Jackson's Snow King Mountain Resort plans to upgrade its facilities within the next five years.

The small ski area will build multiple restaurants on Snow King Mountain's summit that will serve over 1,000 people, as well as a modernized cable-car lift able to carry out 1,500 people per hour to the top of the mountain. 

A stargazing observatory is also planned for the summit, which Resort General Manager Ryan Stanley said would hopefully attract people beyond skiers.

"It opens the door for a wider range of visitors to go up and take in the view when you compare it to our existing ski lift, which is 30 years older," Stanley said. "We're really hoping that this plan can create a long-term, successful, sustainable, and small community ski resort that can stay alive in an era when small ski resorts really struggle to survive."

As for summer activities, the ski area intends to construct a zip line system and extensive mountain bike and hiking trails on new land.

Stanley said construction on most projects will not start until the United States Forestry Service evaluates the environmental impact of these projects.

"It may take two years for the environmental review, for the biologists and so forth to go through whatever the proposal is. And then they make a decision on whether it's feasible based on the impacts to the environment," Stanley said.

Some projects could be rejected and never built if the impact to the surrounding area is too great. Considering that resort officials almost shut the resort down five years ago due to low attendance, Stanley said he hopes these new projects will bring in new visitors for the future.