Snoqualmie Weekend Traffic

[Michigan_Sucks]

I have an Ikon I renewed before I knew I was gonna be moving and I can't refund it. I get 7 days at Snoqualmie and need some park laps in my life, how fucked does it get on the weekends? I've only been going up to Baker and that's been perfectly fine but Snoqualmies proximity to Seattle is making me think it isn't even worth it.

 

[prettySteezy03]

Snoqualmie has very little traffic the majority of the time. It is a trucking route and 4 lane highway so it moves fast. However, after a big storm parts can get a little congested from everyone putting chains on at the same spot.

It is probably the most consistent in terms of no traffic of all the washington ski resorts.

 

[gbalkman]

Traffic isn't the issue. Sometimes lift lines get long (30 min +) for the highspeed quad to lap the park. Night skiing is the way to go to avoid lift lines. You can lap the park until 9pm (they might be going back to 10pm this year).

 

[Ski_Alot]

Lines can get a bit long but it's a fun resort. Alpental has some awesome terrain (check out the back bowls), and some of the coolest night skiing terrain I've ever ridden. Traffic is definitely less of a factor than Crystal or Stevens.

 

[e.will]

Weekend lines are perpetually 30 mins on Central Express, especially when lessons are cranking. (core 6 weeks of the winter).

That being said, the park has been super, SUPER fun the last two, three seasons. It's worth it. Plus, during the night-skiing season, you can ski well into the night. We'll even ski Alp all day, get dinner or something, then go blast some night laps.

Ya gotta get up there early, though. I think with Crystal pass restructure and people needing to go to Snoq to justify their Ikon purchase (basically, a lot of people like you) the Snoq is going to get INUNDATED and totally fucked every weekend. I do think you'll start to see 40 minute backups on the alpental access road in the morning, and things getting dicey on the highway.

This is not a knock on you, but more a knock on Crystal, and a sad byproduct of pass reciprocity at the summit.

 

[cyphers]

yeah park weeknights are the move. heard it's been slammed on weekends this season

 

[Ski_Alot]

Weekend lines are perpetually 30 mins on Central Express, especially when lessons are cranking. (core 6 weeks of the winter).

That being said, the park has been super, SUPER fun the last two, three seasons. It's worth it. Plus, during the night-skiing season, you can ski well into the night. We'll even ski Alp all day, get dinner or something, then go blast some night laps.

Ya gotta get up there early, though. I think with Crystal pass restructure and people needing to go to Snoq to justify their Ikon purchase (basically, a lot of people like you) the Snoq is going to get INUNDATED and totally fucked every weekend. I do think you'll start to see 40 minute backups on the alpental access road in the morning, and things getting dicey on the highway.

This is not a knock on you, but more a knock on Crystal, and a sad byproduct of pass reciprocity at the summit.

Fortunately Snoq is still requiring reservations for Ikon folks. Hoping it doesnt get that bad...

 

[theabortionator]

Weekend lines are perpetually 30 mins on Central Express, especially when lessons are cranking. (core 6 weeks of the winter).

That being said, the park has been super, SUPER fun the last two, three seasons. It's worth it. Plus, during the night-skiing season, you can ski well into the night. We'll even ski Alp all day, get dinner or something, then go blast some night laps.

Ya gotta get up there early, though. I think with Crystal pass restructure and people needing to go to Snoq to justify their Ikon purchase (basically, a lot of people like you) the Snoq is going to get INUNDATED and totally fucked every weekend. I do think you'll start to see 40 minute backups on the alpental access road in the morning, and things getting dicey on the highway.

This is not a knock on you, but more a knock on Crystal, and a sad byproduct of pass reciprocity at the summit.

Meh, idk how you can knock Crystal for getting off the unlimited. They should have done it a year earlier. Knock them for the pass price hike sure but getting off Ikon was smart straight up.

Also for weekday people 645 wasnt cheap but not too bad, and 7 days a week after march 15th which is my favorite time of the season. 1500 for a season pass is too much though. I like limiting people but not like that.

 

[e.will]

Meh, idk how you can knock Crystal for getting off the unlimited. They should have done it a year earlier. Knock them for the pass price hike sure but getting off Ikon was smart straight up.

Also for weekday people 645 wasnt cheap but not too bad, and 7 days a week after march 15th which is my favorite time of the season. 1500 for a season pass is too much though. I like limiting people but not like that.

TBH, I always want to blame Crystal, so sure, bias acknowledged, but hear me out:

Crystal made some moves this year that churned a lot of skiers from being Crystal Skiers into Ikon Skiers. The resort made decisions to invest in attracting a destination-minded consumer rather than improving existing value for their core consumer.

this has shifted the ikon reciprocity arrangement at summit from being a value-add to the core pillar of the value proposition for Washington area skiers. The brunt of absorbing this falls to Snoqualmie. Sure, Snoq limits their pass sales, but the ikon redemption goes from unexpected problem to guaranteed situation.

And in order to address, Summit has to be the one that fixes these things. Seems kinda BS. I do wish they would turn off the reciprocity arrangement, or have a much harder cap on ikon reservation day tickets. But the situation we're facing, in my opinion, is based entirely off of Crystal's decision making.

It's kind of like someone rear-ending you on the highway and saying, "nah it's chill my cousin will take care of this." But that cousin lives 3 hours away, has a lot on his plate already, and doesn't have the bandwidth to deal with the repercussions. He's a good guy, will try hard, but how much can you really expect?

But i hear it's been pretty country clubby up at Crystal so far with skate-on lifts and untouched pow. So I'm happy for ya.

 

[theabortionator]

TBH, I always want to blame Crystal, so sure, bias acknowledged, but hear me out:

Crystal made some moves this year that churned a lot of skiers from being Crystal Skiers into Ikon Skiers. The resort made decisions to invest in attracting a destination-minded consumer rather than improving existing value for their core consumer.

this has shifted the ikon reciprocity arrangement at summit from being a value-add to the core pillar of the value proposition for Washington area skiers. The brunt of absorbing this falls to Snoqualmie. Sure, Snoq limits their pass sales, but the ikon redemption goes from unexpected problem to guaranteed situation.

And in order to address, Summit has to be the one that fixes these things. Seems kinda BS. I do wish they would turn off the reciprocity arrangement, or have a much harder cap on ikon reservation day tickets. But the situation we're facing, in my opinion, is based entirely off of Crystal's decision making.

It's kind of like someone rear-ending you on the highway and saying, "nah it's chill my cousin will take care of this." But that cousin lives 3 hours away, has a lot on his plate already, and doesn't have the bandwidth to deal with the repercussions. He's a good guy, will try hard, but how much can you really expect?

But i hear it's been pretty country clubby up at Crystal so far with skate-on lifts and untouched pow. So I'm happy for ya.

If summit has an issue with too many people they should do something similar. Some places have 1 week some places have 2 weeks. Idk I wish Crystal hadn't been on the Ikon.

Idk, I guess Crystal is the "other" place for you so naturally it's Crystals fault. Crystal has done a lot of shitty things recently but imo most of your complaints aren't them, and are things I'm fine with.

Lol, I never said anything about being into a country club bibe. I legit said the opposite. The ikon pass here is new, that's not something that was here forever and got taken away. It was added and then it was scaled back after a couple seasons.

I specifically mentioned not being into the steep season pass price here. Idk. Sorry too many people are skiing your local?

 

[halfwatt]

I have a twilight pass to summit. usually going on a random weeknight is the move. couple times last year I did 6ish laps in about an hour and left afterwards.