Snowmass Ski Resort Facilities

The Snowmass ski resort facilities are mainly located at two main hubs. The Snowmass Village Mall houses customer service, lift ticket sales, various Snowmass ski rental shops, equipment storage, and eateries. A little further down the hill is the Base Village which has a ticket office, the children’s center, equipment storage, and a few ski and snowboard shops.

Snowmass Ski Rentals

There are lots of options for Snowmass ski rentals. The resort owned shop, Four Mountain Sports, has a handful of locations at Snowmass (Mall, Two Creeks, Base Village). One advantage of renting with Four Mountain Sports is that you get free slopeside equipment storage (see below), however prices are a little more expensive than other Snowmass ski rental shops.

The Mall has at least six other shops that provide ski and snowboard rentals. Examples include Christy Sports, Incline, and Aspen Sports. The base village also has another couple of Aspen Sports.

Equipment Repairs

If you damage your skis or snowboard on those rocky Rocky Mountains, or you’re in need of a wax or tune, all the Snowmass ski rental shops provide equipment tuning and repairs. Gene Taylor Sports in the mall has the best reputation.

Equipment Storage & Transfer

Aspen Snowmass has a great system where you can store your equipment overnight at the Snowmass base village or mall, and if you want to ski at one of the other Aspen Snowmass ski resorts the next day, they’ll transfer the equipment to a slope-side location at that resort. You can jump on the bus without the added hassle of having to lug your equipment around.

If you rent your equipment from Four Mountain Sports, the overnight storage and transfer is free, as it is if you take private ski or snowboard lessons. If you have rented equipment from elsewhere or have your own skis or snowboard, the storage and transfer attracts a small fee.

Facilities for Children

The Treehouse Kid’s Adventure Center in the Base Village is the hub of action for all things child related.

Child care is provided for ages 8 weeks to 4 years, either in a half day or full day format. The center is a state-licensed childcare facility and they even have a registered nurse on staff. It has separate age appropriate rooms, and lunch and snacks are provided. This is the ducks nuts of ski resort child care, so perhaps it’s not surprising that the rates are the most expensive in the country.

In addition to the massive ski school for kids (see below), the Treehouse also houses equipment rentals and a kids’ cafeteria.

Snowmass also has child friendly ski terrain such as a pint sized terrain park and cartoon type features dotted around the slopes. Snowmass also has lots of family events including ski racing, storytelling by the campfire, sing-a-longs, kids crafts, and there’s tubing 7 days a week.

Snowmass Ski School

Snowmass has a massive ski school for kids and most of their programs are for a half day or full day. For ages 2.5 to 4, ski lessons are combined with child care. For ages 5 and 6, lessons are held for skiers and snowboarders, but snowboarders have to do a full day program. They also have ski and snowboard lessons for ages 7 to 12 for all abilities. Kids’ lessons are reasonably priced relative to other high profile USA ski resorts.

Adult group lessons have a maximum of 5 riders per lesson and they are extraordinarily expensive. Private snowboard and ski lessons are also conducted, in a half day or full day format.

Eating On Mountain

Snowmass has multiple on-mountain eateries that cater to a variety of tastes and budgets. Gwyn’s High Alpine at the top of the Alpine Springs lift is a large establishment that provides self-service cafeteria food, and is renowned for having a great sundeck. Gwyn’s also has an elegant table service restaurant that’s open for breakfast and lunch.

Sam’s at the top of the Sam’s Knob lift is an upscale Italian restaurant with amazing views and a lovely deck. There is also a coffee bar and grab and go food options.

It’s also reasonably easy to ski or snowboard down to the Mall for lunch (or breakfast) where there are a few inexpensive take-away establishments and a bakery. Alternatively you can have lunch down at the Base Village.