Ski Jackson Hole resort guide It's a charming little resort, rather dwarfed by the huge, slopeside Four Seasons" Hotel. You can get to pretty much everywhere on foot and there's everything you could need for your holiday in the village - and enough restaurants to enable you to try a different one each night. For the last 10 years the ski area has averaged 459 inches (more than 32 feet) of snow each winter, though like any other resort, it does inevitably experience the occasional poor snow year. In the 2007-08 season, the resort had an all-time record 605 inches of snowfall combined with a then record number of visits. Last winter's tally of 385 inches was 100 inches below average, yet visits were the highest ever at 502,222 - the first time the resort has ever passed the half-million mark. The big news this year is a new electronic gate system to get skiers and boarders onto the slopes faster and with less hassle. Once guests have purchased a reusable J Card - that operates the lift turnstyles automatically - they'll be able to reload it online at any time, so no waiting in line. Other on-mountain improvements for next winter include rerouting and widening the South Pass Traverse between the Casper Restaurant and Apres Vous mountain to make it easier and more pleasant to negotiate. And work has started on the construction of a new Crags chairlift to be installed in the summer of 2015 - ready to celebrate Jackson Hole Mountain Resort's 50th season. Recently the resort spent nearly $6 million on the installation of the Casper high-speed detachable quad - a boost for intermediate terrain. It's no surprise with the resort's coming of age over the last quarter century that some say Jackson Hole is the resort of North America. It's pretty much miles from anywhere - one of its main attractions. Jackson Hole is some 525 miles (a 10-hour drive) from Denver, Colorado so flying (406 miles as the crow flies) is the sensible way in. Its airport, Jackson Hole, is not the easiest to fly into, and traditionally only the aircraft captain can land here. When you fly into the little airport (not so little these days in fact after a major $30 million renovation and expansion) the chances are if you'll spot those truly inspirational Tetons from your seat on the plane. Unless there's a blizzard (in which case your plane probably wouldn't have been able to land anyway). "The airport is located in Grand Teton National Park" says the resort. So fight (or ask nicely) for a window seat on your flight into Jackson. It's a view you'll never forget. Jackson Hole airport is 10 miles north of the town of Jackson. You can't fly there direct from the UK. In earlier times the normal route was via Salt Lake City (more than 300 miles away), but these days it's an easy hop from Denver (just over an hour) with United Express (united.com) /Sky West Airlines (skywest.com), or Dallas (two and a half hours) on American . But be prepared for your flight to turn back if bad weather develops en route because Jackson's "hole" in the mountains is tricky to get into. If this happens you'll be returned to Denver and the flight will take off again when the local weather at Jackson has improved. Another possibility is your plane might be diverted to Idaho Falls (88 miles away) from where you'd travel on to Jackson by bus. At least four airlines fly into Jackson Hole from various parts of the USA (including Delta (delta.com), Frontier Airlines (flyfrontier.com), and American Airlines (aa.com)), adding up to some 275 flights a week from cities that include New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and of course Denver. Jackson Hole Alltrans (jacksonholealltrans.com) runs Jackson Hole Express, which provides a daily shuttle service to/from Jackson Hole, Idaho Falls, Pocatello and Salt Lake City. Advance Reservations are highly recommended. Also, Start Bus Public Transportation (startbus.com) Beginners * Intermediates *** Experts *** Extent *** Snow reliability *** Off piste/Powder *** Village charm ** Families ** Budget * Luxury ** Après ** Off slope activities/facilities * Shops * Foodies ** Scenery *** Snowboarders *** Jackson Hole: piste guide Jackson Hole: hotels Jackson Hole: restaurants