Arizona Snowbowl is a ski resort on northern Arizona’s San Francisco Peaks, about 15 miles north of Flagstaff. Established in 1938 after U.S. Forest Service approval for development at Hart Prairie, it became privately operated in 1941 and grew into Arizona’s largest vertical-drop ski area, with multiple lodges and lifts. Its history reaches back to local skiing on Mars Hill in 1915, but Snowbowl’s modern identity has been shaped as much by expansion as by recreation. Because the Peaks are sacred to 13 Native American tribes, development and snowmaking have drawn decades of protests and court challenges, while supporters emphasize the resort’s economic value to Flagstaff.