Wasatch 22/23 - Gondolas, grooming highboy, and other comical anecdotes

[Boissal]

Anyone know what was going on in Cardiff this afternoon? Came out of there around 4 to find snowmobile tracks going up the road and SAR staging in the parking lot. Looked like a big production with a gal stuffing a big ass bike wheel in her pack, presumably for a litter of sort? Anyway, the lot hadn't been plowed and there were cars stuck all over the place adding to the shit show. Asked the SAR dudes if anything could be done to help, pushed a bunch of cars out of the lot, went home.

Great skiing to be had, some very reactive wind slabs that wanted to propagate way bigger than expected. Whoever set the Mower skinner needs to return their stuff to the Gear Room and go back to golfing, nobody needs to do 700 kick turns up that ridge and go from near vertical to flat repeatedly. Pull your fingers out of your ass, look up, pick a tree a ways away (more than 15' FFS), go to it, kick turn, repeat.

[tBatt]

The more you know you know, the more you know you don’t know.

On today’s episode of “better to be lucky than good”…

Skied an alta periphery tour starting at 1500. All was good and well. Some minor cracking on W facing. ‘Fraid Patsy went quite large off of the grizzly Petty Coat ridge.


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[CirqueScaler]

Snuck behind olympus and escaped the wind today





Other obstacles were present...

[BobMc]

I don’t take many ski pics nowadays so I don’t have much stoke to contribute.

I try to make it up with complaining. Went up to Brighton today, left home expecting to get there around 2:30. Hit traffic just above Solitude’s upper entry, standstill, finally made it to the lot at 3:40.

Booted up while watching a clusterfuck going on in the lot, the bald tire brigade was in full effect. We managed to grab a Great Western, the line was pretty small. There’s a lifty over there named Ferg that keeps the line pretty organized. Headed to Snake and encountered the usual chaos. Brighton by far has the worst line management, two lanes on each side leading to one with nobody organizing it, the inside lanes don’t ever get let in. Went down to Crest and the same nonsense was going on with a huge line.

At that point we decided we were done with that shit. Got back to the truck and debooted while watching the main exit all have to back up because a banana peel tired Hyundai Sonata couldn’t go any farther forward. Then spent two hours mostly in a standstill until Mill D when the traffic clears and it’s smooth sailing for some reason.

It’s my 28th season here, it just keeps getting worse and worse. We’ve studied the fuck out of it, to come to a conclusion that putting a 1.4 billion dollar gondola into the Little will solve all our problems. Weekends are usually the only time I can ski, I’m getting real close to being over it and be done with skiing.

[headrush]

..... it just keeps getting worse and worse.

Back in the day SLC was a freaky place full of freaky Mo's. The only transplants I remember were from New Hampshire & Vermont, and they typically only spent winters here. Not many people visited this place. Maybe we need to revert back to the old liquor laws?

[BobMc]

“REMINDER: This is based on current (not forecasted) road conditions, is subject to change at any time & applies to both travel directions.”

That is a big part of the problem. They knowingly let assholes up there with bad tires and rental cars when inclement weather is incoming. Clear roads in the morning? Hell yeah, let the rental cars up even though we know it’s going to snow.

It seems the policy was written by ski resorts wanting to pack their lots with lift ticket buying customers. It sucks to be sitting on $1200 of Blizzaks to be stymied by some fuckhead in a 2wd hoopty with bald tires.

[Boissal]

Hear hear!
One of the cars I helped push out of the Cardiff lot today was a Corolla with tires I wouldn't want to be running in the summer.
BCC is completely hopeless this year.

[ikonfreewasatch]

Should’ve just went to the bird Bob. Left my house at 12:30 and was parked on the bypass road by 1:10. 3 to 5 minute lines on zoom, ski right on the lift at little cloud and when the tram opened back up walk on trams. Drive down was a little slow but relatively painless.

[BobMc]

I bought the Brighton pass to ski with my son, who bought it because it was cheaper. I already know the LCC has been a lot quieter this season, I’m there most weekends.

My point is more of the bullshit that UDOT plays with the traction law. The sign at the bottom of the Big flashes that the “Traction Law is in effect”

Most tourists and even a fair amount of locals don’t know what that means. The digital sign on the left says “chains or 4x4 required”. There’s nobody checking nor enforcing.

The way the law is written is that they can only “enact” the traction law when the road is basically snow covered and dangerous. So, even when they know a foot of snow is coming they can’t enact it until it actually happens. It’s bullshit and lets the bald tire assholes up there every weekend.

