Searching for Bismarck’s biggest snow pile

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - With record-setting snowfall at the end of last year, it is no surprise there are giant snow piles all around town. But which one is the biggest?

First, we started here at the mall, obviously, we got a lot of snow. I have this wonderful snowbank right here in front of me and I am going to start climbing, so just follow along.

I’m going to do an unscientific evaluation, using this 100-foot-long tape measure to do my calculations on how high these mountains of snow are.

So, our first measurement was 56 feet and eight inches. It’s going to take a lot of snow to eclipse this mountain, but we are just getting started.

For Bismarck residents, everyone has their own opinion of what the biggest snowbank is.

“There is a huge snow pile in Faith Lutheran Church, in the parking lot which is now taking up a lot of space for parking,” said Glen Anderson of Bismarck.

Despite public input, I continued my search for more enormous piles of snow. I knew I needed to talk with an expert.

So, I figured that Mr. Snowman would know what the biggest snow pile was in Bismarck. But right now, I think he has got a brain freeze.

As I continued to search, I receive helpful tips for where to go.

“It’s bigger than a truck, and it’s bigger than a boat. It’s big, I’d say it’s two stories,” said Rhonda Kingsley of Bismarck.

There are lots of snow piles like this one that are 20 feet tall.

Many of those smaller snow piles get hauled away and dumped in one place, which gave me another clue to where a big hill could be.

This snow pile at the dump might not be the tallest, but it encompasses a lot of area. It goes on for what feels like forever.

As for officially finding the biggest snow pile, my research found out that we started at the top pile.

“I’m going to say the largest one is down at Kirkwood Mall right now. ‘Cause I know Markwed Excavating went down there with an excavator and stacked some snow and make more room for it,” said Chad Schiermeister, crew leader Bismarck Public Works.

With more blizzards and winter storms in the forecast, the title of the most significant summit of snow may shift.

The city of Bismarck has hauled 11,434 loads of snow weighing in at 160 thousand tons.

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