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Aspen, Colorado, is known to be an over-the-top town. This is a place, after all, where the most famous après-ski haunt sprays Veuve Clicquot out of Champagne guns; where Kendall Jenner steps out in a $27,000 dollar Phoebe Philo coat without anyone batting an eyelid; where “snow polo” is a thing. So, when a new hotel opens, it goes without saying it will be pretty darn nice: high-end is the rule here rather than the exception.
Yet even with all that considered, there is something chic and discrete about Mollie Aspen, a new boutique hotel by development firm Haymax that opened this December on the edge of town. Walk into the low-key lobby, and smartly dressed guests are posted up by the casual coffee bar, drinking hot chocolates or lattes before they head off to ski. (When they return, it is hot toddies, whiskey milk punch, or any cocktail really—the food and beverage program is overseen by the same team behind the critically acclaimed New York bar Death Co.) Vintage 1960s furniture that would be any collector’s dream is dotted throughout: Roger Capron coffee tables; Mario Bellini leather sofas; Marenco and De Sede lounge chairs.
The interiors, dreamed up by Post Company (who also designed Hudson Valley’s Inness) exude a Japandi energy at first: guest rooms, for example, have Noguchi lamps, whereas clean woods abound. Yet look closely, and odes to Aspen itself are everywhere: the white oak millwork resembles that of an Aspen tree trunk, while the lime-wash walls are the same shade as the snow visible through the windows. Concrete floors are mixed with warm local stone, and ski-themed coffee table books are strewn across surfaces. As Ruben Caldwell, a partner at Post Company, tells Vogue: “Our inspiration for Mollie Aspen came from Aspen’s natural landscape.”
And its history. The team was also greatly influenced by the Bauhaus style and its impact on Aspen: Herbert Bayer, a famed artist from the German design school, who moved to the Colorado town post World War II, designed Aspen Mountain’s leaf logo, the Wheeler Opera House, as well as the grounds of the famed Aspen Institute. Fittingly, a textile work by Rachel Snack takes cues from Anni Albers, and there’s an equal embrace of industrial materials. “In the spirit of the Bauhaus, geometric lines harmonize with natural woods, earthen ceramics, and hand-dyed textiles, blending a formal rigor with a dedication to expressive craft,” says Caldwell. “Mollie is an homage to Aspen’s reputation as a place of art, culture, and adventure.”
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The guest rooms, meanwhile, embrace the art of hygge: an electric tea kettle sits upon the minibar, whereas Coyuchi robes hang in the black-tile bathroom. The Parachute bedding, meanwhile, is as comfortable as it is crisp. Upon entering, you’ll feel a simultaneous sense of both coziness and calm—pared back, yet somehow with everything you need.
While Aspen’s restaurant row is a minute’s walk away, you’d be remiss to refuse a meal at Mollie. They offer what is best described as “mountain-comfort” food: the morning breakfast sandwich is comprised of an English muffin, eggs, thick-cut bacon, maple Dijonaise, and gruyère, while spaghetti pomodoro, roast chicken, and whole trout are served in the evenings. Burgers, meanwhile, get their own dedicated box on the menu. (Essentially, it’s all the things you’d want to eat while the weather outside is frightful.)
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Aspen has no shortage of sprawling five-star resorts, which can stretch into the many thousands of dollars a night during the peak holiday season. Yet the small, 68-room Mollie feels like the chill alternative to these grand dames, a modern throwback to when Aspen was still an in-the-know mountain town. When this writer arrived there as the temperatures dropped down to the teens, it felt cool in more ways than one.
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