Austrian Ski resort kicks off the new year with Europe’s largest snowman

To celebrate the start of the new season, and to promote their newest ski resort, the Galtür region in Austria built Europe’s largest snowman. The 53 foot tall snow sculpture is called Emil, and stands at the bottom of their new kiddie slopes. The Ski resort used to be a collection of various challenging slopes, but for 2009, designers divided things into 6 different zones and renamed the area “Silvapark

Three of these six zones are “kid friendly” and offer beginning skiers a chance to get used to sliding around on their ski’s. The junior slopes even feature traffic lights, as a way to teach kids how to be considerate of other skiers.

Of course, a 53 foot snowman is nothing compared to the 122′ Olympia SnowWoman made in Bethel, Maine in 2008.