Hours of Operation
9:00am-6:00pm (Open Daily)
Admission: Free
2026 Will & Jean Pickett Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame on August 20th, 2026: Click here for Ticket Information
Welcome to Alta, an independently-owned ski area since 1938. Nestled at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon deep in the Wasatch mountains, Alta is known around the globe for its powder skiing. With an annual snowfall average of over 500 inches, powder days are a way of life here.
The mining boom reaches its peak. The Little Cottonwood Mining District grew to over 2,100 active mine claims, a booming seasonal population of 8,000 people, and a town featuring 26 saloons and 6 breweries.
United States Forest Service (USFS) hired world-champion ski jumper Alf Engen to scout the Wasatch Mountains for potential winter recreation sites. On a cross-country ski trek, Engen surveyed Big Cottonwood Canyon, climbed up the mountain walls, and crossed over Catherine Pass—the high mountain saddle right next to Lake Catherine. He glided into the basin of Little Cottonwood Canyon and spent a few days there with the Jacobsen brothers, who were still operating local silver mines. Despite the “dust bowl” appearance, Engen recognized that the terrain, pitch, and bottomless winter powder snow were unmatched. He returned to the USFS and officially recommended the basin as a prime location for a world-class ski resort, now Alta.
Joe Quinney and the Salt Lake Winter Sports Association go door to door raising $10,000 to build Collins lift, the first chairlift in Utah. Quinney partnered with a core group of Salt Lake financiers and businessmen, including Stewart Cosgriff, W.J. O’Connor, V.R. Parkinson, L.R. Ure, Paul F. Keyser, E. Bartlett Wicks, and P.H. Kittle. The $10,000 they pooled together was used to purchase a surplus aerial ore tramway from the defunct Michigan-Utah Mining Company. They ingeniously repurposed the cables, gears, and steel towers to construct the single-seat Collins chairlift, which officially opened on January 15, 1939.
Germania lift is installed. Built by Heron Engineering, it was celebrated as Alta’s first-ever double chairlift, moving the resort past its original single-chair era. It featured a top-tension and bottom-drive setup. Built originally as a double chair, it was upgraded to a triple chairlift in 1991.
In 1869 – more than 100 years before Snowbird opened – a U.S. Army soldier prospecting for silver in Little Cottonwood Canyon made one of the most valuable discoveries in the Wasatch Mountains. Known as the Emma Mine and the namesake for the Big Emma run in Snowbird’s Gad Valley, the soldier’s find eventually produced more than $3.8 million in silver.
Alta destroyed by a catastrophic avalanche, burying the town under 50 feet of snow and killing 16 residents. The tragedy destroys most of the town, which—combined with depleted silver deposits—effectively ended Alta’s first major mining boom.
