I pulled 2 full seasons (2023-24 and 2024-25) of daily snow depth data from NRCS SNOTEL stations near major ski resorts and compared the measured snowfall against what each resort advertises as their
"average annual snowfall."
Every resort inflates to some degree — SNOTEL stations sit at different elevations and snow compacts between readings, so there's always a gap. But the SIZE of that gap varies wildly. Here's the ranking from
most honest to least:
The Honest Ones:
- Granby Ranch — claims 220", SNOTEL measured 200.5" (9.7% gap)
- Snowbasin — claims 300", measured 252" (19% gap)
- Sun Valley — claims 220", measured 181" (21.5% gap)
Moderate Stretch:
- Keystone — claims 235", measured 168.5" (39.5%)
- Eldora — claims 300", measured 200.5" (49.6%)
- Crystal Mountain — claims 486", measured 321" (51.4%)
Heavy Inflation:
- Breckenridge — claims 353", measured 168.5" (109.5%)
- Aspen Snowmass — claims 300", measured 158.5" (89.3%)
- Park City — claims 360", measured 141.5" (154.4%)
- Steamboat — claims 349", measured 143.5" (143.2%)
The Worst Offenders:
- Vail — claims 354", measured 122.5" (189% gap)
- Mammoth — claims 400", measured 145.5" (175%)
- Big Sky — claims 400", measured 91.5" (337%)
Data source: NRCS SNOTEL via wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov. All publicly available.
Curious if this matches your on-the-ground experience. Does anyone feel like their home mountain is honest about conditions?