Snowbird resort is a year-round ski and summer resort located in the heart of the Wasatch National Forest on the eastern border of the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy. It is from Salt Lake City International Airport, from downtown Salt Lake City and east of the suburb of Sandy. The resort first opened in December 1971. Snowbird shares Little Cottonwood Canyon with Alta Ski Area to the east, just up the canyon over a ridge that separates the two. Beginning winter 2002, the two resorts offer a joint day pass and a joint season ticket allowing full access all of the terrain on both mountains: 26 ski lifts and tows and a skiable area of . The collaboration coincided with the opening of a new lift in Mineral Basin, a large bowl owned by Snowbird on the back of Snowbird's Hidden Peak and Alta's Sugarloaf mountains that had been skiable within the resort since 1999. The installation of Baldy Express in 2002 allowed access to Alta from the Basin. Other access points between the two resorts exist as well. The offer is open to skiers only, as a result of Alta's skiers-only (no snowboarders) policy. Both areas receive more than of snowfall per year due to lake-effect enhancement from the Great Salt Lake, making them the second snowiest ski areas in the United States (after the ones in the Cascades). In contrast to the humid and wet conditions in the Cascades near the Pacific Ocean, the arid condition of the Great Basin produces very dry and powdery snow, making Snowbird and Alta top global destinations for powder-skiing aficionados. Another benefit of being East of the Great Salt Lake is that salt from the lake provides the condensation nuclei that creates ice pellet snow that doesn't pack like normal snowflakes. Loose powder for days after a snowfall is common. On very windy days the salt is lifted thousands of feet and has been known to coat the windshield of airplanes flying into Salt Lake City. Snowbird, which operates primarily on privately owned land, usually closes on Memorial Day in late May while the occasional ski year can last as long as the Fourth of July on the upper part of the mountain (accessed by the aerial tram), perennially offering the longest ski season in Utah as other Utah resorts must close earlier because they are on Forest Service land. Snowbird