion, has plans for a restaurant of its own.
Taken together, these projects spread lunch more evenly across the mountain. Snowmass Tourism called them part of a multi-year initiative to improve on-mountain dining and add restaurant seats across Snowmass. Ullrhof is the largest single piece of that work.
How the town shaped the building
The design changed during its public review. As the Aspen Daily News reported, council approved the project with conditions, including a request that SkiCo consider lowering the roof, which was proposed at 63 feet 11 inches. Chris Kiley, SkiCo's senior vice president of planning and development, answered that the roof pitch opens up views for guests inside.
Councilmember Britta Gustafson focused on restrooms. "It's challenging to stand in the lines -- you've got the kids going in with you," she said, as reported by the Aspen Daily News, and she suggested the women's restroom be larger than the men's. Kiley noted that the plans include a family restroom. The study of added women's stalls became one of the approval conditions.
The site around the building changed as well. The larger footprint required removing trees, and SkiCo said it would replant some in front of the building to steer skier traffic away from the ground floor, though not one-for-one. Dalla Betta said skier circulation would make it very difficult to safely add back as many trees as were removed. Arriving on the Lunch Line catwalk this winter, the approach will look different from the one people remember.
The first electric kitchen on the mountain
Aspen One calls the new Ullrhof its first fully electric on-mountain restaurant. CEO Geoff Buchheister told Aspen Public Radio that the project uses neither propane nor natural gas. On a mountain, that matters for daily operations as well as emissions, because fuel for a mid-mountain kitchen has to come up the hill.
A related project sits elsewhere on Snowmass, at Elk Camp. A new battery system there provides backup power so the Elk Camp chairlift can keep running during outages. Aspen One calls it the world's first battery-backed chairlift. The diesel generator it replaces produced roughly 144 tons of carbon emissions a year. Outside operating hours, Holy Cross Energy will draw stored power from the battery back into the grid.
What opening week looks like
The Aspen Daily News photographed Aspen One's preview of the finished building on Oct. 23 and reported that it will be open for the 2026–27 season. The full rebuild began in summer 2025, so last winter the Big Burn pod went without its main lunch stop.
For anyone planning the first ski days of the season, here is what's set:
- Snowmass is scheduled to open Nov. 26, with the season running through April 11, conditions permitting.
- Ullrhof is at the base of the Big Burn lift, reached from the Lunch Line catwalk.
- Ullrbar is on the top floor with the deck. Ullrgrill depends on the weather and opens only on sunny days.
- Elk Camp Restaurant's east-side deck and The Cabin's added seats give the same part of the mountain other options.
Aspen Snowmass is marking its 80th anniversary this winter, and the new Ullrhof leads the company's list of marquee mountain projects for the season. The original building lasted 56 years. The new one was sized for the skier growth Dalla Betta described at council, so it is meant to serve Snowmass for a long time.
If you own a home near the Snowmass slopes and want to know how this season's lifts and lodges factor into its value, Bruce Johnson can walk you through it over coffee or on the mountain. Request a Home Valuation, and we will start with where your property sits relative to Big Burn, Elk Camp and the rest of Snowmass.
