What a difference a year makes! Last year I seemed to be spending more time digging out our car than skiing – December 2010 had a record-breaking 209” (17.4 ft, 5.3 metres) of snow. This year December is shaping up to be one of the driest Decembers ever with 2” total to date, with only 1976-77 and 1986-87 clocking in lower at a big fat zero!

Luckily, we have an incredible group of people making snow whenever the thermostat dips below freezing and so most of the lower parts of the mountain are open. This bodes well for beginners and intermediates – with experts itching to get back onto the more challenging runs.

Photo: Peter Morning/MMSA

For a bit of historical perspective, here is a table and graph of snowfall each year from 1969 – click on the image for a larger version.

Snow history data courtesy of MammothMountain.com. Snow history graphs courtesy of Sort Creative.