Utah: Most crowded skiing on earth?

Monsieur_Patate

Monsieur_Patate

Active member
So I moved to Utah recently, first winter here after having skied the alps all my life (France, Switzerland, Austria, etc.) I heard good things about the skiing here so I was excited about winter. Now we're a couple months into the season and I'm here to report my findings.

Basically my comparison is based on my personal experience. In France when you have a good storm, you have no issue finding lift accessible fresh pow for days after the storm in most resorts. Terrain/lifts are also rarely closed, even during a storm, and if it is during a huge storm, it 90% of the time opens the next day. Making it super easy to time when to "get sick" and enjoy the goods. And I'm talking huge resorts, like you can ski fresh lines all day without going to the same area twice. This is true for 95% of the resorts in France, one of the exceptions I have encountered being La Clusaz where everyone from Annecy shreds and therefore it can get tracked pretty quickly on weekends. Pretty much everywhere else you won't have any lift lines during the season except for a few weeks when school is off and the whole country goes to the alps for their family vacation. (usually new year's week and then a couple weeks in February)

Now, in comparison, here in (northern) Utah I found that:

- More storms: of course I've been here for only half a season, but after chatting with friends who have been here for a few years they confirmed that on average, powder is a bit more consistent in Utah, slightly more regular storms than the french alps for example.

- Lighter snow: I found that it's less true in places like Snowbasin or PowMo (probably partially due to the lower elevation), but during a good storm Alta or the Bird will have consistently lower density snow compared to the Alps, really fun stuff to ride.

- Terrain: Alta or Snowbird have terrain that compares to the alps. In other places terrain is usually a bit mellow-er, but still fun (but so much trees, you gotta be really high to get above the tree line). Terrain will also be closed in Utah, often. I have yet to see a resort open all their terrain on a storm day. And it's not just one lift because of the wind either, like huge parts of the resorts like a third to half are closed during storms. Less terrain but more people, you get the picture.

- The traffic: It takes hours of waiting in your car to get to the resort. This is less true for Snowbasin or PowMo (even though there is still traffic on a powder day), but in the cottonwoods you either wait 2 hours at the gate which is closed early in the morning for avalanche mitigation during a storm, or if you show up after it opens, you wait for hours in traffic. Either way, if there is powder, you'll spend time in your car.

- The people: So on a storm day, conditions can be quite good if it refills throughout the day, but due to the number of people, it takes a particularly heavy storm day or a country club day to really get that "fresh turns all day" situation. The reality is that in most cases, a couple hours after opening, the whole mountain (or whatever terrain is open) will be tracked.

- Opening terrain: So like I said terrain will be closed on a storm day, but even for days after the storm, shit is still closed. I don't really get that part, I think part of the reason may be that resorts want to keep some areas fresh for days after a storm to keep attracting people. It may also have to do with less infrastructure or personnel to secure terrain compared to European resorts, not sure about the reasons, but the fact is that they are pretty slow to open terrain after a storm. And when word gets out that they will open terrain, oh boy. You have people waiting at the rope for hours before ski patrol opens it, so you have a huge line, and when they do open, people turn into animals. Straight up beasts. Push, shove, no rules. People will ski over you to get there first. And you'll get one run, so best make it count, because when they open that new terrain a couple days after the storm, everyone will be there because the rest of the place is already tracked. So after one run, that area will be tracked too. Never seen anything like it, to be honest it was a bit of a shock.

- Ropes: so in France if an area is not secured/closed, you're still free to go, it's just that if you get in trouble, the resort won't be responsible, it's 100% on you. In Utah, if it's roped off, you can't go, period. If you do you can get prosecuted and they're pretty serious about that stuff.

So all in all, my personal feeling is that Utah is pretty crowded. Not that surprising considering that Utah has like 13 resorts, and the population is over 3 million people. In comparison Savoie in France has a population of 430,000 people and 40+ resorts, many of which are also much larger than in Utah. I tour more and more to try and avoid the crowds and get fresh turns. I've heard from the natives that it wasn't always like that and it's getting out of hand because of assholes like me moving in. :)

Anyway, just sharing my perspective, and would love to hear what everyone's strategy is to resort skiing on a pow day in Utah, if you have any tips to avoid the crowds and get more fresh turns, any secrets, I'll take them!
 
