Wasatch Parking / Driving / Gondola/ Bus / How does my Ikon Pass work?

[EWG]

Storm timing has been like clockwork this season. This one could get wild. The 7 day QPF is juicy AF and today's forecast discussion describes it as a "firehose of Pacific moisture" with snow levels pushing up near 8,000 ft, high density snow, and enough wind to really cause some loading. I wouldn't be surprised to see limited terrain openings and road closures.

We should start a pool on the day and time of the LCC interlodge starting

[Dantheman]

Interlodge and LCC road closure at midnight tonight wouldn't surprise me. Latest 7-day QPF is 7-8 inches of SWE in the upper Cottonwoods. Low tide season would seem to be over.

[EWG]

I’m going with 1pm Saturday.

[alias_rice]

Looking like things are trending further north now. I bet we don’t see a road closure until tomorrow afternoon. Traffic will still be shit though.

[Dantheman]

Looking like things are trending further north now.

Missed it by that much.

On the bus since parking filled up by 8:30. Part of me weirdly loves it. The people watching is all time and even the people in full struggle bus mode are super stoked.

[Dantheman]

1.5 hr wait for the bus this morning was fun. Pretty atypical for a day when the road is fine.

[crankplank]

It was very busy today, got to creekside at 715 and couldn't get a seat inside. Road to provo opened and totally gunked up the LC line so i quit at 12.

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[Dantheman]

The pro move on LC is to not take the singles line. It cleared out pretty fast.

Heard reliable reports that the bus delay was due to a breakdown. Was still skiing before noon and hardly waited in line.

[BobMc]

Can confirm, we drove by the broke down bus. I remarked to Hugehairdog that it was gonna affect Dan’s commute. Upper canyon traffic was harsh at 10, the usual dickbaggery at all the merges. I’ve relinquished my Mayorhood of the bypass for a spot amongst the charcoal sprinter vans in the Zoom lot. I’m not the only bypass refugee, there’s a few of us preferred folks that have moved down there. Shaves at least a half hour off the down ride.

Had fun with Mark and family today, passing them off to Tgapp, show them a good time at Snowbasin.

Hugehairdog mixed it up today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qh8F1C-e4M

[crankplank]

Love the edit.

Dtm, i was just feeling over it. I got a nice elevator drop to start the day, a couple good drops, and some really ill advised billy goating and felt like leaving. I just wasnt in the mood for any more waiting.

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[crankplank]

bumping this thread to hopefully clean up the stoke thread. dshack says the other 3 resorts have seen the light on parking reservations. Have you tried to get up BCC on a weekend? Ive gotten a btown res and been absolutely stunned at how miserable it was to get into that canyon recently. I dont think its going to be the panacea for LCC (by LCC i mean Alta) that some are hoping it will. There is a 1 PM snake now too. I rode the bus up to brighton a few sundays back (sunny day) and spent 30 minutes in front of the fire station holding my piss at 12 pm.
Alta dorks (sorry im a boarder and im never letting this shit die) are mad bcus the afternoon snake down sucks. Id be mad too. But snowbird reservations arent fixing that, and full reservations havent fixed BCC. Face it, cottonwoods skiing is a gauntlet, and the only think fixing it is a recession so deep youll miss the days you complained about traffic. If youre feeling particularly grumpy, go commute from denver or try skiing palisades on a storm weekend.
Maybe the orange man will gut the USFS completely and we can have new ski resorts in our clear cut forests. Thats the actual fix

[Dshack89]

Other than being a boarder and hating us Alta dorks, why are you standing up for the Bird's parking disaster?

Your anecdotal argument is flawed. BCC is without a doubt less of a shitshow than it was before reservations. And that comparison doesn't factor in that it is less of a cluster despite the valley skier population boom.

We have a simple supply and demand problem. Reservations will help. Obviously they won't let us rewind the clock to the "good ole days". But this current plan is negligent.

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[zion zig zag]

Monorail? It's the most cromulent solution and it would embiggen the wariest of parkers.

