In 1958 Olympic Skier Bill Janss began buying up ranches in the valley with an eye toward emulating the Aspen ski area˙s recent success. By 1961 he owned six ranches at the base of Baldy and BurntMountains and planned to build a ski area served by a European-style ski community on 3,300 acres. Although the area above Divide Road was known as ´SnowmesaĦ at the time, the developers chose to name the resort after Snowmass, a mountain located one drainage over instead.
In December of 1967, Snowmass-At-Aspen opened with five chairlifts, fifty miles of ski trails, seven hotels, and six restaurants. Lift tickets cost $6.50. Less than a decade later the town of Snowmass was incorporated, and the rest, as they say, is history. Today you can catch glimpses of Snowmass˙ past throughout the BrushCreekValley. The Snowmass Rodeo on Wednesday nights each summer is the oldest continuously running community rodeo in Colorado at 35 years in 2007.
Other Snowmass events have shown longevity as well, including the Snowmass Balloon Festival which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2005, the Snowmagical Family Fun Fest which celebrated 25 years in 2006, and Mardi Gras in the winter which reached a quarter-century old in 2007. December 14-16, 2007, the ski area will celebrate its 40th birthday while the town will celebrate 30 years of incorporation as a home rule town.
