Sean Heller has worked at some of the most popular restaurants on both coasts of the United States. But nothing could have prepared him for his current assignment more than 10,000 feet above sea level. The 10th, where Heller became executive chef five winters ago, is an upscale lunch destination loc ated at the top of Gondola One on Vail Mountain. To eat there, you either have to ski in or buy a gondola ticket and then walk, carefully, across a run to the front door. It is named for the 10th Mountain Division, soldiers who were trained nearby to fight in the mountains during World War II. And like anything at that altitude, the 10th comes with challenges. “I took for granted how we got food up here,” Heller said. “In New York or L.A., when you ordered something, it would just get delivered to the back door, but here it gets delivered to the warehouse.” The warehouse is located 2,000 feet below the restaurant and underneath the Arrabelle, a condo complex in Vail Square. So, getting enough ingredients up the mountain every week is one of Heller’s main preoccupations and one of the things that makes his job so distinct from other chefs’ posts. It’s a system he thankfully didn’t have to invent. Vail Resorts, which opened the 10th in 2011, hires seasonal workers to deliver the food and beverages for all its on-mountain restaurants. Heller’s skills, honed at David Chang’s Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York City and the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, have gravitated more toward time management and adaptability, he said. Heller fine-tunes the 10th’s menu each season to include hearty winter fare, wood-fired flatbreads, soups and sandwiches. Chicken pot pie ($42), elk chili ($22), Nashville hot eggplant sandwiches ($32) and wagyu beef cheeseburgers ($45) are among the most popular items. The protein and produce used to prepare those dishes comes from wholesalers in Denver, including Seattle Fish Co. and Lombardi Brothers Meats, and Prairie Harvest Specialty Foods out of South Dakota, Heller said. Warehouse employees pack the deliveries into green bins and load them aboard a different gondola, Eagle Bahn, headed for Eagle’s Nest. There, the bins are unloaded and piled into snowcats, which ferry the groceries across a sea of snow to the restaurant. The snowcat drivers make their deliveries between 7 and 8 a.m. and leave before the first gondola of customers arrives for lunch at 11, Heller said. (Reservations are required most days.) This happens at least three days a week during the winter. At its busiest time around Christmas, the restaurant can receive up to eight bins worth of food in one day, he said. Those bins become trash, recycling and composting receptacles for the kitchen. The waste comes back down the mountain by snowcat and gondola and is tossed into dumpsters. The mountaintop setting prolongs deliveries, he said. If he runs out of ingredients to make a certain dish, it might be days before he can get a bin with fresh ingredients. “If we get down to the last of something, that’s a problem. When we’re halfway through something, that’s when we need to order it,” he said. That means menus are subject to change on a frequent basis. For Heller, that means finding alternatives — rather than leaving customers with fewer choices. For instance, if the 10th were to run out of the makings for its wagyu burgers, he can defrost smoked brisket or bratwurst from the freezer for another dish. “I don’t like to use the excuse of us being on the mountain to like, drop down the menu so much,” he said. Vegetables aren’t any easier to maintain. There’s a chance that lettuce and herbs freeze on the way up the mountain, rendering them useless. The Nashville hot eggplant sandwich is so popular that it runs out every season, Heller said. When that happens, he switches to tofu for a few days until the next delivery arrives. Gondola One cars take visitors to the top of Vail Mountain for mountain biking and hiking in the golden leaves on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. Gondola One is the only way to reach The 10th luxury restaurant open for events in the summer and on-mountain dining in the winter. (Photo by Kelsey Brunner/Special to The Denver Post) Related Articles Evan Gart named new president of Gart Properties, looks to expand operations outside Colorado Vail Resorts announces new deal on lift ticket prices Colorado Supreme Court to consider Vail Resorts’ liability waiver for Epic Pass holders Utility firm buys Broomfield office at discount to serve as HQ Here’s the last day you can buy an Epic Pass for this season This delicate dance of supply and demand is a welcome challenge for Heller. So is the alpine setting where he works, lives and plays. “It’s something so different for my career that, like, almost every day I’m more excited that I made the decision to come here,” he said. Like his customers and staff, Heller rides the Gondola One to work in the mornings. If his general manager is aboard, they will go over the day’s service. If it’s his cooks, they’ll make small talk. And if he’s alone, he’ll relish his 15 minutes of quiet time above the rest of the world. Even if it’s below freezing and snowing outside, it’s always nice and warm inside the 10th, he said. Subscribe to our new food newsletter, Stuffed, to get Denver food and drink news sent straight to your inbox. ...read more read less