Alta takes skis only. Snowboards are not allowed on the lifts or on the mountain, and it is a decision the area has held to for decades. Snow is why people come. The average is around 1380 centimetres in a winter, and the record season of 2022 and 2023 brought over 2290. The mountain is known worldwide for steep and deep powder, but 45 per cent of the terrain is laid out for beginners and intermediates, which surprises most people on a first visit. The place began as a silver mining town that emptied out. The slopes were hand picked by the Norwegian skier Alf Engen, who had been hired by the Forest Service to judge what the area could become. They saw deep snow and inviting terrain as a way to create work and bring the vegetation back to a range that mining had stripped bare. Salt Lake City lies just below, at the foot of Little Cottonwood Canyon.