For the Next Three Winters, Aspen Mountain Has One Front Door

At the top of South Aspen Street, the old base of Lift 1A sits behind construction fencing. The Skiers Chalet buildings wait downslope to be moved. Aspen Skiing Co. started pulling chairs and haul rope off the Shadow Mountain lift in late July, which ended a run that began in the winter of 1971-72, as the Aspen Daily News reported. Aspen Mountain opens Nov. 26, a little over a month from now. When it does, both lifts that leave town will load from the same few hundred feet of plaza at the east end of the hill.

That changes the meaning of this season's big new lift. The Nell Bell quad was approved as a faster way to Bell Mountain. This winter and the two after it, it is also the only lift out of town besides the Silver Queen Gondola.

Why the West Side Goes Quiet Until About 2029-30

There's a reason 1A came out before anything new was ready to replace it. The replacement lift's base terminal is planned on top of an underground parking garage in the Lift One corridor redevelopment, and crews have to build that garage first. That leaves the west side of the mountain without a working lift "for multiple years," according to the Aspen Daily News.

How many years depends on a construction sequencing agreement. The City of Aspen, SkiCo and the developers of Chalet Alpina and Aman Aspen finalized it on July 31. Under its estimated timeline, SkiCo would order the new lift in fall 2028, install it in 2029 and open it in the winter of 2029-30, as Aspen Journalism laid out in a piece the Aspen Daily News ran Aug. 15. The schedule isn't a legally binding commitment. Progress depends partly on the city's building permit process, Aspen Public Radio reported. Under the agreement, SkiCo and the lodging developers could face steep fees if they cause certain delays to the new lift.

City Community Development Director Ben Anderson didn't soften what's next for the corridor. "Starting very soon," he wrote to Aspen Journalism, "the entire area will have significant disruption."

Two Lifts, One Plaza

So for 2026-27, every lift ride up from town starts at Gondola Plaza, which Aspen Journalism already described as the mountain's busier base. SkiCo has also moved the ski patrol locker room that used to sit at 1A to Gondola Plaza for now.

Here is how the ways onto the mountain compare to last winter:

The Nell Bell loads next to the Silver Queen base and runs to the top of Bell Mountain. It covers about 2,650 vertical feet in roughly eight minutes, according to SkiCo figures reported by the Aspen Times on Oct. 13. SkiCo's June release lists 135 chairs. When the company proposed the lift in July 2025, it planned for up to 1,800 riders an hour, the Aspen Daily News reported.

The Gondola Finally Has a Backup

When SkiCo pitched the lift to Aspen City Council, it framed it around speed. Mak Keeling, SkiCo's vice president for mountain planning, put it this way, as reported by the Aspen Daily News:

"It's a cheat code."

He meant reaching upper-mountain lifts like Ajax Express, Hero's and F.I.S. faster than before. The same report says the trip from Gondola Plaza to the top of Bell is several minutes faster than taking the Silver Queen to the summit and skiing down to that other terrain.

The less flashy pitch matters more this winter. SkiCo told council it expects the Nell Bell to cut lines at the base on busy days and to help when the gondola can't run because of high winds or mechanical issues. Keeling said gusty days could still affect the Nell Bell. Because its alignment sits closer to the ground, though, it may close less often in wind than the gondola.

Last winter, a gondola closure still left Little Nell and 1A as ways off the plaza and off the west side. This winter, with 1A gone, the Nell Bell is the only other lift from town when the Silver Queen stops, though gusty days could still shut it too. The timing worked out because the two projects happened to overlap, but that overlap is what keeps a one-base mountain workable.

The new lift also changes Bell Mountain itself. The old Bell Mountain double chair went in in 1957 and was technically Aspen's oldest running lift. The Aspen Daily News noted it ran "only on rare occasions," and a long spring ride on it was often part of closing weekend. One of SkiCo's lift mechanics wrote in comments to the Forest Service that his crew could spend more hours on the Bell chair than on almost every other Aspen Mountain lift combined. Now Bell Mountain is where a primary base lift ends.

The Nell Bell has no mid-station. The Aspen Times reported that Aspen's mayor raised concern during the approval process that the lift could carry skiers above terrain suited to their ability. Everyone who boards rides the full 2,650 feet to the top of Bell, which matters for anyone in your group who would have stopped partway up on the old two-lift route.

Getting Back to Town on the West Side

The west side still works as a way down even without a lift up. The sequencing agreement requires Aman Aspen's crews to keep a ski corridor open past the construction site the whole time. SkiCo intends to keep Schuss Gully open to reach it "as conditions allow," Keeling wrote to Aspen Journalism.

What that means for the end of a ski day:

1. Schuss Gully is the planned route to the Lift One corridor, and it depends on conditions.
2. Norway and Normandy, two nearby runs, will be closed.
3. A ski corridor past the Aman Aspen site is required for the length of construction, so the exit doesn't depend on any one season's work.
4. Riding back up from that side means walking or driving over to Gondola Plaza.

SkiCo said in July it would share more later about which ski trails construction may affect. That trail-by-trail list matters most to anyone who has spent years skiing straight down to South Aspen Street.

The corridor will look different over the season too. Anderson told Aspen Journalism the historic Skiers Chalet Lodge and Skiers Chalet Steak House could be moved to their new spots as soon as this fall, once enough grading is done. The lodge is headed downslope to Dean Street. Eventually it will hold daytime and seasonal lockers, a SkiCo ticket office and the Aspen Historical Society's Aspen Snowsports History Museum. Kelly Murphy, the historical society's president and CEO, said finishing work by late 2029 and opening in early 2030 "seems the most reasonable at the moment." That lines up with the new lift's estimated first winter. Until then, the lockers and ticket window at the west base are still years away.

The Dates That Test the Plaza First

SkiCo has said the Nell Bell debuts this season. The Aspen Times reported Oct. 13 that the company plans to open it this winter, but no opening-day lift list is out yet. These are the dates when Gondola Plaza will be busiest:

• Thursday, Nov. 26: Aspen Mountain and Snowmass open for the 2026-27 season, on Thanksgiving Day.
• Dec. 10-13: Wintersköl.
• Friday, Dec. 11: An AVSC community rail jam on Aspen Mountain's Little Nell Run.
• Saturday, Dec. 12: Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk open, which spreads skiers across four mountains. That night, Wintersköl's torchlight parade and fireworks come down Aspen Mountain, with torches limited to kids in AVSC or another Roaring Fork Valley ski club.

Aspen Snowmass is still updating its Wintersköl page, so check event times there before you plan around them. From Nov. 26 until Highlands and Buttermilk open on Dec. 12, Aspen Mountain and Snowmass are the only two of the four mountains running. On Aspen Mountain, both lifts from town load from one plaza.

If the work in the Lift One corridor has you thinking about what three years of construction means for your own block near the base, I'm glad to talk it through with you. With Jessica Hughes, you can schedule a confidential consultation and we'll go over what the corridor timeline means for your property.