Snow King Mountain
Snow King Mountain is a summer and Winter resort and hotel in Jackson, Wyoming, United States. The mountain is Jackson's original 1936 ski hill, located on the southeast edge of the city. It was the first ski area in the state of Wyoming. Locals sometimes refer to Snow King as "The Town Hill." It offer's many things including skiing, hiking, and an alpine slide.
| Snow King Mountain | |
|---|---|
 The Town Hill, adjacent to the city | |
| Location | Jackson, Wyoming, |
| Nearest major city | Jackson - (adjacent) |
| Vertical | 1,571 ft (479 m) |
| Top elevation | 7,808 ft (2,380 m) |
| Base elevation | 6,237 ft (1,901 m) |
| Skiable area | 400 acres (1.6 km2) |
| Longest run | 0.9 miles (1.4 km) |
| Lift system | 3 chairlifts 1 rope tow |
| Terrain parks | 2 |
| Snowfall | 150 in (380 cm) |
| Snowmaking | 150 acres (0.6 km2) |
| Night skiing | until 7:00 pm (Tue-Fri) |
| Website | snowkingmountain.com |
History
In 1936, the Civilian Conservation Corps created a switch-back horse and hiking trail to the top of the mountain and the trail became one of Snow King’s first skiing race courses. The Jackson Hole Ski Club was established in 1937, and two years later lift-served skiing began on Wyoming's first ski area with the addition of a 4,000-foot (1,219 m) rope tow. The first chairlift was installed in 1946, a converted ore tram from Colorado. It had 4 stations, with the first starting where 1 town hill apartments are located. The 2 and 3 stations, which were up the hill, were for beginners and intermediate skiers and snowboarders.
The Resort Today
Snow King today has 3 lifts: Rafferty (4), Cougar (3), and Summit (2). In the winter, it offers skiing and boading, mountain coaster, tubing, and ice skating. In the summer it offers an Alpine slide, hiking, mountain biking, mountain coaster, ropes courses, and much more.
Reconstruction
In the summer of 2014, after almost 35 years of service to the snow king resort, the Raffery Double chair was taken out to make way for a new and improved base area. With these improvements came the New Raffery fixed grip quad chair, a new ticket office and the new Kings grill, a ropes course, mountain coaster and a new mini golf course. After a few years of much more tourism to the area, a new maxe was created just south of the mini golf.
Future
During the last 5 to 6 years, Snow King mountain officials and Wyoming stargazing have decided to build a new 8 person gondola to replace the rapidly aging summit double chair. The new proposed gondola will start where the baseball diamond is and go up to the top of the mountain. A new observatory will be build, as well as a restaurant, and gondola cabin storage. It will most likely connect to the already existing panorama house.
References
- Snow King Resort - history of Jackson Hole - accessed 2012-01-30
- https://snowkingmountain.com/mountain/master-plan/ - the master plan
- https://snowkingmountain.com/things-to-do-in-jackson-hole-wyoming/ - Summer Activities
- https://snowkingmountain.com/winter-things-jackson-hole-wyoming/ - Winter Activities
- https://snowkingmountain.com/tickets-and-passes/ - Summer Pricing
- https://snowkingmountain.com/tickets-and-passes/ - Winter Pricing