Are you still happy/satisfied with the skiing in UT? I am/was heavily considering moving there in the next two years... Was hoping it would give some solid skiing and job opportunities (places like CO have more jobs, but also more people and higher prices)
 
So obviously you’ve never skied I-70 Colorado resorts. Much worse crowds then Utah for the most part.

Utah has quite the population boom past 5-10 years. That doesn’t help.

Addition of new pass combos has helped increase skier visits. Booming economy and cheaper air travel has increased skier visits. Both of those increase cars on road.

Avy terrain is complex in Utah. Especially BCC and LCC. State and resorts won’t open lifts areas and roads unless 100% safe. Takes resorts time to do this. Can’t do it in a few hours.

Also, good ol USA has this thing called lawsuits. So resorts need to be 100% safe on all aspects of snow safety and terrain management. People will sue over their coat getting dirty on the lift so now think of some doctor dying in an indounds avalanche. Millions of dollars in suits and litigation.

Get familiar more. I ski the cottonwoods weekends and have never waited in line going up. That’s because I leave my house at 6:30. Get up early. Get some breakfast and coffee. Beat the rest.

Snowfall this year is trending a bit above average. Snowfall elevations are about average as well. Snowfall densities are maybe a bit higher but still lighter then most if not all places in US.

**This post was edited on Feb 1st 2019 at 3:38:26pm
 
Case in point:

Cody Townsend's latest The FIFTY episode dropped today. From 1min20 to 1min35: "Is it always like that? Yep, welcome to Utah". Pretty much.

 
13994168:West.Is.Best said:
Are you still happy/satisfied with the skiing in UT? I am/was heavily considering moving there in the next two years... Was hoping it would give some solid skiing and job opportunities (places like CO have more jobs, but also more people and higher prices)
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I'd say it depends where you're moving from. Don't get me wrong, it's still a super fun place to live in, year round, summers are awesome, tons of stuff to do. The skiing is also pretty good, but I'd say if you want to ski pow, you're better off touring in Utah. Skiing a resort on a powder day is definitely a struggle. Like I said you'll spend a lot of time waiting, and everything will be tracked within a couple hours. So probably better off skinning up instead of waiting and getting fresh turns all day. Because of the crowds, my personal experience is that powder days in a resort in the alps are more enjoyable than in Utah. Just my opinion.

To cadebucket said don't go on weekends, I wouldn't even dare going up LCC for a powder day on a weekend. The experience I'm describing are weekdays. I find that it doesn't really matter what day it is, if there's a good amount of fresh pow, people are going to skip work and go ski.

Noted that Colorado is even worse, I'll make sure to cross it off my list of possible places to move to.
 
13994188:SkiBum. said:
So obviously you’ve never skied I-70 Colorado resorts. Much worse crowds then Utah for the most part.

Utah has quite the population boom past 5-10 years. That doesn’t help.

Addition of new pass combos has helped increase skier visits. Booming economy and cheaper air travel has increased skier visits. Both of those increase cars on road.

Avy terrain is complex in Utah. Especially BCC and LCC. State and resorts won’t open lifts areas and roads unless 100% safe. Takes resorts time to do this. Can’t do it in a few hours.

Also, good ol USA has this thing called lawsuits. So resorts need to be 100% safe on all aspects of snow safety and terrain management. People will sue over their coat getting dirty on the lift so now think of some doctor dying in an indounds avalanche. Millions of dollars in suits and litigation.

Get familiar more. I ski the cottonwoods weekends and have never waited in line going up. That’s because I leave my house at 6:30. Get up early. Get some breakfast and coffee. Beat the rest.

**This post was edited on Feb 1st 2019 at 3:38:26pm
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That makes sense, this lawsuit mentality is really annoying and hard for me to understand. That could definitely explain why they're extra careful and take longer to open terrain than in the alps. Not sure about the complexity of terrain, I feel like the alps also has some fairly complex terrain as well.

