Close the Season in Style!
Buttermilk has already closed but the best of the closing festivities is yet to come! We have three big events to be excited about this weekend and one next weekend. This weekend includes the only FREE Snow Beach party of the winter, the Elk Camp Surf and Snow Beach Party, and the legendary Highlands Closing Party. Conveniently, these events happen Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, meaning you can hit it all and send the season out in serious style! Next weekend, we have the iconic Ajax Closing Party on the 23rd where the last lifts in operation will stop until June. Read below for more details about each event!
FREE FRIDAY at AspenX Beach Club – Friday, April 14 | 1:00 – 4:00 pm
A free show for the people! Colorado’s own GRiZ, one of the biggest names in electronic music, will be playing at the top of Ajax today. Despite the free RSVPs having sold out, skiers and snowboarders can still enjoy the music and dancing from right outside the ropes of the beach club. Inside or outside the ropes, GRiZ will draw a big enough crowd for the ropes not to matter. This will be an epic one!
Elk Camp Surf and Snow Beach Party – Saturday, April 15 | 11:30 am – 3:30 pm
Head up to Elk Camp Snowmass for some fun in the sun! For the fourth year, Elk Camp restaurant at Snowmass will host an end-of-season party featuring free leis, a dance party, hot tubs, and margarita blender bikes. Wear your swim attire and skim along the pond outside of Elk Camp Restaurant or lounge in the hot tub on the patio. Skiers and snowboarders are highly encouraged to participate in the pond skim. After the party on the mountain is over join fellow skiers/riders from Elk Camp to Base Village where the party continues!
Highlands Closing Party – Sunday, April 16 | 12:00 – 8:00 pm
The crème de la crème of mountain closing parties, not just in Aspen Snowmass, but everywhere! The Highlands closing party is known to be a wild, but welcoming, party for the ages. Costumes, wigs, and body paint are among a few of the unspoken requirements of attending. The crazier the outfit, the better. This party has a strong local vibe to it where anything goes as long as nobody gets hurt! Ski all day in your wacky outfits then enjoy a full-blown concert stage outside of the Alehouse until 8pm. Musical performances include a long list of local, beloved DJs throughout the day finished off by Elderbrook, a huge name in the electronic dance music space for the last several years.
Ajax Closing Party – Sunday, April 23 | All Day
As the birthplace of Aspen skiing, Aspen Mountain has many historic traditions for closing day. For example, locals gather atop Ridge of Bell at 1 p.m. for the infamous "Bump Off," a kamikaze race down the mogul field under the gondola. Spectators gather on Gent's Ridge to watch as skiers either make it or explode, with both results giving the crowd what they want!
Aspen Snowmass hosts closing-day celebrations at the Sundeck. A recent theme was 80's Prom and included a live DJ and a costume contest. At the base of Aspen Mountain, Ajax Tavern and Chica will turn up the music at dueling apres-ski parties, and the sunny patios will stay rocking until well after the lifts have stopped spinning.