[wasatchgravityresearch]

A train up both canyons that runs regularly would immediately solve all problems. No private passenger vehicles. But it will never happen.

[Dantheman]

Fear not, UDOT is totally going to fix it: https://udotinput.utah.gov/bccstudy

[Dantheman]

Cog rail was included in the LCC EIS alternatives and was stoopid expensive. A BCC train would be far more expensive due to BCC being much longer and the topography being much tighter below the S Curves.

[zion zig zag]

I was just making a Simpson’s joke guys. No need to get real.


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[Dantheman]

Cog rail: https://littlecottonwoodeis.udot.uta..._7-12-2023.pdf Gondola Alt B: https://littlecottonwoodeis.udot.uta..._7-12-2023.pdf $1.24B for the cog rail, $500M more than the gondola. BCC cog rail is easily a $3B-$4B project.

[Dantheman]

If I see one more person in KSL comments say that we need the gondola to alleviate traffic on Wasatch Blvd I am going to lose my shit.

[shroom]

glad you’ve been good for the TR’s lately

[crankplank]

Other than being a boarder and hating us Alta dorks, why are you standing up for the Bird's parking disaster?

Your anecdotal argument is flawed. BCC is without a doubt less of a shitshow than it was before reservations. And that comparison doesn't factor in that it is less of a cluster despite the valley skier population boom.

We have a simple supply and demand problem. Reservations will help. Obviously they won't let us rewind the clock to the "good ole days". But this current plan is negligent.

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Look, were trading in nothing but anecdotes here, man. 2 years ago, BCC really was a nightmare. Last year, full reservations seemed to fix it. This year, its almost as bad as it was before. If i get a res but still need to leave my house by 630 to get there by 10, what was the point? I am extrapolating with the little info i have- i suspect we would end up in the same spot in LCC. I have no idea why its working like that, but thats what im seeing right now.

This may have come off as me defending the bird, but f**k powdr almost as much as alta lifts. The only thing any of them care about is money, they dont gaf if their traffic situation is untenable as long as the earnings are good. They are all bad actors re the canyon and resort experience. My point is that the bird adding reservations will make a marginal improvement, and well be right back here. We agree, the problem is too many people on our 2 lane, snowbound, avy threatened winding canyon roads.

Regarding fcfs at the bird, i actually do think it would be the right thing to do, but right and wrong has absolutely nothing to do with business in amerikuh. Personally though, i like it because i can get up on time to get a parking spot, without red snaking, every time. I dont need a pool with my friends to share reservations, i dont need to block out time on my work calendar or sunday nights to perfectly execute snagging a reservation. I know many have found that not to be that bad, but its just something i find very unpleasant. Every time i have to do it theres this fear, like i might not get a spot, and i think thats a drag. If the bird goes that way, ill figure it out.

If it seems like im being a troll, maybe i am a bit. The alta thing is wack, i want to board there, and the salt of down snakers tears does ease some of the pain. If it makes you feel better to believe that theres this one thing that would meaningfully improve the experience, ill shut up and leave you to it. It would just make me even angrier personally though- im at peace with the whole thing because i dont expect it to improve. You should just come to the filthy side and ride the bird with me, hating on alta is more fun. Then you can hate the bird and alta at the same time


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[ski_the_fraulein]

Look, were trading in nothing but anecdotes here, man. 2 years ago, BCC really was a nightmare. Last year, full reservations seemed to fix it. This year, its almost as bad as it was before. If i get a res but still need to leave my house by 630 to get there by 10, what was the point? I am extrapolating with the little info i have- i suspect we would end up in the same spot in LCC. I have no idea why its working like that, but thats what im seeing right now.

This may have come off as me defending the bird, but f**k powdr almost as much as alta lifts. The only thing any of them care about is money, they dont gaf if their traffic situation is untenable as long as the earnings are good. They are all bad actors re the canyon and resort experience. My point is that the bird adding reservations will make a marginal improvement, and well be right back here. We agree, the problem is too many people on our 2 lane, snowbound, avy threatened winding canyon roads.