And regarding getting up early, I already do that, I always plan to get there 90mins to 2hours before the lift opens on a pow day. But if there is a good storm, there is a good chance the canyons will be closed for avy work early (usually 5-8am). So you either wait at the gate, or you wait at the lift. Either way you wait, is my point, no matter how early you wake up.

I feel like resort skiing could best on weekdays, 2-3 days after the big storm. When they are likely to open some new terrain, and you'll find less crowds. On a storm day or the day after, I find that's when shit is the worst. A lot of terrain is closed and you have a fuckton of people. Also, going for the small storms can also be a good bet, the 10 inches, people usually don't skip work for that, so you'll have less crowds, and some fresh snow. Won't be the deepest, but that beats fighting for you turns.

Anyway, my perfect scenario would be to just go up the mountain on a powder day and ski pow all day. The reality is that it's not that simple in Utah, lot of compromises to make.
 
13994206:Monsieur_Patate said:
To cadebucket said don't go on weekends, I wouldn't even dare going up LCC for a powder day on a weekend. The experience I'm describing are weekdays. I find that it doesn't really matter what day it is, if there's a good amount of fresh pow, people are going to skip work and go ski.
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Yeah even week day are bad. The traffic seems worse then last year, or maybe its just me.

Did anyone esle notice the k rails up by alta? How are these supposed to help traffic?
 
13994226:Monsieur_Patate said:
Anyway, my perfect scenario would be to just go up the mountain on a powder day and ski pow all day. The reality is that it's not that simple in Utah, lot of compromises to make.
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I don’t think that exists. Anywhere. And if it does and you find it. Might want to hold that one close and don’t tell anyone.

I’ve only skied in Alps once. Super late season. It wasn’t busy. But I figured last open weekend of the year, you’ll have that.

You want powder and just for yourself you’ll have to work for it. Get a sled. Get some friends. Deep Unitas for a few days or a week in the Wind River range and you’ll have a mountain to yourself. Just will take you a day to get there and the a day to set camp and a lifetime of knowledge to know the goods and stay alive.
 
Is this your first season in the USA? In my experience here in the USA people start getting hyped about winter in the fall. Early fall is when you start seeing all the winter scenes in ads on TV etc and it kinda peaks around Christmas which in reality is just a few days after the first day of winter. From Christmas on more and more people lose interest in winter and winter sports. By the middle of winter when there is the most snow most people have quit skiing. Lots of people get all hyped for summer activities and buy swim suits etc. in March before the first day of spring and by the almost everyone is totally checked out and the ski hills can be like a ghost town even on a pow day Saturday.

Hopefully this is the trend in Utah too. If not I suggest you take a trip out to the west coast and you will see what I mean. Some of the very best skiing is in April and May. In my experience late in the season when there is a ton of snow you can ski onto the lift with no line at places like Mammoth, Hood, and Tahoe. Same places that are totally packed with huge lines in the early season.
 
Lol I remember a few years ago one day I was waiting in a huge traffic jam for the LCC road to open for avvy mitigation to head up to Snowbird. There is a neighborhood you have to drive through in Cottonwood Heights and this rich lady in her Lincoln Navigator was just trying to get back to her house. Finally she got so frustrated she pulled onto the wrong side of the road and gunned it about 100 yards then got pulled over. Just then the road opened and all the skiers who ruined her day got to look at her get a ticket as we drove by. I dont think I have ever seen someone so pissed.
 
Colorado is far worse. At least in SLC you only have to drive maybe an hour and struggle to find parking. My friends who ski weekends in CO frequently spend 5-6 hours in the car round trip to go stand in long lift lines. No idea how/why people do it. Especially in sunny Denver where instead you could be riding motorcycles, enjoying the sun..
 
13994275:theLiquor said:
Colorado is far worse. At least in SLC you only have to drive maybe an hour and struggle to find parking. My friends who ski weekends in CO frequently spend 5-6 hours in the car round trip to go stand in long lift lines. No idea how/why people do it. Especially in sunny Denver where instead you could be riding motorcycles, enjoying the sun..
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That reminds me of the saying: "When you ski in Colorado you blaze up to put up with the lift lines, not to enjoy the slopes."
 
