Snow King stakeholders get public input on development
After a lot of planning, the Snow King stakeholders are hoping to go through with phase two development plans for Snow King Mountain.
Some of those plans include replacing the summit lift with an eight-person gondola and replacing the warming hut at the summit with a restaurant and building an observatory. Some members of the community say developing the mountain is important to compete with other resorts in the area.
“The millions of dollars that are necessary to enable this mountain,” said Mark Barron, former mayor of Jackson. “Like this quad chair lift right outside the window here, that enable this mountain to compete by creating more summer time revenue so they can carry that winter time and that very lean season.”
There is also a possibility of expanding boundaries. Some local groups are worried this could impact wildlife.
“When you’re talking about wildlife, it’s really not just one thing at a time, it’s the death by a thousand cuts,” said Skye Schell, executive director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. “So we want to make sure that as we know, we’ve got bears, wolves, cougars, elk, moose, all kinds of cool animals all around us. How can we protect them? We really don’t think boundary expansions are necessary so let’s not do it. Let’s do some things that aren’t going to harm wildlife and our community would like.”
There are also plans to create a zip line from the top of the mountain to the base, adding a magic carpet for beginners and possibly an ice rink. Some in the community are okay with some of the development options, but they are also worried about turning the mountain into something like an amusement park and taking away the local aspect.
“At what point do locals feel like hey, it’s not worth hiking up Snow King anymore,” Schell said. “These sort of treasured experiences we all love to do and you put too much amusement on top of that and it just feels like hey this isn’t our town hill anymore.”
Still, others say the development is necessary for the future of the mountain and those who use it.
“There are kids racing or training on Snow King Mountain,” Barron said. “I want to see that progress. And we’re not gonna see that progress unless the mountain is somehow financially sustainable.”
The public was asked to leave comments for stakeholders, which they will then consider at their next meeting. A date for that meeting has not been set yet.They will then present the proposal to town and county groups. After the public process is done, the US Forest Service will conduct an environmental impact study. That process could take up to two years. You can learn more about the development here.
