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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Wyoming
    Posts
    471

    SLC/Cottonwoods traffic in winter

    Hey Y’all,

    I’m contemplating a move to SLC in the next year. One of the top priorities is access to skiing close to home. I currently have a 90 minute scenic low stress drive to very good BC skiing, 2hrs puts me at world class backcountry skiing/ski mountaineering terrain with low to moderate crowds. A 10 min drive gets me to what I’d call fitness skiing - nothing to write home about..

    I’ve encountered more and more traffic in the cottonwoods on my visits over the years, but haven’t been there much in the last two.

    I’m aware that weekends after big dumps are pretty horrendous. How are the mid weeks with/without large storms? I’m hearing that even midweek can get pretty crazy. I often have weekdays off more than weekends.

    Like I said, access is super important to me. If I’m looking at 1hr drives to ski, this job isn’t going to make sense for me.

    Any input is greatly appreciated!


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  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Sandy, Utah
    Posts
    14,410
    This should be great.

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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Wyoming
    Posts
    471
    Quote Originally Posted by Skidog View Post
    This should be great.

    Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using TGR Forums mobile app
    Sorry, I know this is adjacent/redundant to your wasatch stoke thread. But that thread is primarily a vicious circle of “why gondolas suck/are awesome”. I’m asking what are some real life travel times up LCC and BCC midweek? Couldn’t really find an up to date answer elsewhere.



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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Location
    SLC
    Posts
    2,456
    Ski weekdays and you will have a good time. There is still traffic midweek if its snowing.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    SLC burbs
    Posts
    4,186
    Quote Originally Posted by Skidog View Post
    This should be great.
    Agreed, subscribed.

    OP, revisit the Wasatch conditions thread for 2020/21, it should give you an idea of what we're dealing with these days. The TLDR is that it's insanely busy, and not in a way that getting up super early can help circumvent.+

    Edit: everything posted after end of April doesn't count in that thread. The mid-winter stuff will have much more relevant beta, including horror stories of being stuck in the red snake for hours upon hours.
    If you're not willing to wade through that thread to get the info you probably shouldn't move here to wade through the traffic shitshow.
    Last edited by Boissal; 07-21-2021 at 03:38 PM.
    "Your wife being mad is temporary, but pow turns do not get unmade" - mallwalker the wise

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    In a van... down by the river
    Posts
    13,652

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Montrose, CO
    Posts
    4,618
    Two hours gets you world class skiing? You upstate?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    A LSD Steakhouse somewhere in the Wasatch
    Posts
    13,234
    #peeinthesinkorredsnake
    there are no other options grasshopper
    "When the child was a child it waited patiently for the first snow and it still does"- Van "The Man" Morrison
    "I find I have already had my reward, in the doing of the thing" - Buzz Holmstrom
    "THIS IS WHAT WE DO"-AML -ski on in eternal peace
    "I have posted in here but haven't read it carefully with my trusty PoliAsshat antenna on."-DipshitDanno

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Babylon
    Posts
    13,451
    if you are looking for primarily BC skiing, there are other options around SLC than those 2 canyons, or so I have heard from people who lived there a lot of their lives.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Montrose, CO
    Posts
    4,618
    Quote Originally Posted by Woodsy View Post
    if you are looking for primarily BC skiing, there are other options around SLC than those 2 canyons, or so I have heard from people who lived there a lot of their lives.
    Unfortunately even the other options have gotten more difficult in recent years.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    SW CO
    Posts
    1,083
    Dude, don't move, your current description sounds like you have full access to the absolute goods, why would you follow the masses? LLC and BCC have been a shitshow for years.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    In a van... down by the river
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    13,652
    Quote Originally Posted by Woodsy View Post
    if you are looking for primarily BC skiing, there are other options around SLC than those 2 canyons, or so I have heard from people who lived there a lot of their lives.
    I've heard Ogden is really nice...

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    SLC burbs
    Posts
    4,186
    Quote Originally Posted by snowaddict91 View Post
    Unfortunately even the other options have gotten more difficult in recent years.
    And the other options require quite a bit more effort than the tri-canyon stuff since they tend to start on the valley floor as opposed to a trailhead at 8k.
    "Your wife being mad is temporary, but pow turns do not get unmade" - mallwalker the wise

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    SLC, Utah
    Posts
    4,281
    Quote Originally Posted by skaredshtles View Post
    I've heard Ogden is really nice...
    stfu jong Ogden is overcrowded and played out and a terrible place to live. (/s)

    now please excuse me as I go pack my car to move from SLC to ogden. apologies, ZZZ and other ogden locals.

    --

    To OP: the cottonwoods are incredibly busy, but I've never had trouble finding great powder to ski in the relatively short time I've skied there (~5 years). Yes - you do have to wake up early, walk longer, and be more intentional in finding places to ski if you want to find great snow. No, you can't expect to roll out of bed at 9am on a powder day and expect to find untracked snow on road side shots. Those days are long gone, and while I don't have nearly as much perspective as some of the old timers here, I still ski a lot of great soft snow in the cottonwoods.

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  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Wyoming
    Posts
    471
    Quote Originally Posted by snowaddict91 View Post
    Two hours gets you world class skiing? You upstate?
    Oh,

    I'm out West now. Never changed my location on here...

    Thanks for all the replies. I can't imagine the crowding will improve. I know it's gotten worse in my neck of the woods (primarily winter). That said, there's a reason so many people are moving down to your awesome city. Great jobs, lots of stuff to do, outdoors and otherwise. That said, I'm leaning toward staying in the sticks up North, safe from the red snake and the world/s longest gondola..

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Down In A Hole, Up in the Sky
    Posts
    35,361
    Forum Cross Pollinator, gratuitously strident

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    A LSD Steakhouse somewhere in the Wasatch
    Posts
    13,234
    well yeah ya can shreds
    world class shizz from the broburbian hot tub hoods
    right up to the anus exit point at least

    did and ussually does suck from there
    "When the child was a child it waited patiently for the first snow and it still does"- Van "The Man" Morrison
    "I find I have already had my reward, in the doing of the thing" - Buzz Holmstrom
    "THIS IS WHAT WE DO"-AML -ski on in eternal peace
    "I have posted in here but haven't read it carefully with my trusty PoliAsshat antenna on."-DipshitDanno

  18. #18
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    On a genuine ol' fashioned authentic steam powered aereoplane
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    16,804
    Quote Originally Posted by rideit View Post
    Dude.....6 METARS IN SECOND TOP SPEED........sign me the fuck up.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Down In A Hole, Up in the Sky
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    35,361
    Snowbird needs a luxury funicular.
    Forum Cross Pollinator, gratuitously strident

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Posts
    1,297
    Don't try to ski bell to bell on the weekends and don't get powder-fever on the weekend. You will hate your life.

    In utah, the weekends are for either BC dawn patrols or 11:30am to 2pm sessions at the resort. That's it. Anything other than that and you are totally and utterly screwed (seriously).

    I suggest building your schedule, however you must, to ski 5 days a week during the week, at whatever time (dawn, open, lunch, last lap) for 1.5+ hrs. This is how you will win at life. And truthfully, it is a life worth winning.

    Also, suggest trying to live between 6200 and 104th near/off wasatch blvd. It makes sneaking an afternoon hour of power in much more feasible if you are a work-from-home desk jockey.

    Tl;dr - avoid the times when there is lots of traffic. it isn't hard to do.
    Last edited by Marshal Olson; 07-21-2021 at 06:14 PM.

  21. #21
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    Nov 2005
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    Forum Cross Pollinator, gratuitously strident

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Wyoming
    Posts
    471

    SLC/Cottonwoods traffic in winter

    Quote Originally Posted by Marshal Olson View Post
    Don't try to ski bell to bell on the weekends and don't get powder-fever on the weekend. You will hate your life.

    In utah, the weekends are for either BC dawn patrols or 11:30am to 2pm sessions at the resort. That's it. Anything other than that and you are totally and utterly screwed (seriously).

    I suggest building your schedule, however you must, to ski 5 days a week during the week, at whatever time (dawn, open, lunch, last lap) for 1.5+ hrs. This is how you will win at life. And truthfully, it is a life worth winning.

    Also, suggest trying to live between 6200 and 104th near/off wasatch blvd. It makes sneaking an afternoon hour of power in much more feasible if you are a work-from-home desk jockey.

    Tl;dr - avoid the times when there is lots of traffic. it isn't hard to do.
    Thanks, it’s not an issue to go weekdays. I expect weekends to be a zoo (they have been for a while). I was told today that the midweek is now nuts as well. Google maps is showing pretty normal traffic patterns for midweek mornings in the winter.

    🤷🏻



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  23. #23
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Wasatch Back: 7000'
    Posts
    12,966
    There is hardly ever a problem in the canyons on non-holiday weekdays
    “How does it feel to be the greatest guitarist in the world? I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher”. — Jimi Hendrix

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Wasatch
    Posts
    7,239
    It will take what it takes and it will be skiing. Better than mammoth and worse than it used to be. But a bad day skiing is still better than most anything else


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
    I need to go to Utah.
    Utah?
    Yeah, Utah. It's wedged in between Wyoming and Nevada. You've seen pictures of it, right?

    So after 15 years we finally made it to Utah.....


    Thanks BCSAR and POWMOW Ski Patrol for rescues

    8, 17, 13, 18, 16, 18, 20, 19, 16, 24, 32, 35

    2021/2022 (13/15)

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Wyoming
    Posts
    471
    Quote Originally Posted by schindlerpiste View Post
    There is hardly ever a problem in the canyons on non-holiday weekdays
    Thanks. This has been my experience.

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