13994264:SkiBum. said:
I don’t think that exists. Anywhere. And if it does and you find it. Might want to hold that one close and don’t tell anyone.
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Well it does exist in the alps if you skip the 3-4 busy weeks I mentioned in my OP. I've done it for years. If it snows 30cm overnight, I drive up in the morning the next day, no traffic, I show up 10 minutes before the lifts open and there is like 15 people tops waiting. Then I get fresh turns all day... Most people there stay "on piste", and like I said the resorts are huuuge in comparison, and there are far less people, so I'd take powder laps all day and barely see a soul. I'm now realizing how spoiled I was, this isn't the norm.
 
I've been here since 04.. it's more crowded than it used to be as several already mentioned.

If your expectation is to get untracked lines all the time at the resort you will be often frustrated and disappointed.

If you love the hunt, have a good crew, and learn the strategy/sequencing of whatever resort you ride, you'll have some epic days.
 
I ski at snowbird. There are many secrets, some of which I will share. Others are mine. Big ups to nate at the ticket booth for giving me a ton of knowledge this year
 
after 22 satch seasons all i got to say is yur euro freshman jong ass is doing it wrong

and i dont feel the need to fix it for ya

and im having no problems skiing fresh pow every day and encountering only a few people on my bc travels

but yes there is a hudge traffic problem
 
13994299:Monsieur_Patate said:
Well it does exist in the alps if you skip the 3-4 busy weeks I mentioned in my OP. I've done it for years. If it snows 30cm overnight, I drive up in the morning the next day, no traffic, I show up 10 minutes before the lifts open and there is like 15 people tops waiting. Then I get fresh turns all day... Most people there stay "on piste", and like I said the resorts are huuuge in comparison, and there are far less people, so I'd take powder laps all day and barely see a soul. I'm now realizing how spoiled I was, this isn't the norm.
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Then you should go back to Euro land I guess. Seems that’s the only place where it’s perfect
 
13994188:SkiBum. said:
So obviously you’ve never skied I-70 Colorado resorts. Much worse crowds then Utah for the most part.

Utah has quite the population boom past 5-10 years. That doesn’t help.

Addition of new pass combos has helped increase skier visits. Booming economy and cheaper air travel has increased skier visits. Both of those increase cars on road.

Avy terrain is complex in Utah. Especially BCC and LCC. State and resorts won’t open lifts areas and roads unless 100% safe. Takes resorts time to do this. Can’t do it in a few hours.

Also, good ol USA has this thing called lawsuits. So resorts need to be 100% safe on all aspects of snow safety and terrain management. People will sue over their coat getting dirty on the lift so now think of some doctor dying in an indounds avalanche. Millions of dollars in suits and litigation.

Get familiar more. I ski the cottonwoods weekends and have never waited in line going up. That’s because I leave my house at 6:30. Get up early. Get some breakfast and coffee. Beat the rest.

Snowfall this year is trending a bit above average. Snowfall elevations are about average as well. Snowfall densities are maybe a bit higher but still lighter then most if not all places in US.

**This post was edited on Feb 1st 2019 at 3:38:26pm
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"Snowfall this year is trending a bit above average. Snowfall elevations are about average as well."

That's not true at all. We're still well below average. Utah has been in a drought for the past few years. Its going to get worse.
 
Utah used to be less crowded, but the population of SLC doubled in the last 10 years... But as everyone has said, CO has worse crowds.
 
1. To anyone considering moving to Utah. The skiing sucks , LCC resorts get tracked out in minutes after a dump, the terrain is underwhelming , there is no alcohol and fuck off we’re full

2. This year the traffic has been noticeably worse than the previous year. I think you can chalk it up to us having a typical season and people are hyped to ski compared to how frustrating the weather was last year . Generally when it snows in the valley there’s a direct correlation with crowds in LCC and BCC. Last year we had only a few snow days in the valley and I think that kept overall stoke low.

3. I missed out on the MLK storm / ensuing shitshow and only have like 15 days on the season thus far but despite the gridlock at LCC( mainly due to the newly adopted idiotic UDOT traffic marshaling at the mouth of canyon ) I haven’t been frustrated with the crowds. I’ve skied plenty of powder and never waited more than 15 minutes in a lift line all season.