Regarding fcfs at the bird, i actually do think it would be the right thing to do, but right and wrong has absolutely nothing to do with business in amerikuh. Personally though, i like it because i can get up on time to get a parking spot, without red snaking, every time. I dont need a pool with my friends to share reservations, i dont need to block out time on my work calendar or sunday nights to perfectly execute snagging a reservation. I know many have found that not to be that bad, but its just something i find very unpleasant. Every time i have to do it theres this fear, like i might not get a spot, and i think thats a drag. If the bird goes that way, ill figure it out.

If it seems like im being a troll, maybe i am a bit. The alta thing is wack, i want to board there, and the salt of down snakers tears does ease some of the pain. If it makes you feel better to believe that theres this one thing that would meaningfully improve the experience, ill shut up and leave you to it. It would just make me even angrier personally though- im at peace with the whole thing because i dont expect it to improve. You should just come to the filthy side and ride the bird with me, hating on alta is more fun. Then you can hate the bird and alta at the same time


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Crank - what is the reason for the congestion and snake in BCC then? If everyone going up has a resy, why the early bird for arrival?? Is it just everyone wants to go up at the same time? is it the earlier start time at Sillytude?

I honestly think we should have a one or two hour one direction plan for both canyons. In the morning heading uphill Left lane is for Alta / Brighton, Right for Snowbird / Solitude. Reverse it in the afternoon.

Would move a LOT of cars in a short period. Then revert soon after. I realize there would need to be a contingency for emergency vehicles but how often would that occur??

As for Alta - given where the lifts drop riders off compared to the goods, kind of like Peruvian, but you want to ride the Cirque, you’d hate it at Alta. It’s like that at virtually every lift! You’ll walk more and longer than you’ll slide - at least if you want to ride the best parts. Doing that in scraped out 3 day, packed out tracks may help, but on a freshie deeep day, you’ll be postholing and us skiers will be blowing by you and you’ll only get our scraps. Unless they rejigger all the lifts you’re not getting to Backside, Devils, Shoulder, Thirds, Eddie’s, hHigh Boy(?) or East castle faster than us - period. Some of those places aren’t wide enough for guys to be shackling their feet down either. It’s already pretty aggro with just locals v tourons, can’t wait to see what happens if boarder bros are thrown into the mix.

Let’s solve/improve traffic issues first! My 58 yo old body isn’t ready for a hockey game every time I want to go skiing…


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[DigSki]

Crank - what is the reason for the congestion and snake in BCC then? If everyone going up has a resy, why the early bird for arrival?? Is it just everyone wants to go up at the same time? is it the earlier start time at Sillytude?

It is the tire check, and sometimes the Sillytude parking reservation check. Both are insanely slow. Last year was so chill wrt getting into the canyon, I literally never waited more than 1 light cycle, and left at all different times. This year it has been very slow getting in, then the road cruises until Solitude. I do not understand why they do not check tires at the three roads into BCC. There are 3 cops working already, just put them outside the intersection on each lane instead of in the 1 lane they all converge on...

I honestly think we should have a one or two hour one direction plan for both canyons. In the morning heading uphill Left lane is for Alta / Brighton, Right for Snowbird / Solitude. Reverse it in the afternoon. Would move a LOT of cars in a short period. Then revert soon after. I realize there would need to be a contingency for emergency vehicles but how often would that occur??

I 100% agree on the down. On the up, idk, either the tire check or parking / reservation checking seems to be the bottlneck, I do not know if multiple lanes would do much.

[telefreewasatch]

Crank, you know what the Alta stands for?
Another long traverse ahead.
You know how many expert, let alone beginner snowboarders would be either postholing the sidestep, or worse yet setting lower traverses fucking up good fall line skiing?
After working both hills, I applaud the Altas decision.
One can always learn to ski, eh? Easier than boarding...
Btw, did you know that the Alta was among the first ski areas to try the sport?
Oh yeah, this is the ganjala thread. Go ganjala (sorry dtm)...

[wra]

So, where is Mat Ryan(original Alta snowboarder)? I still have my Hart Gremlins with Chouinard adapters for mtn boots.