Sleeping Giant Ski Area Near Cody Has a Buyer – But Don’t Expect to Ski There

The Sleeping Giant Ski Area, closed for the past three winters and listed for sale in 2024, has found a buyer. But for skiers holding out hope, the news comes with a bittersweet twist: the new owners have no plans to reopen it as a winter resort.

HMH Capital, a Dallas-based firm, is in advanced negotiations to purchase the property. The company’s vision, however, is focused entirely on summer. Brent Hargrave, vice president of HMH Capital, said his team has crunched the numbers and determined that operating Sleeping Giant as a ski resort is simply not economically viable. The lack of reliable natural snow, the high cost of snowmaking, and a warming climate have all contributed to the area’s long-running struggle to attract enough skiers. Instead, HMH plans to invest $4 million in its first year and $10 million over five years to transform the property into a “summer adventure park” unlike anything else within a four-hour drive.

Hargrave pointed to Yellowstone National Park’s 4 million annual visitors as the market opportunity. Twenty-five percent of those visitors are under 21, he said, and families are often looking for something “exhilarating” beyond the park’s natural wonders. The new Sleeping Giant, he promises, will be a unique “cultural attraction,” not a collection of carnival rides. He declined to provide specific details ahead of a public meeting scheduled Wednesday in Cody.

The sale brings an end to current owner Nick Piazza’s years-long effort to keep the mountain alive. Piazza, a Cody investment banker, purchased the struggling nonprofit-run ski area in 2019 and poured roughly $1.5 million of his own money into upgrades, including a new lift, lighting, and a yurt. He told Cowboy State Daily he was motivated simply by a love for his hometown hill. But even under private ownership, the economics proved insurmountable. The mountain needed to sell 80 lift tickets per day just to break even—a threshold it rarely met, even in good snow years.

After listing the property for $500,000, Piazza said he received between 50 and 70 inquiries, ranging from wealthy social media influencers to ranching families. HMH Capital stood out, he said, because of its experience operating other cultural attractions and museums. “I think it will be very good for Park County,” Piazza said. “No one cares about Sleeping Giant more than us.”

While winter recreation is off the table for now, Hargrave left the door slightly ajar. “If we find that there’s a way we can do it in the future that’s profitable and popular, we’ll do it,” he said. For the foreseeable future, however, Cody’s dormant ski hill will remain just that—dormant, waiting for a summer rebirth.