By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
Editor’s note: Separate from his snow-reporting ventures, Mario Carr is also a contributing writer for Explore Big Sky.
Big Sky Resort is big. Snow conditions typically vary across nearly 6,000 acres of terrain spanning multiple mountains, affected constantly by factors such as location, wind direction and sun exposure.
Locating the best snow is both a challenge and an opportunity for local skier Mario Carr, who recently launched SnoFax, his snow-reporting side hustle that aims to inform Big Sky’s skiing and snowboarding community since it launched in early September.
“SnoFax is a snow report by the people, for the people,” Carr told EBS while riding Big Sky Resort’s Challenger lift under blue skies on Jan. 23. He also has an internet presence as a daring and unorthodox telemark skier, and spent five seasons writing daily snow reports for Big Sky Resort.
Originally from Wisconsin, Carr has been skiing Big Sky for more than two decades. After picking up the snow reporting gig in 2019, he remembers feeling like he could do it for the rest of his life.
“I just love the variety of the terrain,” he said of Big Sky. “I love groomers, I love steeps, I love trees, and Big Sky has it all. And I’m very content skiing 150 days in a row here, which I’ve done for three separate seasons… If I can be here, and be an ambassador for the skiing here, that’s my vision for SnoFax.”
This season, the resort shifted its snow reporting focus and eliminated its dedicated snow reporter position, tasking mountain operations with the conditions report. Carr said he wouldn’t let that stop him; he enjoyed writing the reports and received enough positive feedback to justify an independent venture.
Big Sky Resort also discontinued its snow phone this season, so Carr launched his own around the new year. Users can dial 406-518-7575 to hear the day’s conditions, and if they so choose, leave a voicemail with any valuable information for the next snow report.
With SnoFax, Carr’s goal is to report conditions objectively and comprehensively, without any marketing bias that often creeps into condition reports at any ski area. If it’s successful, it will help fuel his dream: to ski as much as possible in a way that’s financially viable.
‘By the people’: a crowd-sourced database
SnoFax is currently serviced through a free mobile app called Locals, allowing users to create an account and receive daily notifications when Carr posts the report. Articles can also be viewed online.
“I’m doing my best to get the snow report out by 6:30 in the morning, and that’s specifically for people in Bozeman who need to get their information earlier so they can decide to get up here in time and get first tram and whatnot,” he said.
If users opt to pay $5 per month, they unlock the ability to post real-time observations on the app’s feed. Carr envisions a wide variety of locals and visitors sharing constant updates—he said it’s about bringing the community into the snow report, versus the “impossible” task of one person trying to know the entire mountain.
“It’s about tapping into all the different skiers and snowboarders who see different parts of the mountain every day, trying to get them to contribute to the snow report as well,” he said.
Carr isn’t using SnoFax as a forecasting service, but as a real-time report of current conditions. He reads data from the same Forest Service-operated weather stations used by Big Sky Resort, and enhances those statistics using his own knowledge of recent weather trends.
A few months in, he said people seem “hyped” about SnoFax. About 75 people have started using the app as of Jan. 23, with 15 paying subscribers—as the community grows, Carr believes the information will continue to improve as “we can see the mountain from every angle possible,” including reports from longtime locals who know the mountain even better than Carr himself.
One user is Bryce Zetzman, a Big Sky ski instructor in his fourth winter, originally from Colorado.
“[Mario] definitely knows the mountain well, and gives a great mountain summary every day which is great for me to bring to my clients every day for my lesson,” Zetzman told EBS in a phone call.
He, too, learned about SnoFax on a chairlift ride with Carr. In his first couple months of use, he said the daily, broad summary is “definitely worth” the $5 fee and that it feels good to support a friend.
“The wind moves a lot of our snow with it being so dry, so the snow conditions can change pretty regularly,” Zetzman said. “The SnoFax website does a good job of saying where the winds were blowing overnight, and where the snow is likely gonna be.”
Zetzman hasn’t seen any of his ski school peers using the app, but he hopes to see more people pick it up.
Carr agrees. He hopes to see more involvement from ski patrollers, lift operators, snowcat drivers and other people who are on the mountain every day.
He said everyone is entitled to their secret stashes, but he believes in the value of sharing positive tips—and reports of which areas to avoid on any given day.
“SnoFax is about rounding out the information… Warning people about some sketchy conditions that they might not be ready to get into,” Carr said. “It’s not about exposing every secret stash. It’s about arming everybody with the knowledge that they need to have a fun and safe time on the mountain.”