4. Utah is the fastest growing state re population over the past decade and given the main demographic moving here (affluent young professional who is outdoor oriented) ski resorts will ultimately have to expand or new ones need to be developed because over crowding will be an issue. Hopefully someone will develop a ski resort in the Oquirhs or maybe down by Heber / Midway on the back side of Timp/LCC
 
13994271:OregonDead said:
Is this your first season in the USA? In my experience here in the USA people start getting hyped about winter in the fall. Early fall is when you start seeing all the winter scenes in ads on TV etc and it kinda peaks around Christmas which in reality is just a few days after the first day of winter. From Christmas on more and more people lose interest in winter and winter sports. By the middle of winter when there is the most snow most people have quit skiing. Lots of people get all hyped for summer activities and buy swim suits etc. in March before the first day of spring and by the almost everyone is totally checked out and the ski hills can be like a ghost town even on a pow day Saturday.

Hopefully this is the trend in Utah too. If not I suggest you take a trip out to the west coast and you will see what I mean. Some of the very best skiing is in April and May. In my experience late in the season when there is a ton of snow you can ski onto the lift with no line at places like Mammoth, Hood, and Tahoe. Same places that are totally packed with huge lines in the early season.
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I totally agree with your observation, in Southern VT people start to fizzle out around mid March, when we historically get a large portion of our snowfall.https://www.onthesnow.com/vermont/mount-snow/historical-snowfall.html?y=0 by April, it's pretty much a ghost town even though it is the most fun time of year to ski. I will never understand it
 
Way of the world, bubbs. As mentioned, SLC area has grown immensely. But it's a macro-scale thing. Population is growing while available resorts are not. Also, the demographics are moving towards cities so the Denver/SLC/Seattle ski areas are going to get disproportionately worse. If you're really serious about skiing without big crowds, if you can't get a job that gives you some weekdays off you need to move to Bozeman, Jackson, Telluride, or obviously even smaller towns. It's only going to get worse year by year
 
13994496:SFBv420.0 said:
after 22 satch seasons all i got to say is yur euro freshman jong ass is doing it wrong

and i dont feel the need to fix it for ya

and im having no problems skiing fresh pow every day and encountering only a few people on my bc travels

but yes there is a hudge traffic problem
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Well aren't you just badass.

Maybe read the thread more carefully, as stated before, I have no problem getting fresh turns and avoiding the crowds when I'm out touring. My observations are towards inbound skiing on pow days, pretty specific. All good though, enjoy skiing fresh pow every day.
 
13994512:SkiBum. said:
Then you should go back to Euro land I guess. Seems that’s the only place where it’s perfect
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I'm just sharing my personal perspective on the two experiences on a ski forum. I highlighted things that are better in UT in my first post, never said it was the only place where it's perfect. It's ok to have different opinions.
 
13994839:Monsieur_Patate said:
Well aren't you just badass.

Maybe read the thread more carefully, as stated before, I have no problem getting fresh turns and avoiding the crowds when I'm out touring. My observations are towards inbound skiing on pow days, pretty specific. All good though, enjoy skiing fresh pow every day.
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why as a matter of fact yes i am

and aint you a whiney little butthurt special frenchie snowflake

so tell me whats the difference between the ut resorts side country and your euro offpiste?

and why is it youre having such troubles skiing untracked lines all day?

and no there are resort boundry lines ropes that are marked no patrol /control work that you are free to exit at any point

and avvy terrain closed enter only thru gates areas/boundries where you leaving may endanger others or patrol trying to run routes

just cause you aint smart enough to figure it out dont mean its not how it is and has been for decades

im kinda surprised i figure the french dude would be way too busy scoring tang to spend his weekend whining about wasangles being crowded but obviously........
 
13994188:SkiBum. said:
So obviously you’ve never skied I-70 Colorado resorts. Much worse crowds then Utah for the most part.

Utah has quite the population boom past 5-10 years. That doesn’t help.

Addition of new pass combos has helped increase skier visits. Booming economy and cheaper air travel has increased skier visits. Both of those increase cars on road.

