The mountain opened for the 1939–1940 season as Winter Park Ski Area and was owned and operated by the city and county of Denver until 2002, when Denver entered into a partnership with Intrawest ULC, a Canadian corporation headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, which has operated the resort since then. One popular way for Denver residents — many of whom have learned to ski or snowboard at Winter Park over the years — to get there is via the Ski Train, which arrives at the resort's base area though the Moffatt Tunnel.