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

[Name Redacted]

I'm near snowbasin
Tfw is near little
PM me mag

(look at that haiku)

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Nice, thanks! I'll hit y'all up when I have a more solid plan.

[Dantheman]

Any recommended spots where a guy can park a camper near LCC and/or Snowbasin? Looking at driving my camper out to use my MC next month.

This guy was parked at the Highland Dr P&R for over a week. Hadn't moved two weekends in a row so presumably no one hassled him. Easy access to the 994 bus, short walk to grocery stores, a couple restaurants, and a gym. Pretty nice view of Twin, too.

[jables]

So is it just a total charlie foxtrot to get up to Alta all the time, or just on weekends and Holidays? How is it midweek? Midweek pow days?

[jsnowut]

It is kind of funny that on a Monday after 21" of really great snow and some relative stability for this year - that this thread is the one that is going off! Any who - the zipper is sacred! and roadside parking is the devil!

[byates1]

Any recommended spots where a guy can park a camper near LCC and/or Snowbasin? Looking at driving my camper out to use my MC next month.

Sam's club in Murray. Directly next to interstate. Huugge, quiet, no hassle. Planet fitness shower few blocks up.

[altacoup]

I'm still amazed no one has ever been hit/killed on the side of LCC/BCC walking to their car. Seems like an easy button for UDOT to outlaw roadside parking to help alleviate some traffic in both canyons.

I almost saw Jake, udot road manager for the canyons plows, almost die Saturday. He was helping to get a car out of the ditch when the vehicle in front of me went fully sideways and missed hitting him and his truck by inches.

The sticker program is a complete joke at this point. But it’s really just beta testing for something down the road. I’ve said for years that ticketing cars in the parking lots is the best enforcement/deterrence. But Utah law doesn’t allow for it. Plus they do it at Mt Hood and they still have infamous Govy five hundred .

The road parking situation is unreal and I have no doubt in my mind that bird management isn’t really there to help Alta. Any sense of that ended last year with a certain letter to the editor by a certain high level manager.

The truth is it only takes one shitty driver to fuck the entire canyon. One day last year I left entry one at three pm. Car in front of me was going three mph. I passed and never saw a car in my rear view mirror the entire unbelievably peaceful drive down. My co workers from Alta had a three hour commute that day. That one car started the whole thing.

I also witnessed a bus slide down the entire first section of the bypass road this year. So that’s not the solution.

The head of all of Udot is an lcc guy. Carlos moved out west to work at the bird. I know he wants to make it better. But in a reality it’s a tiny piece in his puzzle of managing all state roads and road projects.

The limited parking in lcc is the one single thing saving it from itself. Bad drivers is a problem that will never be fixed. Especially on a steep road with hardly any guardrails where it snows a ton. I’ve been in Tahoe before where it took 2 hours to drive from palisades to tahoe city. And that’s basically flat in comparison. Any time and place where demand overwhelms capacity a shit show ensues.

[Dshack89]

So is it just a total charlie foxtrot to get up to Alta all the time, or just on weekends and Holidays? How is it midweek? Midweek pow days?

Weekends, holidays, pow days, and road closure mornings all require a lot of patience (or you need to leave super early or late). Midweek with no new snow (like today) you can do 45+ mph the whole way (unless you catch the Red Snake 500 pace car).

[altacoup]

This guy was parked at the Highland Dr P&R for over a week. Hadn't moved two weekends in a row so presumably no one hassled him. Easy access to the 994 bus, short walk to grocery stores, a couple restaurants, and a gym. Pretty nice view of Twin, too.

I had a old surfer buddy that spent three months in his truck with a huge hardside camper there. Never had an issue. He never drove up canyon but did drive around the valley and wasn’t always parked in the exact same spot.

[Yukonrider]

The real issue is the service capacity of the road. On a clear dry day the road can handle call it 2000 cars per hour without major delays. On a snowy day that number can drop to call it 500 CPH. The only way to fix the issue is to restrict private vehicles going up canyon, which isn't going to happen. No number of snow sheds, busses, zipper merge educational videos, or cute stickers will fix the basic problem.

Then of course bake in a little NIMBYism, who really wants to allow more people up canon. More people means longer lift lines, and more Jerrys shredding your pow stashes. Keeping people out makes your experience better.

Another compounding factor is I have not yet met someone in Utah who uses public transit, of course these people exist, but when I tell my friends we should take TRAX or take the 994 or 953 bus they look at me like I am absolutely insane. "Well..... I would but I have to drive for xxx reason, maybe if they added more busses it would be better and I could take the bus, they should really add more busses, fuck the gondola. But yeah I can't take the bus today, I have a dog, can you drive?".

[NBABUCKS1]

One bad day on the bus (not getting picked up because it's full, getting stuck on the bus for 2-3 hours getting down canyon when you have to piss really bad) really turned me off from the bus and I for the most part love public transportation.

[Bojangles Mgillicutty]

All I want is more buses. That's it. I wouldn't even mind the ridiculously long drives up and down the canyon if I knew that going to a PNR at 7AM means I can get a seat on the bus and that I can leave at 2 or 3 and not have to engage in hand to hand combat with families to get back down before 8 at night. Travesty that 2 years ago we had 15 minute buses, and now with more visitors than ever we're at 30. Can't believe that somebody isn't intentionally fucking it to serve a personal agenda

Riding the bus only makes sense now on days that aren't crowded, ie the same days where driving is also no problem. On fuck all pow days the bus is a non option

[NBABUCKS1]

All I want is more buses. That's it. I wouldn't even mind the ridiculously long drives up and down the canyon if I knew that going to a PNR at 7AM means I can get a seat on the bus and that I can leave at 2 or 3

By god you solved it:

Bus reservations.