Avy terrain is complex in Utah. Especially BCC and LCC. State and resorts won’t open lifts areas and roads unless 100% safe. Takes resorts time to do this. Can’t do it in a few hours.

Also, good ol USA has this thing called lawsuits. So resorts need to be 100% safe on all aspects of snow safety and terrain management. People will sue over their coat getting dirty on the lift so now think of some doctor dying in an indounds avalanche. Millions of dollars in suits and litigation.

Get familiar more. I ski the cottonwoods weekends and have never waited in line going up. That’s because I leave my house at 6:30. Get up early. Get some breakfast and coffee. Beat the rest.

Snowfall this year is trending a bit above average. Snowfall elevations are about average as well. Snowfall densities are maybe a bit higher but still lighter then most if not all places in US.

**This post was edited on Feb 1st 2019 at 3:38:26pm
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13994496:SFBv420.0 said:
after 22 satch seasons all i got to say is yur euro freshman jong ass is doing it wrong

and i dont feel the need to fix it for ya

and im having no problems skiing fresh pow every day and encountering only a few people on my bc travels

but yes there is a hudge traffic problem
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Pretty much these posts right here. Fuck, I live near Heber outside of Park City and in my last few years of skiing here, I've had absolutely no issues skiing some of the best days of my life in the cottonwoods. Getting up at 5am also helps. But I've always found ways to beat the SLC crowds to first chairs. And having pretty sweet ski access at some places ive worked also helps too.

There really isnt a whole lot we can do right now when there are only two 2-lane highways that go up and down our canyons so traffic should be expected, even on shitty snow/hardpack days. Congestion is always gonna be there. Obviously there has been solutions proposed to help mitigate the congestion but for right now, this is what we gotta deal with. LCC/BCC has some of the best skiing and access to skiing in the entire country and that draws a ton of attention both locally and from elsewhere.

All you Ikon hosers need to stop fucking bragging about your pass already though, good lord. We get it. You guys got a great deal. So did I.
 
Just skip drinking the night before and wake up early, I realized just from park city's crowds on bluebird days it's best to be near the mountain before it opens, yes a fuck load of people flock to the resorts when even 5 inches falls but you just have to beat them or take the time to look for the goods if it's getting tracked out. Avy danger is also shitty cause early October snow stuck around and then our snow quality has been different each storm. Doesn't help that salt lake has thousands of ski bums/college students who think they're awesome cause they have an alta pass and squad up their way through little and big.

This is my first full season out here but I already knew coming in that I'd deal with crowds.

Here's a tip, find homies to go touring with and deal with just hiking and no lines and take this advice now cause we gonna get another foot or 2 in the next week+.
 
Also on the topic of your points on terrain openings/avy control: I feel like a lot of the northern UT resorts have pretty manageable terrain and definitely not as many people trying to ski this terrain. But definitely more tame stuff than things more central/southern utah. Its like expected that places like Snowbird or Alta are a bit conservative when it comes to terrain openings. Its not low-angle shit like the Wasatch Back (not a bad choice on days where the canyon roads are closed though). Park City has been straight reckless in recent years since the takeover with opening stuff, though.
 
I have experienced plenty of traffic and waiting in line in just about every state so far... Colorado? Have fun on i70. Tahoe? Have fun on i80. Utah? Have fun waiting for the gate to open. Oregon? Hood.. What a slog up that highway on a weekend... Bachelor.. lines forever and a day even with everything open...

As for opening things? Jesus, everywhere has that issue in the USA.

Squaw? Alpine? It might take them a week to open an area after a storm... Particularly areas like Silverado at Squaw or Sherwood at Alpine. mostly due to lack of personnel (or lack of interest in paying personnel, really..) and then as for the traffic... my god. It routinely took me 45+ minutes.. many times over an hour just to get to work from 10 miles down the road in Truckee... and then only to find a closed parking lot by 830 when I have work by 9, and having to get bitched out by the Lot attendants...

