SNOW KING MOUNTAIN RESORT HISTORY

Winter 2018/2019

Snow King celebrates its 80th anniversary with one of the best snow years in a decade.

2018

Tarzan Swing added to the Treetop Adventure Course.

2017

A new Magic Carpet surface lift and additional lighting are added to enhance the Snow Tubing park in addition to a Giant Maze to get lost at the King.

Summer 2016

A new miniature golf course is constructed at the base of the mountain for summer fun.

2016

A new Magic Carpet surface lift and enhanced night lighting are added for the ski school, greatly enhancing the beginner ski experience.

2015

2015
The 35-year old Rafferty lift is replaced with a Doppelmayr fixed-grip quad. The Cowboy Coaster opens to the public, the Treetop Adventure and two new base lodges are built.

2014

Snow King Mountain Recreations is formed to separate mountain operations from the real estate holdings. Max C. Chapman, Jr. takes over as president.

2012

Snow King Resort sells the Snow King Hotel and Grand View Lodge properties to JMI Realty. Snow King Mountain becomes its own business entity with mountain operations and real estate holdings.

2010

U.S and French women’s ski teams train for Winter Olympics at Snow King.

2002

Snow King hosts 8 international ski teams for pre-Winter Olympic training. Many go on to medal.

1998

King Tubes (tubing hill) opens.

1996

Jackson Hole Ski Club hosts regional race teams and pre-season invitationals.

1994

The Cougar triple chairlift opens with capacity for 1,200 riders per hour.

1993

Snow King Center (ski center and ice rink) opens after the old ski shelter demolished.

1989

The Jackson Hole community celebrates the 50th anniversary of Snow King.

1981

A new Summit Lift is constructed.

1979

Snow King Resort forms, combining the Snow King Inn and Snow King ski area with Manuel Lopez as general manager.

1978

1978
Rafferty lift constructed on east slope of Snow King. Land leased to Western Slide Corporation to build and operate a summer slide.

1976

The Ramada Snow King Inn (now the Snow King Resort Hotel), built by Western Standard, opens in its current location.

1974

1974
Neil Rafferty retires.

1971

Western Standard Corporation of Riverton, Wyoming, purchases the Snow King ski area operation along with 60 acres at the base of the mountain. It secures a lease from the town of Jackson on 27 contiguous acres on the mountain and a 20-year Forest Service lease on the Snow King ski and recreational area (approximately 375 acres).

1959

1959
The new Summit double chairlift opens.

1958

1958
The Winter Sports Association begins working to upgrade the single chairlift to a double chair. The old cable is replaced with an 8,800-pound track cable and a new break-over tower is constructed for unloading the double chairs.

1949

Single chairlift carries 8,500 people to the top of Snow King during the 1948 – 1949 season.

1947

1947
Wyoming’s first Single chairlift opens (January 7).

1946

The Jackson Hole Winter Sports Association is formed. The association raises $40,000 from local investors, buys an old tramway from a gold mining operation near Salida, Colorado and hires a Denver contractor to construct a lift from it. In its first full year of operation more than 8,500 people ride the lift to the top of the mountain.

1940

1940
Old Man’s Flats rope tow, first cable tow on Snow King, opens. Neil Rafferty becomes part-time lift operator.

1939

1939
The cable, used to power the uphill tow, was bought used from an oil drilling company in Casper, Wyoming. The work crew ran the cable through a narrow cut in the forest up the west side of the ski area, all powered by an old Ford tractor.

1939

Neil Rafferty competes for and wins a contract with the Jackson Hole Club, an early chamber of commerce, to build an “uphill” facility on Snow King. The cable, bought used from an oil drilling company in Casper, Wyoming, ran through a narrow cut in the forest up the west side of the ski area. It was powered by an old Ford tractor. In exchange for building the cable tow, Rafferty receives a lease on the town land and secures a permit from the Forest Service to run the lift.

1938

Ski area name changed to “Snow King.”

1937

Mountaineer and skier Fred Brown helps begin the Jackson Hole Ski Association and becomes the first president of the Jackson Hole Ski Club.

1936

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructs a horse and hiking trail to the top of Snow King for the Forest Service, making the first of many physical changes to the hill to facilitate recreational use. The CCC trail became the first “official” ski run on the mountain.

1932

Town Hill named the “Ruth Hanna Simms Ski Hill” in honor of local resident who donated money to build a ski jump.

1926

Mike O’Neil builds a ski jump on Jackson’s “Town Hill.”

1920s

Skiers began hiking up the mountain – sometimes called Kelly’s Hill or simply “the town hill” – and enjoying the steep downhill run.