A ski area outside the town of Hardisty was the dream of Leroy Holt, a longtime resident of the town. There had been a previous ski hill in Hardisty which operated with a rope tow on the riverbank, though information about this hill is next to impossible to come by. Regardless, Leroy Holt had a vision: construct his own resort south of the town of Hardisty.

In 1988, an opportunity arose for Leroy Holt to buy a used double chairlift. This chairlift came from Fernie Ski Resort in British Columbia, as they were retiring their old Grizz chair. The Grizz chair was initially installed at Fernie in 1978 and was Fernie's first double chairlift. Just a year after it opened, an avalanche took out two of the lift's towers. The following season the lift was repaired, with the damaged towers being replaced with avalanche-resistant concrete blocks. The Grizz chair and Elk T-bar were both removed in 1989 when the new Dopplemayr Elk quad was installed.

Seizing the opportunity, Leroy Holt and his son traveled to Fernie where they purchased the ski lift tower by tower. The pair disassembled the lift over the course of a week and trucked it to Alberta. What's incredible here is that Leroy Holt did not use a helicopter to remove the towers, instead using a tractor and some carefully positioned straps to lower the towers one by one.

Aspen Heights officially opened in 1990. The ski area boasted around a 90-metre vertical drop and around 8 to 10 ski trails. A full-service day lodge was constructed at the base, housing a rental shop and a cafeteria. Additionally, the Holts constructed a house next to the day lodge for themselves to live in.

While Aspen Heights saw some success with the local population skiing there, the ski area did virtually no marketing of any kind. This was an issue as not many people knew the ski hill even existed. Nonetheless, the Holts kept Aspen Heights running throughout the entire 1990s.

Another big issue the ski area faced was water rights. Aspen Heights had a small snowmaking system coming from a well on the property. As several winters grew warmer, Leroy Holt sought to expand with a new snowmaking system pond in the marsh. The county refused, sending Leroy Holt back and forth with them for a number of years. This all culminated in 2004 with Leroy Holt closing the mountain permanently. While all the infrastructure was there, it was just too difficult to make a go of running a ski resort. Reportedly, Leroy Holt kept the double chair maintained through all the years it sat idle. In 2024, the ski area was put on the market for around $625,000. Hopefully we can one day see skiing at Aspen Heights return.