The history of downhill skiing at Silver Summit dates back to the 1960s. In 1962, Silver Summit Hill was discovered by two local men who started to take yearly snowfall tests. By 1964, the snowfall tests were so promising that a permanent winter access road had begun to be constructed, with the idea that a ski area would eventually be developed.

In 1966, three Edmonton businessmen, Jim McCaul, Paul Melus, and Ron Everal, proposed the ski hill on the north slopes of Silver Summit Hill. The group reportedly wanted to develop a new Alberta ski area that would be located outside a national park. They announced the construction of a double chair, rope tow, day lodge, parking lot, and six ski runs of varying difficulty. According to the initial plan, runs and lifts were also proposed on the other sides of Silver Summit Hill should the initial development be a success. Later that year, run clearing had begun.

Construction officially started in the summer of 1968, and despite the chairlift construction only starting in October, the lift and ski lodge were both finished by early December. By now the price tag had ballooned from the initial estimate of $350,000 to $1 million, but that didn't stop Silver Summit from officially opening on January 4th, 1969 to much fanfare. Silver Summit initially boasted a modern Magna double chair, a ski lodge with overnight dormitories, and a rental shop. Ski buses began to be run between the ski area, Edson, and certain locations in Edmonton. In fact, Silver Summit even opened up an office in what is now Edmonton's Enterprise Square.

While the ski area had become extremely popular with the local community, the access road was a major sticking point. Silver Summit was forced to close early for both the initial season and the 1969-70 season due to the access road completely deteriorating. By the summer of 1970, the group of investors hired Rick Dam as the general manager and stepped away from ski area operations. They also hinted that a sale or bankruptcy might take place if the numbers didn't improve.

By July of 1971, Silver Summit was put up for sale. By September, the ski area was in the bankruptcy courts, asking the government for $220,000 in financial assistance. Though this assistance was denied, Silver Summit was not in a unique situation. Rabbit Hill, Snow Ridge, and West Castle were all in similar financial situations, as poor winters and poor access roads had been extremely hard on many ski areas.

By November of 1971, Rick Dam outright purchased Silver Summit from the bankruptcy court. Though Rick Dam had tried to get the government to fund access road maintenance, he wasn't able to. Despite this, Dam renamed the mountain to Silver Summit Alpine Village and announced additional developments. Though the financial statements were not in the best shape, Rick Dam was hopeful that additional ski areas would be developed in the surrounding foothills that would serve as a little Laurentians-style ski area network.

In 1974, Rick Dam announced that a new Dopplemayr T-bar would be installed, serving an intermediate and advanced ski run. Additionally, Paul Melus, one of the original developers, came back to Silver Summit as the lodge manager. It was also around this time that the Canadian Armed Forces began conducting winter exercises at Silver Summit, which partially helped fund improvements to the access road.

In April of 1975, the double chair experienced an extreme malfunction when four chairs fell to the ground. While two skiers were injured, thankfully no deaths occurred and the lift was repaired. Later on, in 1979, Rick Dam opened up a new cross-country circuit at Silver Summit to boost business. By 1982, partially inspired by Silver Summit, a group out of Whitecourt, Alberta planned a new ski hill on House Mountain. Runs were cleared, two used T-bars were purchased, and a chalet was purchased before work was permanently halted. To this day the cleared runs are still visible on the mountain.

In the summer of 1984, Rick Dam installed a new ski jump at Silver Summit. This came as Silver Summit was selected as the home of the 1986 Alberta Winter Games. While the ski jumps were used extensively before and during the Winter Games, as time went on they began to be more and more disused and are now completely abandoned.

After the 1980s, nothing really changed at Silver Summit. The ski hill was still managed by Rick Dam, and though his family later took on operations he was still very much present on the mountain. Silver Summit operated as it always had, year after year, with little to no changes or improvements.

And then suddenly, in 2018, Silver Summit announced that they would close permanently. Rumors have circulated that part of the base lodge roof collapsed, though this could not be confirmed. Since 2020, occasional check-ins on the Silver Summit website had been made in hopes of a positive update. In December of 2022, Silver Summit announced on their website that a reopening was very likely. However, that reopening never happened. As of October 2023, the website has been completely changed and Silver Summit is listed as permanently closed.

Further searching suggests that the land has been leased out to an Indigenous group that intends to use the ski area facilities for a healing centre or detox facility. It is an unexpected ending for a ski area that, while never the biggest or fanciest, was a genuine local gem that taught countless skiers and snowboarders the sport.