Silver Mountain in Idaho’s Silver Valley grew from a small ski area opened in January 1968 as Jackass Ski Bowl on Wardner Peak into a major four-season resort spanning Wardner and Kellogg peaks. After early promise, poor snow and difficult access contributed to foreclosure and reorganization as Silverhorn in 1973. As mining collapsed across the valley and Kellogg sought a new economic future, local leaders backed a gondola rising from town, financed with federal funds and voter-approved taxes. Renamed Silver Mountain in 1989, the resort expanded into a year-round destination and became a central part of Kellogg’s recovery, despite later ownership changes and a deadly avalanche in 2020.