[Bojangles Mgillicutty]

I paid for the cottonwood connect a couple times last year and would 100% do it again if it existed

[westoxified]

Another compounding factor is I have not yet met someone in Utah who uses public transit, of course these people exist

i exist
dozenth bus day yesterday. basin and powder. it’s j1 and codger central. one of the basin drivers is showing the pit viper beater 500 how it’s done. kinda scary actually. but it’s an amazing service up here.

[Dantheman]

It is kind of funny that on a Monday after 21" of really great snow and some relative stability for this year - that this thread is the one that is going off!

Fine by me.

The limited parking in lcc is the one single thing saving it from itself.

Exactly, and paradoxically so does the road anxiety. The road drama last weekend undoubtedly scared a bunch of people away this weekend. The other key to the good life in LCC is learning to love the marginal days. The worst day in LCC is the best day at many, many places.

Midweek with no new snow (like today) you can do 45+ mph the whole way (unless you catch the Red Snake 500 pace car).

Lies! It's totally FUBAR all day every day!

Another compounding factor is I have not yet met someone in Utah who uses public transit, of course these people exist, but when I tell my friends we should take TRAX or take the 994 or 953 bus they look at me like I am absolutely insane. "Well..... I would but I have to drive for xxx reason, maybe if they added more busses it would be better and I could take the bus, they should really add more busses, fuck the gondola. But yeah I can't take the bus today, I have a dog, can you drive?".

I take the bus frequently. There are varying degrees of suckage, but usually if you are OK with getting on after 10:00 and leaving by 3:00 it's fine for getting to/from Creekside. Alta or BCC is a different story, but that's someone else's problem. I have pretty good luck hitching down.

There is no free lunch. You can pay by going to Alta/Soli/Brighton and having guaranteed parking but a longer trip. You can pay by buying a Preferred Parking Pass or a daily reserved spot at Snowbird. You can pay by getting up early enough to get a free spot at Snowbird. You can pay by riding the bus with the unwashed masses. You can pay by leaving early to beat the snake even though you'd prefer to keep skiing. You can pay by skiing to the bell and sitting in your car or at the bar for a few hours. Pick your poison, or move to Michigan and ski blue ice on a reclaimed landfill.

[crankplank]

Im just grateful this thread is working as intended and people are

I agree with dantheman, every option in the canyons has costs and benefits. They can tweak and make improvements, but supply exceeds demand and that wont change. I have found my faith and sacrifice of time rewarded, saturday after saturday, with pinch myself snowboarding. And yeah, those parking lots keep the riff raff down.

Long live the snake

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[jsnowut]

DTM for the win ^^^ lots of truth in that post. It's a game and the variables change all the time. Some get tired and drop out, but there are more than 100 to take their place when they do. If it wasn't fucking amazing a lot of us probably wouldn't play. Let's just hope the march continues to 450+ this year!

[byates1]

100$ a car on big days

[tang]

Question... I may be driving through SLC area and try to sneak up to alta for a day. On a normal weekend (non pow) does catching the early 994 from Sandy reliably work? Meaning, can you show up for say the 630am bus and get a seat or standing spot? I dig buses and don't want to contribute to the LCC problem!
Presumably if its a snow day, all bets are off.
Thx much!

[crankplank]

Question... I may be driving through SLC area and try to sneak up to alta for a day. On a normal weekend (non pow) does catching the early 994 from Sandy reliably work? Meaning, can you show up for say the 630am bus and get a seat or standing spot? I dig buses and don't want to contribute to the LCC problem!
Presumably if its a snow day, all bets are off.
Thx much!

Yes, ive done this several times this year and it works well. I dont think you need to go that early tbh, but if you are a morning person it will be a breeze. I personally enjoy my predawn lodge time, theres something really nice and almost reverent about the gmd/tram bunker at that time

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[Dantheman]

That's plenty early for a non-pow day, probably earlier than necessary. My MO on non-pow days is to catch the 10:10 at Highland and there's usually few enough people on that I get a seat.

[detrusor]

Anybody who says Ikon hasn’t changed anything doesn’t ski blackout weekends. Walk on trams all day Saturday and it was a powder day. Sunday and Monday were ski on as well.

[tang]

^^^ Thx Crank and Dan... good to know. And yes, I also like getting up early-early and just chillin in the lodge

[crankplank]

Anybody who says Ikon hasn’t changed anything doesn’t ski blackout weekends. Walk on trams all day Saturday and it was a powder day. Sunday and Monday were ski on as well.

Not to be a pinhead, but you have to assume that some percentage of those base ikoneers are locals that would buy bird and alta passes if there wasnt an $800 pass that gave them what they wanted. But its a guess how many, and ikon coincided with a huge influx of <mountains are calling and i must go> folks. And people are shook when it comes to cold weather for a nice extra depressant effect.

Id like to see the numbers from solitude for sat-monday. Either way, not a fan of the ikon at all. Pick a mountain and ski it. Trying to ski with everyone you know every winter is overrated

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[Dantheman]

Not to be a pinhead, but you have to assume that some percentage of those base ikoneers are locals that would buy bird and alta passes if there wasnt an $800 pass that gave them what they wanted.

Maybe, but those people could just buy a full Ikon for not much more and not have blackout dates, but they don't.