Jackson Town Council Approves Snow King Gondola

Snow King’s Summit chair in February 2020. When the gondola is installed, it will replace this lift and follow a similar line.

Earlier this week, Jackson, WY’s town council unanimously voted to approve construction of the proposed gondola at Snow King resort. The 8-passenger gondola, which will replace the Summit double chair, will be permitted to operate between the hours of 9am and 9pm during the winter, extending the resort’s night skiing footprint. The Cougar lift will be slightly truncated to accommodate the gondola base, although the line will stay essentially the same.

It’s unclear at this point whether the gondola will be ready for the 2020-21 season. Snow King also proposed a summit restaurant to go along with the gondola installation, but it’s unclear whether that has been approved yet. We’ve reached out to Snow King for comment.

Our Take

Snow King’s gondola installation will utterly transform the resort. When it’s completed, this Wyoming ski area will go from having no fast lifts to offering high-speed access to more than two-thirds of its terrain. In addition, uphill capacity from the base to summit will at least quadruple—although congestion at this local hill has never really been an issue, visitors will now be able to travel uphill in decently sized groups.

Some may be turned off by the inherent logistical drawbacks of a gondola setup with no direct lift alternatives, such as having to take off your equipment every time you lap Snow King’s relatively short vertical drop. However, we believe most people will find these to be an acceptable compromise compared to the existing old, slow double chair setup. We just hope the new gondola infrastructure doesn’t get in the way of the charming, scenic vibes currently boasted by the resort.

Another major impact of the council’s decision will be on operating hours to Snow King’s summit. The outgoing Summit chair is the resort’s only lift that currently doesn’t operate at night, so this decision could theoretically open much of Snow King’s best advanced terrain for extended evening hours. At this point, it’s unclear which trails would get the lighting upgrades required for night operations. However, we’d be really surprised if none do.

With the gondola installation, we expect the overall experience at Snow King to increase significantly. We hope that this installation comes coupled with an investment in resort signage, which is currently abysmal and would be relatively cheap to address.

These upgrades still won’t bring the resort even close to the same caliber as neighboring Jackson Hole, which is about ten times bigger and enjoys much better snow. But for those looking to come to the area primarily to visit the town of Jackson and enjoy a few bargain-priced days of skiing—or for particularly passionate skiers looking to get some night runs in after a day at Jackson Hole—these changes could make Snow King a more appealing option. Let’s hope they don’t raise the prices too much.

For more information on Snow King, read our review here.