Skiing is the world's best freedom sport, but I can tell you from experience that it is possible to get too much snow, believe It or not.

A few years ago, Mt. Baker in Washington State had a record 99 feet snowfall. In May the snow banks in the parking lot where still thirty-five feet high! Ninety-nine feet of snow is a lot of snow. It happened before and can happen again.

Ninety-nine Feet
Imagine the situation at the 2010 Whistler-Blackcomb Olympics if they got that much snow. The British Columbia government is investing one and a half billion dollars to stage the events. But with 99 feet of snow, everyone would be stuck in their hotels without enough food to last until all of the races finished and the long road back to Vancouver was plowed open.

In October, November, and early December we all want the snow to come, but let's be a little careful how much we wish for. If a resort such as Vail received 99 feet of snow, 1-70 would be shut down for the winter and interstate truck costs would be 20% higher because drivers would have to take the long way around the Rockies. In addition, no ski lifts could run because the snow would be sixty feet deep over the top of the bull wheels. And communication in the area could only be by radio until hardy souls eventually dug out the cell phone towers.

Finally, the glacial action of such deep snow slowly creeping down the steeper slopes would bend and break all of the trees regardless of size. The ones riddled with Pine bark beetle disease would lie everywhere on every ski trail as the snow slowly melted in the spring.

Twenty-four Feet
The deepest snowfall in the shortest amount of time that I ever experienced was in 1943 when Mt. Waterman, less than fifty miles from the Los Angeles City Hall, had 24 feet of snow fall in 24 hours. The cars that were buried up there weren't dug out until three months later, and their roofs were flattened right down to the level of the hood. All four tires were flattened as well.

I say, let's just be happy with what normally falls out of the sky and from the snow guns, and let's not overdo the snow'dance stuff.


Editor's Note: This is one in a Tahoetopia series written by Warren Miller, legendary ski cinematographer. For other columns by Warren, click on Warren Miller.