[Buzzworthy]

I don’t take many ski pics nowadays so I don’t have much stoke to contribute.

I try to make it up with complaining. Went up to Brighton today, left home expecting to get there around 2:30. Hit traffic just above Solitude’s upper entry, standstill, finally made it to the lot at 3:40.

Booted up while watching a clusterfuck going on in the lot, the bald tire brigade was in full effect. We managed to grab a Great Western, the line was pretty small. There’s a lifty over there named Ferg that keeps the line pretty organized. Headed to Snake and encountered the usual chaos. Brighton by far has the worst line management, two lanes on each side leading to one with nobody organizing it, the inside lanes don’t ever get let in. Went down to Crest and the same nonsense was going on with a huge line.

At that point we decided we were done with that shit. Got back to the truck and debooted while watching the main exit all have to back up because a banana peel tired Hyundai Sonata couldn’t go any farther forward. Then spent two hours mostly in a standstill until Mill D when the traffic clears and it’s smooth sailing for some reason.

It’s my 28th season here, it just keeps getting worse and worse. We’ve studied the fuck out of it, to come to a conclusion that putting a 1.4 billion dollar gondola into the Little will solve all our problems. Weekends are usually the only time I can ski, I’m getting real close to being over it and be done with skiing.

What’s fun about this anymore? It’s not. It’s just frustrating. My days are few but I’d rather drive miles and ski then sit in traffic. I’ll miss these canyons.

[jmedslc]

Took a snap of the bidirectional snake at 1821 last night. Incredible.

I’ve taken to leaving the truck home and skinning and or skiing to go skiing then skinning and or skiing home after skiing.

As previously noted solitude mountain itself and lift ops seems to deal better with crowds than does Brighton but neither resort has on mountain crowds and lift lines like other places. I’m somewhat shocked that this is such an unsolvable problem.

Headed down from Brighton over and up to BrAlta today. May the farce be with me.

[Dshack89]

In case you missed it, Mark White partial buried yesterday:
http://thespindrift.weebly.com/obser...fork-avalanche

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[alias_rice]

In an effort to take one car out of the LCC shit show, I went to Snowbasin yesterday. Really nice creamy turns, but more importantly I ran into my old friend Buster. As soon as I saw those giant DPS’s and that hat, I couldn’t help but smile. As annoying as the roads and lines can be, the relationships make it worth it. Good to chat with you buddy, sorry we couldn’t make turns.

[byates1]

10-12 on the van in Logan this am. 8:15 in the lot now. Noone here. No traffic in canyon. Beav is the shit.

[crankplank]

The btown situation just keeps finding new ways to suck. As a snowboarder i love the place, and miss when it wasnt completely inaccessible. Maybe this will be the year that my one secret trick of only riding there in the spring stops working too.

Im starting to wonder how many season and twilight passes they are selling.


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[sfotex]

Anyone know what was going on in Cardiff this afternoon? Came out of there around 4 to find snowmobile tracks going up the road and SAR staging in the parking lot. Looked like a big production with a gal stuffing a big ass bike wheel in her pack, presumably for a litter of sort? Anyway, the lot hadn't been plowed and there were cars stuck all over the place adding to the shit show. Asked the SAR dudes if anything could be done to help, pushed a bunch of cars out of the lot, went home.

Great skiing to be had, some very reactive wind slabs that wanted to propagate way bigger than expected. Whoever set the Mower skinner needs to return their stuff to the Gear Room and go back to golfing, nobody needs to do 700 kick turns up that ridge and go from near vertical to flat repeatedly. Pull your fingers out of your ass, look up, pick a tree a ways away (more than 15' FFS), go to it, kick turn, repeat.

Skier hit another skier and sliced their leg up with the ski edge and needed help out.

I also took the mower skinner yesterday too. We took it up ways until the snow got slabby and headed down. You could have taken the skinner we saw somebody putting in in the mower slide path yesterday! Seems like anything is a go in the Wasatch anymore..
I'm really surprised (not really I guess) by all the UAC observations of 'I skinned up the X face and the snow looked great, but then when I went to ski the Y face I was surprised when I encountered wind slab'

[wasatchgravityresearch]

It’s my 28th season here, it just keeps getting worse and worse. We’ve studied the fuck out of it, to come to a conclusion that putting a 1.4 billion dollar gondola into the Little will solve all our problems. Weekends are usually the only time I can ski, I’m getting real close to being over it and be done with skiing.

