Colorado's Snowmass Mountain celebrates 50 years of skiing
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Colorado's Snowmass Mountain celebrates its 50th anniversary in December, 2017. Stein Eriksen, Snowmass’ first director of skiing, shown loading the first official chairlift ride on opening day at Snowmass on Saturday, December 16, 1967.
Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame
Doug Mackenzie, Sal Aurelio and Bruce Sinclair take Cabin Jump at Snowmass in 1979.
Aspen Skiing Company
Vintage snow cat at Snowmass.
Aspen Skiing Company
Doug MacKenzie started as a ski instructor at Snowmass in 1972 and worked at the resort until 2007.
Aspen Skiing Company
The base village at Snowmass in 2009.
Hal Williams, Aspen Snowmass
Disabled military veteran Russel Wolfe skis cross-country on a mono-ski on March 28, 2012 in Snowmass Village, Colorado. More than 350 U.S. military veterans took part in the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic.
John Moore, Getty Images
Cassidy Jarrell spins onto a rail at the annual Thanksjibbing Rail Jam hosted by Bud Light at Snowmass Mountain, Friday, Nov. 24, 2017.
Anna Stonehouse, AP
Snowmass Mountain appears through fall foliage on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017.
Anna Stonehouse, AP
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Just weeks after United Airlines turned back the clock for its final 747 flight, Snowmass Mountain in Colorado will do the same for skiers. And the popular resort in Aspen will go beyond groovy ski suits with a real deal: A $6.50 lift ticket, the same price the resort charged on the day it opened in 1967. The deal is good only for Dec. 15, but the resort will host "retro-themed" parties throughout the weekend. Learn more about the festivities at gosnowmass.com/50-years , and check the gallery above for photos of Snowmass past and present.
The 10 biggest snow days of the 2016-2017 ski season
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No 1: Kirkwood, Calif., Jan. 11, 2017, 48 inches. Kirkwood almost always leads the way in snow totals in the Sierra. With a higher elevation than many of its peers and an advantageous aspect for funneling snow, there is no better place to be when storms are rolling into Tahoe, something that has happened at a high frequency this winter. Pacific coast storms can come in heavy, smothering doses, which means Sierra resorts often get storms that are far bigger than anything regularly seen in the Rockies.
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No. 1 (tie): Heavenly, Calif., Jan. 11, 2017, 48 inches. Sitting at the south end of Lake Tahoe, Heavenly straddles the California-Nevada line and may have the best views of any ski resort in North America. Skiers this January got an extra bonus with the biggest dump of the year on the continent.
ZRankings
No. 1 (tie): June Mountain, Calif., Jan. 5, 2017, 48 inches. This sleepy mountain gave its skiers the day of a lifetime on a random Thursday early in the year. For skiers who could actually get to the mountain, the rewards were deep.
Eric Diem
No. 1 (tie): Donner Ski Ranch, Calif., Jan. 5, 2017, 48 inches. Truly the province of locals, Donner Ski Ranch was digging out for weeks after this snow event. The small operation went on to collect 24 inches from a single day of snow later in the month, on Jan. 20.
ZRankings
No. 5: Northstar at Tahoe, Calif., Jan. 11, 2017, 42 inches. Northstar possesses a great layout for skiing on a powder day, with long, steady runs and glades that are cut perfectly for weaving down pillows of snow. Northstar also gets skied off slower than other area resorts, as the powder hounds of North Lake Tahoe tend to head to Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows first.
ZRankings
No. 6: Sierra at Tahoe, Calif., Jan. 23, 2017, 40 inches. This storm shows that there were three distinct massive precipitation systems that hit Northern California in January. Sierra at Tahoe has excellent tree skiing, and skiers might still be finding stashes from this event.
ZRankings
No. 7: Brian Head Resort, Utah, Dec. 25, 2016, 36 inches. Deep snowfall met skiers at this southern Utah resort on Christmas morning. Brian Head doesn't see the kinds of crowds that normally show at major destination resorts for the Christmas holiday, which made the day a laid-back affair of calmly — but not that calmly — skiing as much vertical as possible.
ZRankings
No. 8: Alpine Meadows, Calif., Feb. 10, 2017, 32 inches. Alpine Meadows has some of the better fall lines and terrain in the Tahoe region. Lots of pros show up when big powder strikes here, and with 32 inches freshly on the ground, skiers could go as big as they wanted.
ZRankings
No. 9: Squaw Valley, Calif., Jan. 23, 2017, 31 inches. For experts, Squaw Valley is the premier Lake Tahoe ski destination. It has a wealth of steep lines that course down big faces, giving skiers the kinds of terrain featured in TGR movies. It's why the resort has produced so many world-class free skiers. On this day in January, Squaw lived up to its lofty reputation.
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No. 10: Brighton, Utah, Jan. 24, 2017, 30 inches. Brighton is known as a haven for snowboarders in a state that has the only two resorts in the American west that don't allow them — Deer Valley and Alta. Normally, Brighton and its next door neighbor in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Solitude, receive a bit less snow that the resorts in Little Cottonwood Canyon, as the latter canyon tends to trap storms more effectively. Even so, Solitude and Brighton receive elite amounts of snow on an average basis, both of them being in the top seven ski resorts for snow in North America. This season, however, Big Cottonwood Canyon netted more snow than did Little Cottonwood from many of the large December and January storms that rolled through Utah, giving these mountains’ riders an extra boost of pride.
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