Aspen SnowmassFour mountains, 5,500+ acres, one ticket — Aspen Mountain, Highlands, Buttermilk, and Snowmass

Aspen Mountain opened to lift-served skiing in January 1947 on the Lift One single chair — Walter Paepcke's vision of a postwar cultural-and-skiing alpine town carved into a fading silver-mining settlement. Aspen Highlands followed in 1958, Buttermilk in 1958, and Snowmass — the giant of the four — opened in December 1967. The Aspen Skiing Company quietly consolidated all four under a single ticket and the brand Aspen Snowmass in the 1990s.

The four mountains play distinct roles. Aspen Mountain (Ajax, 675 acres) is steep, tree-lined, and rises directly out of downtown Aspen — accessed by the Silver Queen Gondola from Gondola Plaza. Aspen Highlands (1,028 acres) is the local's mountain, with the famous 45-minute Highland Bowl bootpack to a 12,392-foot summit and Steeplechase / Maroon Bowl below. Buttermilk (470 acres) is the X Games venue and the friendliest learning hill, including Tiehack and the West Buttermilk beginner zones. Snowmass (3,374 acres) is the biggest, has the longest vertical drop in the US (4,406 ft from the Cirque to Two Creeks), and contains the family-resort village with ski-in/ski-out lodging.

Plan three to seven days to ski all four. Stay in Snowmass Village if you want ski-in/ski-out and a quieter base; stay downtown Aspen if you want the restaurant scene, the Silver Queen Gondola from Galena Street, and easy free shuttles to the other three. The free RFTA bus runs a connector between all bases every 15 minutes — no rental car required during your stay if you're flying into ASE (the runway is 4 miles from downtown). Mid-January through early March holds the most reliable snow and the cheapest mid-week tickets.