Skiing has become so "affordable" (relatively speaking w/ Ikon & Epic) that instead of paying with dollars we now pay with our time (traffic). Ski resorts have pushed all negative externalities onto the public in the form of congestion. This is happening nationwide. I completely gave up on resort skiing a few years ago and no longer buy a pass. If I want to tour in the Cottonwoods I'm out the door by 5:30am, which is utterly exhausting and leads to burn out by mid-season. It amazes me to see the endless amount of people who are willing to get up early and wait in hours of traffic getting to the resort and leaving the resort on a daily basis. I look at thewasangelessnakers IG and I'm in utter disbelief that people are willing to put up with that? I wish my stoke was as high as theirs.

At first I was resentful of Alta's new-ish parking policies, including not allowing people to park before 7:30-8am. Now I wish Solitude and Brighton had similar rules as the rat race for parking (even at bc trailheads) just keeps getting pushed earlier and earlier. I don't anticipate any of this will change until the Cottonwoods are tolled and traction law is 24/7 from Nov-April.

[Pinned]

What's the reasoning behind the traction law not being anticipatory? Do they actually stop and check people? I haven't seen it any time I've been there but that's a small sample size compared to a local.

Just curious. Seen a lot of people crashing or even just getting stuck in the lots in a way I haven't seen even at California resorts.

[Dantheman]

Big thanks to crankplank for making some turns and saving me a bus ride down. Another pretty epic day. I can hardly believe it's not even February yet.

[Phall]

What's the reasoning behind the traction law not being anticipatory? Do they actually stop and check people? I haven't seen it any time I've been there but that's a small sample size compared to a local.

Just curious. Seen a lot of people crashing or even just getting stuck in the lots in a way I haven't seen even at California resorts.

I *believe* it’s law to not be anticipatory.


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[CirqueScaler]

I almost got hit at 8 am today on Highland and 94th by some resort fuck subaru trying to sneak into the left turn light when there wasn't even a line up to get into the canyons. That made me think about a COTTONWOOD CANYONS DRIVER POWER RANKING (best to worst):

Anyone with an ID, MT, or WY plate
Hardtop pickup trucks or pickup trucks with visible rust - usually a ski guide or similar
Stock outdoorsy-SUVs (Forerunner, Bronco, etc)
alta employee clapped out honda civic with winter tires
Hatchback sedans with winter tires - not the most mechanically capable but they know their limits and prepare

- average UT driver here (post-2010 subarus, other midsize SUVs, AWD sedans, etc) -

sprinter vans
GOTOS goofballs - they have the equipment but drive too fast + look dumb
tesla
Non-hardtop pickup trucks - generally the worst drivers on normal roads as well. If modded (GOTOS), they are generally the worst GOTOS drivers
Escalade/Tahoe/Suburban - self-explanatory
Warm-state plate - self-explanatory

Watchu got?

[Buzzworthy]

I *believe* it’s law to not be anticipatory.


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It’s written in such a vague manner as to when it’s enforced.

3) When road surface conditions warrant, as determined by UDOT, UHP or designated local law enforcement agency, no vehicle will be allowed or permitted the use of the highway unless:
(a) For Class I Traction Segments, vehicles over 12,000 GVW shall be traction device equipped, and
(b) for Class II Traction Segments, all vehicles shall be traction device equipped or four-wheel drive as defined in this rule.
(4) Travelers are notified when traction devices are required via road signs and UDOT's traveler information systems.

https://casetext.com/regulation/utah...-3-definitions

[Lone Star]

tough to rank.



2wd sedan with bald tires wins for preserving the ski experience of everyone up-canyon of his location

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UTA, Alta Shuttle, Rustler/P-Dog Shuttle for great drivers and vehicles, providing mass transit, and getting everyone up-canyon of 2wd sedan guy back to alta from mexico

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everybody else

[XLBar]

The Beav did not suck today. Found mag Byates in the lot and hit some deep tree runs.

[ikonfreewasatch]

What’s fun about this anymore? It’s not. It’s just frustrating. My days are few but I’d rather drive miles and ski then sit in traffic. I’ll miss these canyons.

excellent strategy. Stay the course.

Nuther sickbird day. Left the house at 1030 parked on bypass road at 1100. Tram line looked longish so we did around the worlds without waiting more than 3 minutes in any lift line until 3pm. Went to tram and walked on, skied down to catch last tram. Eyed north chute in the way up, looked good so we skied it. Funny haven’t skied north chute in a dozen years, that was probably 5th or 6th time this year skiing it. Everything is so filled in. Left the bypass road at 430 got to the mouth at exactly 5. Traffic actually moved faster today than yesterday and the road was snow covered all the way down.