While there had been several small ski clubs in the Saskatoon area throughout the 1940s to the 1960s, none of these clubs had ever lasted for more than a couple of years before closing. The city had a strong skier base but had no real permanent ski hill. Throughout the 1960s, developments were proposed to create a man-made ski hill in Blackstrap Lake Provincial Park. These proposals never made it out of the talking stage, however public support did grow quite a bit for this movement.

In January of 1970, the City of Saskatoon decided to host the 1971 Canada Winter Games. Due to this, the Blackstrap ski hill proposal was put in high priority as the city needed a spot to host slalom and ski jumping events. As Blackstrap didn't have the vertical, a man-made hill was constructed which raised the 150-foot hill to around 300 feet. A Müller T-bar served the summit while a pair of rope tows serviced the beginner terrain. A lodge and snowmaking system were also constructed, which ballooned the cost to over $600,000.

The ski area officially opened in 1971, though the public was limited to certain trails in preparation for the Winter Games. In its first year of operations, Blackstrap saw huge visitation numbers from the public, recording over 20,000 skier visits in 1971.

The 50-metre ski jump was the centrepiece of Blackstrap. Unfortunately, after the games the ski jump sat in disuse and was completely removed a few years later, along with the judges' tower. Blackstrap became well known for its superb ski patrol, with the hill ranking as one of the best in western Canada. Additionally, the ski hill built a robust ski school program and was known all across the province for it. These factors ensured that Blackstrap saw success through the 1970s.

In 1984, the ski area invested in a huge upgrade: a used Dopplemayr triple chairlift that would replace the T-bar, which in turn would replace the old beginner rope tows. The chairlift was the first Dopplemayr triple in Canada and originally lived at the Snoasis ski area near Regina. The chairlift was not long enough on its own, so Dopplemayr was brought in to lengthen the lift as well as to add new chairs. This is why in historical photos of the chairlift both the original centre-pole and newer bail-style carriers are on the line. The chairlift cost the ski area around $450,000, which was part of a government grant to improve recreational development.

Unfortunately, the entire ski operation was plagued by a number of problems. The triple chairlift often suffered from mechanical breakdowns, which was not communicated to the Parks Department, who would be fielding phone calls about whether the chairlift was working or not. In another example, for the 1985 season the parks operator decided to cut skiing from Friday to Monday, even though season passes had been advertised and sold under a different arrangement. There were significant communication challenges between the park and the operator, which significantly degraded Blackstrap's reputation in the local skiing community, even earning the nickname "the pimple on the prairies." As a result, many Saskatoon skiers made the trip up to North Battleford to ski the better-regarded Table Mountain instead of Blackstrap.

In 1987, the government proposed to privatize the money-losing ski area, which was met with some local opposition, with skiers concerned that pass prices would increase drastically. However, following the successful privatization of White Track, Blackstrap was leased to Lloyd Hatterman, who ran the food and beverage service in the lodge.

Hatterman ran the ski area until 1993, when he announced that he would not continue to operate Blackstrap. Hatterman claimed that the provincial government was favouring Table Mountain in grants, and that he had already sunk all his private money into Blackstrap. After the local Chamber of Commerce became involved, Hatterman agreed to operate the hill for one more season, seeking either to find a new operator or a better agreement with the provincial government to get more funding. Hatterman ended up operating Blackstrap for the 1994-95 season, though he pulled the plug for the 1995-96 season.

Thankfully, for the latter part of the 1996 season Sean Dunn purchased all assets and announced that he would be reopening the hill for downhill skiing operations. In an effort to boost the popularity of the hill, Sean Dunn brought in snow tubing in the winter and downhill mountain biking in the summer. However, even with Dunn's best efforts the hill could not break even. After a cheque for their liability insurance bounced in January of 2005, the government swiftly terminated their lease, announcing that they had 24 hours to vacate the property.

Three weeks later, Tom Hedelman announced that the hill would reopen and that the government had renewed the lease. The hill operated for the remainder of the 2005 ski season and enjoyed a strong 2005-06 winter season. However, in October of 2006 it was discovered that the T-bar entry-level lift would need repairs totalling $400,000. This effectively shuttered downhill skiing operations, as the provincial government was unwilling to foot the bill and the operator had no money.

After increased pressure, the government announced that it would spend the money to upgrade the lifts and announced an opening date of February 2007. Then suddenly, in November of 2007, the government announced a permanent halt on skiing operations at Blackstrap. Despite recent safety upgrades to the T-bar, the hill remained closed for the 2008 ski season, despite strong local interest to revive it.

In September of 2009, the ski lodge burnt to the ground in a blaze the RCMP deemed suspicious. This was effectively the nail in the coffin for Blackstrap, as every remaining asset that could be sold was sold. The chairlift and T-bar continued to sit on the mountain for years until the provincial government removed them in 2019. While there was a proposal in 2013 to resurrect downhill skiing at Blackstrap, the ski hill will most likely never operate again.