Ullrhof Reopens on Snowmass as a Restaurant Built for the Lunch Rush

When Aspen Skiing Co. applied to rebuild Ullrhof, its filing said the Big Burn pod "can see over 3,000 skiers on the mountain during the lunch period," drawn by the intermediate terrain off the Big Burn and Sheer Bliss lifts. The restaurant at the bottom of that pod, built in 1969, had seats for about 325 of them.

That gap explains the new Ullrhof, which Aspen One showed to the press on Oct. 22 and which is listed to reopen in November. The Aspen Daily News put the rebuild at $42 million, all-electric, with more capacity and square footage than the old building. For anyone who skis Snowmass from the village all winter, it means the busiest lunch zone on the mountain now has a restaurant sized for its crowd and designed to keep seats turning over.

The Seat Shortage Ullrhof Was Rebuilt to Fix

SkiCo has been open about the numbers. When the Snowmass Planning Commission reviewed the project in October 2024, The Aspen Times reported that the company estimated Snowmass was short 460 to 650 restaurant seats mountain-wide at current skier volume. Between 380 and 460 of those missing seats were in Big Burn alone. Senior Planning Manager Dana Dalla Betta made the same point to Town Council two months later: "We're short roughly 400 seats within the Big Burn skiing pod alone."

The approved maximum of 725 is almost exactly the old seat count plus the shortfall Dalla Betta described. Even at that ceiling, though, the building holds about a quarter of the skiers SkiCo says can be in the pod at midday. Serving that many people from a building that size depends on how quickly each table turns over.

A "Workhorse" by Design

SkiCo has described the new Ullrhof in terms of throughput from the start. "It would be a workhorse dining experience," Dalla Betta told the planning commission, as The Aspen Times reported. "It's our goal to feed as many people as efficiently as possible."

The 2024 plans show what that meant in practice. According to the Aspen Daily News report on the council approval, the main dining flow was redesigned around kiosk and mobile ordering. A guest finds a seat, orders digitally and picks up the food when a notification arrives, and at least one cashier stays on for people who would rather not use the digital system. The upper floor was planned as a grab-and-go bar for quick stops, and the paper noted the bloody marys would still be available there. The menu concept centered on a high-volume burger bar inside, with brats, hot dogs and draft beer on the outdoor deck.

Each of those choices aims at the same thing. Ordering from your seat removes the tray line, and selling food on the deck spreads the crowd outside. A quick-stop bar upstairs lets people grab a drink without taking a table from a family that wants lunch. These were approved plans in 2024, and the opening-week setup may differ in details. The direction has been consistent since the first filing.

Getting in is also designed around ski traffic. The building is three stories set into the hillside, and the added third floor gives ski-in, ski-out access from the Lunch Line catwalk. SkiCo also planned to replant trees in front of the building to steer skiers away from the ground floor.

Why Elk Camp and Alpine Springs Should Feel It Too

Ullrhof sits on the west side of the mountain, but SkiCo said the expansion was also meant to relieve the Elk Camp and Alpine Springs pods. When Big Burn has nowhere to sit, hungry skiers move to the next lodge over. Adding several hundred seats where the shortage was worst should take pressure off restaurants across the mountain.

Ullrhof is also the largest piece of a pod-by-pod buildout that has been underway for several winters:

• The Cabin, formerly Lynn Britt Cabin, is in the same pod as Ullrhof. Its renovation added about 80 seats.
• Elk Camp Restaurant opened last winter with a 120-seat deck expansion and "umbrella"-style retractable walls, according to Aspen One's 2025-26 winter announcement.
• Alpine Springs has a restaurant of its own in SkiCo's plans.

Dalla Betta described the long view in the same Aspen Times story: "The Ullrhof redevelopment is a key element in a multi-step plan to increase seating at on-mountain restaurants. Making it easier to find a seat in peak periods and improving the overall guest experience on Snowmass Mountain." She also told council the building includes room for the ski area's year-over-year skier growth over the term of its master plan.

Last winter showed what Big Burn looked like with no Ullrhof at all. While the building was under construction, the Spider Sabich Race and Picnic Area reopened for the first time in many years with The Hot Dogger, a quick-serve pop-up featuring L.A.-based Sumo Dog. This season the pod gets back a full restaurant, larger than the one it lost.

What the Building Is Made Of, and What It Runs On

The new Ullrhof is Aspen Snowmass's first all-electric on-mountain restaurant. In an April 2025 release, the company tied that to Aspen One's approach to sustainable building design and operations. Aspen One's winter announcement last fall described the strategy as building all-electric across all new construction wherever possible. The rebuild was part of nearly $80 million in Snowmass projects that broke ground in 2025, along with the Elk Camp six-pack and the Cirque T-bar.

Shaw Construction is listed as general contractor, and Carpentry Plus provided design-assist work on the mass timber. During planning, SkiCo said the primary structure would use heavy timber and glulam, subject to Forest Service review.

The roofline is the feature skiers will spot first from the Big Burn lift. Town Council approved the project unanimously in December 2024 and asked SkiCo to consider lowering the roof, which sits just under the 65-foot code maximum at 63 feet 11 inches. Chris Kiley, SkiCo's senior vice president of planning and development, said the steep pitch opens up views for guests inside. Council members also pushed for more women's restroom stalls, and Kiley noted the plans include a family restroom.

What's Set for the First Lunch Back

Here's what's on the record for opening:

1. Timing. The Aspen Snowmass Ullrhof page lists the reopening as November 2026. Aspen Snowmass's projected opening day is Thursday, Nov. 26, according to The Aspen Times' Oct. 24 roundup. That story's headline notes that warm weather hasn't helped resorts get ready, so the date depends on conditions.
2. Hours. Lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., per the resort's listing.
3. Menu. Burgers, fries, shakes and hot dogs, the same diner-style lineup the old building was known for. The signature All-In Burger is triple meat and triple cheese on locally grown, grass-fed beef, with special sauce on a brioche bun.
4. Location. The base of the Big Burn lift, same as before, with the deck facing the views.

The final seat count, the ordering system on opening day and the name of the upstairs bar will be clearer once the doors open. Snowmass Tourism advertises 600+ seats, and the 2024 approval allows up to 725. Either number is roughly double the building that served this pod for more than five decades.

When she spoke to the planning commission, Dalla Betta said she hoped the new building would be one families revere for the next 50 years. The old Ullrhof made it 56.

If lift lines, lunch stops and which side of the mountain you ski most are part of how you think about owning in Snowmass Village, Jessica Hughes can walk you through how each part of the village connects to the mountain, from Base Village to the slopeside neighborhoods closer to Big Burn. Schedule a confidential consultation and we'll start with how you actually spend a ski day.