America’s Biggest Resort Struggling To Open Terrain

A mostly dry December for parts of the Rockies is causing problems at a number of areas including Utah’s Park City Mountain, which claims the most acres of ski terrain of any US ski area.

Over Christmas the resort posted 14% of its runs open and just 51 of its 350 trails skiable.

Park City says its base depth is currently at 23 inches (57cm) and that its had only 56” (1.4m) of snowfall this season. A big investment in snowmaking ahead of the season doesn’t appear to have helped things much.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the resort has limited work for roughly 30 employees due to the conditions.

It’s a mixed picture for snowfall this season across North America and even in the Rockies region.

The Pacific Northwest corner has had up to 15 feet (4+ metres) of snowfall already in line with La Nina weather system projections and the continent’s deepest snow is being reported by resorts in Oregon (Timberline), Washington State (Mt Baker) and BC (Mt Washington) at around 7 feet (2.1m) up top.

But whilst they’ve not had much more snowfall than Park City, other resorts in the Rockies have managed to open much more terrain thanks to key local differences. Aspen and Vail have 80-90% of their slopes open. Big Sky in Montana, another of America’s giant ski areas, says three-quarters of its terrain is open despite having only and 18-29” base.