April 26, 2011

Snowbird, Utah – Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort hit a 40-year all time record for single season snowfall this afternoon (April 26), reaching the 690-inch mark thanks to a spring storm that has brought two feet to Little Cottonwood Canyon in the last 48 hours. Snowbird’s previous single season official record was 688 inches, set in the 1983-84 season. The resort’s mid-mountain base currently stands at 190 inches, with more snow forecasted through the weekend.

“This has been a remarkable season for Snowbird,” said resort president Bob Bonar. “We’ll be celebrating with skiing til Memorial Day and most likely beyond, with conditions that are anything but typical spring skiing.”

690 inches, or 57.5 feet, measures nearly the height of each sculpture face at the Mount Rushmore National Monument, more than a third of the height of the Statue of Liberty, and easily tops Utah’s Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. This is the fourth consecutive season Snowbird has topped 600 inches mid-mountain, with water content in this year’s snowfall well exceeding record levels. The latest closing date in the history of the Little Cottonwood Canyon resort is July 4 (in 1995 and 2005).

“Having skied at Snowbird for 16 years, I can honestly say this is by far the best year of powder skiing I’ve ever experienced,” said local pro athlete Ben Wheeler. “The mountain is incredibly filled in, with areas that used to be 30-foot cliffs completely buried under all this snow.”

A recent video shot at Snowbird via Unofficial Networks: