Skier
Resi Stiegler
Photographer
Jonathan Selkowitz
Location
Snow King
1959 Double chairs were added to the lift. 1967 Bill Briggs acquired Snow King’s ski school from Bill Ashley and became ski school director. He founded the Great American Ski School and introduced new methods and terminology to ski instruction. 1972 Western Standard Corporation of Riverton, Wyoming, took over ownership. Its president, Roy Peck, and Manuel Lopez guided the mountain through difficult times when the old lift had to be decommissioned. 1974 In the first (and last) Snow King Canoe Race, participants piloted canoes and rafts down the mountain in a Le Mans start. 1975 The Snowmobile Hill Climb began with a Jackson Hole Snow Devils high-markw w w. j h s k i e r. n e t
ing contest on Grizzly run. The event subsequently moved to the west side of the ski area and became the World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb. 1978 The Rafferty Lift was built on the east side of Snow King, providing access to lower intermediate ski terrain and the newly installed Alpine Slide. 1981 Snow King began offering night skiing on Rafferty. 1982 The Town Downhill inaugural race was held by the Jackson Hole Ski Club. 1984 Jim Sullivan became ski area manager. That year he increased the lower mountain’s skiable terrain through earthwork and tree removal on Snow King’s privately owned
48 acres. Bill Briggs pioneered and flagged an easy way down and Snow King’s crew widened Turnpike and Cat’s Meow runs. The cost of a season pass was $435. 1988 Corduroy snow, snowmaking, and the NCAA National Championships came to Snow King. The resort bought the first of several tillers, vastly improving grooming. Snow King widened the Exhibition ski run, turning the narrow, hard-to-ski lift line into a 200-footwide ski run. Snowmobile Hill Climb racers, at long last, slalomed to the summit, a great improvement over the previous high-mark near tower 11. 1989 The purchase of winch cats and the construction of anchors allowed another 2 0 1 8 -1 9
J AC KS O N H O L E S K I E R
39