Mammoth
California has been hit by 'historic' volumes of snow in the past week that has taken its resorts up to the deepest snow levels in the world at present, according to independent snow reporting agency Skiinfo.
Mammoth Mountain has seen the most remarkable accumulations - with 361cm (12 feet) falling in the past week, a metre (3.3 metres) of it in the past 24 hours alone, giving it the greatest snow depth in the world at 457cm (over 15 feet). It has overtaken the glacier ski slopes of the Pragelato ice field above Passo Tonale in Italy which measures year round snow accumulation of more than four metres to often hold the number one spot outside the main season.
It's been only slightly less spectacular at Lake Tahoe to the north where most of the rest of the resorts make up the rest of the top 230 snow recipients of the past seven days, receiving up to 2.8m (over nine feet) each. They report this is the latest in a series of storms that have delivered nearly 20 feet of snow to the region over the past few months, they're crediting the 'La Nina' effect off the Pacific.
Elsewhere in Western North America other resorts are reporting good conditions too. Steamboat in Colorado says it has just psssed the 150 inches (375cm of snow fallen) mark and in Banff more than 8,000 acres are now open in time for Christmas at its three areas.