Dook’o’oosłííd, “the summit that never melts”, Diné (Navajo)
Nuvátukya’ovi, “high up place of the snow”, Hopi
Wii Haganbaja’, “snow mountain”, Havasupai
Wik’hanbaja, “snowy mountain”, Hualapai
Nuváxaru, “snow mountain”, Southern Paiute
Dzil Cho, “big mountain”, Dilzhe’e Apache
Wimonogaw’a,”cold mountain”, Yavapai
Sunha:kwin K’yabachu Yalanne, “western snow-capped mountain”, Zuni
Photo: Laura ZirinoLearn More
The Snowbowl Effect documentary argues that the fight over the ski resort is fundamentally a struggle over whose values determine the future of public lands. The film explores the tension between recreation, economic development, environmental stewardship, and Indigenous sovereignty, ultimately asking whether a mountain sacred to multiple Native nations can be treated as a commercial ski destination without causing cultural and spiritual harm.
Land Defenders Podcast
The Land Defenders podcast is a conservation and environmental justice series focused on the Greater Grand Canyon region, particularly conflicts involving Indigenous sacred sites, public lands, mining, and development projects in northern Arizona. The first season of the podcast (2025) includes conversations with biologists, legal scholars, Forest Service managers, and Indigenous leaders regarding the Sacred Peaks and the Snowbowl Ski Resort.
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In 2022 the Guardian Newspaper explored the history of the conflict over the Snowbowl ski resort as more than a local land-use conflict. Rather, it contrasted Indigenous spiritual relationships to land with Western relationship based on recreation and economic development, exposing fundamentally different understandings of what land is and how it should be used.