Snow King celebrates 70th birthday, new season
Low-key festivities on Saturday will honor Town Hill that launched Jackson Hole’s ski industry.
By Brandon Zimmerman, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
December 2, 2009
The King is turning 70.
Snow King Resort, Jackson’s longest-running ski hill, will mark its 70th birthday with a small celebration Saturday morning before opening for the 2009-10 ski season.
The resort will host valley residents in the Lodge Room for birthday cake and coffee at 9 a.m. There will also be a brief historical presentation, a ribbon-cutting and a few local dignitaries who will take the first chair of the season up Cougar lift.
“It’s going to be a low-key celebration,” Director of Recreation Tom Fortune said. “But we thought we should do a celebration for the 70th birthday of Snow King. It’s more of a kick-off to another season.”
Although the celebration may be low-key, it will mark a big event. Snow King has been running its ski lifts ever since 1939, when Neil Rafferty put in the first surface lifts on the hill.
“From those simple beginnings, the ski industry prospered in quantum leaps,” Snow King ski area manager Jim Sullivan said.
Sullivan will discuss the historical significance of Snow King during a brief presentation Saturday morning.
“The fact is that everybody in town started their skiing on Snow King, especially the old-timers,” Sullivan said. “Jackson Hole Mountain Resort didn’t open until [1966], Grand Targhee in 1970, so Snow King was the founding place for the ski industry in Jackson Hole and northwest Wyoming.”
Sullivan said holding the birthday celebration in the Lodge Room will be fitting so those in attendance can gaze out the window at the mountain.
“I hope some people come out and enjoy,” he said.
