[1] Opened 86 years ago in 1939,[1] as part of an effort by the city of Ogden to restore the Wheeler Creek watershed, it is one of the oldest continually operating ski resorts in the United States.

Snowbasin is located on Mount Ogden at the west end of State Route 226, which is connected to I-84 and SR-39 via SR-167 (New Trappers Loop Road).

[2] Following the end of World War I and the Great Depression numerous, small ski resorts were developed in Utah's snow-packed mountains, and Weber County wanted one of their own.

[2] In the 1950s, Sam Huntington of Berthoud Pass, Colorado, purchased Snow Basin from the City of Ogden and proceeded to expand the uphill capacity beyond the Wildcat single-seat wooden tower lift and the old rope tow.

[4] Anderl Molterer, of the Austrian national ski team competing there that weekend, approached Huntington and told him if a lift was built directly to the top of the John Paul Jones run, he would bring his world famous Austrian team to Snow Basin to train on it.

Huntington ignored this proposal, and a lift to the top of John Paul would not be built until Snowbasin received the rights to hold the alpine speed events for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Pete Seibert, founder of Vail, led a partnership which bought Snow Basin in 1978,[8][9] but ran into financial difficulty in 1984.