Bachelor? So many days where you're driving in and you can see the summit lift with all chairs detached and hiding... even when it's sunny out, and when wind isn't THAT bad... Same goes for Outback and Northwest, and it leaves everyone stuck in line on Pine Marten and Skyliner like a total zoo... and that road in from Bend on a weekend is suuch a mess at times.

Little Cottonwood Canyon? Forget it. Too much avy danger risk aversion... which is probably a good idea besides the rare weekday pow day where everything settles in rightside-up, and you get there before everyone else, you're better off waiting a few, and then climbing up to the really good non-lift accessed stuff way up high a few days later, because as soon as the lifts open otherwise, there will be a mile long line just to get up there on certain days..

And then there's Colorado ski areas... If you're driving in from the Denver Area You know for a fact that if they have Loveland Pass closed, that's a damn good indicator that a lot of things up high are likely to be closed... Good luck seeing the best stuff at Breck or Vail open on a powder day... Certain places like Winter Park's Mary Jane and Aspen Snowmass do a good job of getting the majority of the terrain open on a powder day, but you're still very likely going to be in for a mess on i70 there and back on a busy weekend.
 
Thanks guys, all good info and perspectives.

I think UDOT is considering a toll to help with the traffic issue in LCC. Not sure everyone is going to be happy about this one, but it could push people to carpool more, which would be a good thing.

One guy I chatted with on the chair mentioned that they wanted to install a tram of some sort to take you up LCC, not sure if that's actually true.
 
13994299:Monsieur_Patate said:
Well it does exist in the alps if you skip the 3-4 busy weeks I mentioned in my OP. I've done it for years. If it snows 30cm overnight, I drive up in the morning the next day, no traffic, I show up 10 minutes before the lifts open and there is like 15 people tops waiting. Then I get fresh turns all day... Most people there stay "on piste", and like I said the resorts are huuuge in comparison, and there are far less people, so I'd take powder laps all day and barely see a soul. I'm now realizing how spoiled I was, this isn't the norm.
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This also exists in Lake Tahoe.
 
13995084:Monsieur_Patate said:
Thanks guys, all good info and perspectives.

I think UDOT is considering a toll to help with the traffic issue in LCC. Not sure everyone is going to be happy about this one, but it could push people to carpool more, which would be a good thing.

One guy I chatted with on the chair mentioned that they wanted to install a tram of some sort to take you up LCC, not sure if that's actually true.
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I'm all in favor of the LCC toll. Or at least like a $200/year fast pass type thing.

There is an idea that has been floated of building a gondola system from Sandy up LCC. It would probably be the biggest gondola system in the world and would cost hundreds of millions of dollars but I'd be all for it.

I think onewasatch is probably the best and easiest way to alleviate the canyon logjam. I live in Sugarhouse and it would be much easier for me to drive to Park City and then take 2 or 3 lifts to access Alta/Snowbird than dealing with the canyon traffic TBH
 
13995136:@LANTASKI said:
I'm all in favor of the LCC toll. Or at least like a $200/year fast pass type thing.

There is an idea that has been floated of building a gondola system from Sandy up LCC. It would probably be the biggest gondola system in the world and would cost hundreds of millions of dollars but I'd be all for it.

I think onewasatch is probably the best and easiest way to alleviate the canyon logjam. I live in Sugarhouse and it would be much easier for me to drive to Park City and then take 2 or 3 lifts to access Alta/Snowbird than dealing with the canyon traffic TBH
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I’d lean for tram or 1 wasatch. Tram would be paid for by state mainly I think. Location/parking/planning/building all that shit would be a 10+ year project.

1 wasatch would have even more hoops to jump through and be another 10+ year project that would end up in the courts many of times.

Toll will happen and be quick and happen before previous 2. It will do nothing for traffic but would generate revenue for state. $5 a day? $10 a day? People pay $20,000 for a trip, $10 a day is nothing.
 
Utah crowds get bad but Colorado is a 100 times worse. I've stopped skiing on the weekends and Fridays its gotten so bad
 
13995084:Monsieur_Patate said:
One guy I chatted with on the chair mentioned that they wanted to install a tram of some sort to take you up LCC, not sure if that's actually true.
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hahahaha, he's has no fucking clue what he's talking about. That's impossible.
 
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