When The Little Nell first announced its renovation in July, the plan sounded like a short pause. In July, the Aspen Times reported that the hotel would close in April 2027 and reopen "for the 2027/28 ski season." The schedule changed in October. The hotel's winter programming announcement says the closure "is now planned to run through early summer 2028." The work covers guest rooms, public spaces and dining outlets.
That change matters at the bottom of the gondola. Under the new schedule, the hotel stays closed through an entire ski season. The traditions it hosts at the base of Aspen Mountain this winter will not happen again until the hotel reopens in 2028. The hotel has said as much. Its own announcement calls this winter "a defining moment" and says the season "will honor the enduring traditions that have become synonymous with the property over more than three decades."
Seen that way, the winter at Gondola Plaza is a short countdown with fixed dates.
The Calendar From Opening Day to Reopening
| Date | At the base of Aspen Mountain |
|---|---|
| Thu., Nov. 26 | Aspen Mountain opens; Thanksgiving at Ajax Tavern and Element 47 |
| Sat., Nov. 28 | First Aspen Mountain après party, held up at the Sundeck |
| Dec. 10–13 | Wintersköl's 75th anniversary |
| Dec. 12–13 | $80 lift tickets for Aspen Snowmass's 80th season |
| Sun., Dec. 13 | Tree lighting in The Little Nell courtyard |
| Thu., Dec. 31 | "Through the Decades" New Year's Eve at The Little Nell |
| Jan. 22–Mar. 30 | Maybe Sammy residency at The Wine Bar |
| April 2027 | The Little Nell closes for renovation |
| Early summer 2028 | Planned reopening |
Two Nells Change in One Winter
At the same time the hotel counts down to April, the lift that shares its name is already gone. Aspen Mountain's new Nell Bell chairlift replaces two older lifts, the Bell Mountain lift from 1957 and the Little Nell lift from 1986. According to Aspen Snowmass's winter announcement, it is a high-speed detachable quad with 135 chairs. It loads at Gondola Plaza and climbs 2,656 vertical feet to the top of Bell Mountain in about nine minutes. Aspen City Council unanimously approved a land-use amendment for the lift in December 2025, the Aspen Times reported. The resort says Nell Bell will open "early in the 2026/27 season."
The plaza itself has new art as well. Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes is this season's featured artist in Aspen One's Art in Unexpected Places program. Her work covers the base of the Silver Queen Gondola station and appears on this winter's lift tickets and passes. When the hotel next to the gondola reopens, the base will have a different lift, different art and a renovated hotel. This season is the last one with the base as it has looked for decades.
Opening Day Falls on Thanksgiving
Aspen Mountain opens Thursday, Nov. 26. Snowmass opens the same day, and Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk follow on Dec. 12. Because opening day lands on Thanksgiving, The Little Nell is running holiday service in both of its restaurants. Element 47 has a formal Thanksgiving dinner. Ajax Tavern serves a Thanksgiving Plat du Jour starting at 2:30 p.m., with the regular Ajax menu still available. The Little Nell also offers Thanksgiving To-Go for people cooking at home.
The resort's first après party is on the mountain, not at the base. Aspen Snowmass's opening-weekend schedule puts the first Aspen Mountain party at the Sundeck on Saturday, Nov. 28, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., with a local band, food and drink specials, and Aspen Vodka cocktails. The Sundeck has a new neighbor this season, too. Alpine 46 is a rental and retail shop in the former Four Mountain Sports space. Its name joins "alpine" with 1946, the year Aspen Skiing Company was founded.
The hotel's holiday dining continues from Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at both restaurants. Ajax Tavern will also host holiday après on the slopes with live entertainment.
December's Busiest Weekend Ends in the Courtyard
The year's biggest town celebration lands on the same weekend as the hotel's best-known holiday tradition. Wintersköl turns 75 this year, running Dec. 10 through 13 under the slogan "Black Diamonds are Forever." Here is how the long weekend lines up, according to the Aspen Chamber Resort Association:
- Friday, Dec. 11. Live music in Wagner Park. The Hotel Jerome courtyard ice rink opens from 4 to 6 p.m. and is planned to run daily from 2 to 4 p.m. this winter, conditions permitting. A drone show, granted for the nation's 250th and Colorado's 150th anniversaries, starts at 7 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 12. From 2 to 10 p.m., Wagner Park hosts a beer festival, Soupsköl, a bonfire, and a view of the torchlight descent of Aspen Mountain and fireworks.
- Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 12–13. Lift tickets are $80 on all four mountains to mark Aspen Snowmass's 80th anniversary.
- Sunday, Dec. 13. The Little Nell lights its tree.
The tree lighting is in the Courtyard at The Little Nell. Festivities run from 5 to 7 p.m., and the tree is lit at 5:30. The hotel's event listing includes carols by the Aspen High School choir, a DanceAspen performance, photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, the Aspen Animal Shelter, cookies, hot cocoa and apple cider. The rest of the hotel's holiday program centers on families. It includes Letters to Santa, cookie decorating, a children's storybook hour with local author Jill Sheeley, and decorating lessons from Aspen Branch Design, the hotel's longtime floral partner.
The Hotel Says Goodbye One Room at a Time
The rest of the season's programming is clearly built as a farewell. The New Year's Eve party, held with Dom Pérignon, has a "Through the Decades" theme and moves from room to room through the building:
- Dynasty-era glamour in the Living Room
- Studio 54 in the Grand Salon
- The 1990s in the Wine Bar
- A time-capsule lounge spanning every era, where guests can "leave their mark on The Little Nell before its next chapter begins"
Live performances carry the night from decade to decade, and a DJ takes over toward midnight. The renovation that starts in April covers public spaces and dining outlets, so this is the last New Year's Eve these rooms will host in their current form.
After the holidays, the Wine Bar gets a guest bar team from Sydney. Maybe Sammy, founded in 2019 and inspired by 1950s Hollywood and Las Vegas, takes up residency from Jan. 22 through March 30. The bar is known for theatrical tableside cocktails and was the first recipient of the Michter's Art of Hospitality Award. Its staff will work with the hotel's own bartenders on a menu inspired by The Little Nell and by drinking at altitude. The residency ends about a month before the hotel closes. That makes it the last major program on the calendar.
Other winter offerings run through the same months. The Living Room has a limited-run "Naughty List" menu built around caviar, truffles and wine. Celebrity facialist Georgia Louise returns to The Spa at The Little Nell for scheduled residencies and a skincare masterclass. The Little Nell Boutique will host a rotating series of fashion and lifestyle pop-ups. The wine program is a large part of this final season. The hotel's cellar holds 20,000 bottles and has won the Wine Spectator Grand Award every year since 1997. This winter the hotel is launching a Chefs & Somms dinner series that brings guest chefs and sommeliers from around the country.
According to the Aspen Times, the hotel's weddings program and Wedding Deck will keep operating during construction, and the Residences at The Little Nell will stay open for bookings.
Downtown Adds New Places as the Nell Counts Down
A few blocks from the gondola, downtown is adding new places to eat this winter. Guest House is scheduled to open on New Year's Eve at 415 E. Hyman Ave., the former Madame Ushi space. The Aspen Times reported that the 220-seat restaurant and lounge is a partnership between Snowmass resident and DJ Cedric Gervais and RDM Hospitality founder Raj Kumar. It will serve New American food and cocktails, with a late-night RSVP Lounge. On Cooper Avenue, Le Café is set to open in December in the former Mezzaluna and Zig Zag space at 624 E. Cooper, with a menu inspired by the French Alps. Eddy's has a marketplace and coffee shop at 315 E. Hyman Ave., and next door, Eddy's Kitchen is a sit-down restaurant serving comfort food.
So on the night The Little Nell throws its last New Year's Eve party before the renovation, Guest House is scheduled to open on Hyman Avenue. The courtyard tree lighting on Dec. 13, the time-capsule lounge on Dec. 31 and the Wine Bar residency that ends March 30 are the dates on this year's calendar that will not repeat next winter.
At Aspen Lodge Properties, we follow the base of Aspen Mountain closely, from new lifts to the hotel's 2028 reopening. If you'd like to talk through how these changes around Gondola Plaza affect a home you own or are considering nearby, we're happy to help. Schedule a Confidential Consultation.
