- Aspen Highlands, ski-access only (intermediate+)
- Reservations 30 days in advance, lunch only
- Fondue, raclette, steak tartare, caviar
- Après dance party from 2 p.m. daily
Cloud Nine is the legendary on-mountain lunch that is genuinely worth the planning — the Maroon Bells outside the window, a real European Alpine kitchen for the actual food, and at two p.m. the entire room stands on the tables and the south-facing deck turns into a ski-boot dance party with champagne sprayed across the snow. It is the most famous lunch in North American skiing, it has been for fifteen years, and the reputation is earned.
Reservations open exactly thirty days in advance at 9 a.m. and the prime weekend slots are gone by 9:02. For significant birthdays and EVG weekends in Aspen, this is the lunch I plan the entire ski day around — first chairs at Highlands, ski to Cloud Nine for the one o'clock seating, dance until three, ski back down.
The Aspen lunch that is the day.
