Arizona Snowbowl Skiing: Mountain Information

Rising high above the Arizona desert plateau, the San Francisco Peaks provide the perfect location for the only ski resort of its kind, the Arizona Snowbowl. Proving that people indeed ski in the desert, the Arizona Snowbowl boasts an impressive 2,300 foot vertical drop and 32 trails, all of which look out over the incredible scenery of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

With a base elevation of 9,200 feet, the Arizona Snowbowl receives a surprising 260 inches of average snowfall each season. That has been enough fluffy stuff to coat the resort's 777 acres and all 32 trails with a reliable layer of Arizona snowfall for the last 69 years.

A true family resort, the Snowbowl provides beginner skiers and riders with two double chairlifts and a surface lift, or rope tow, to whisk them up to the top of the mountain's more forgiving trails. The middle-grounders will find a perfect intermediate fit on the resort's "Sunset" triple, and advanced skiers and riders will have a blast—and a great workout—looping the lengthy "Agassiz" triple, which rises 1,981 feet from the Agassiz Lodge area. Indeed, the mountain's terrain is well-appropriated to satisfy all levels of skiing ability: 37 percent is devoted to beginner terrain, 42 percent to intermediate, and 21 percent to advanced.

While there is no true "expert" terrain available at the Arizona Snowbowl, the terrain park, with rails, boxes, ridges, and lifts, is always open for a challenge.

All of the above is located in the Coconino National Forest, just seven miles from downtown Flagstaff, Arizona, and a few hours' drive from Phoenix.