VAIL SUCKS

[thetrailboss]

I’ll take a stress free experience over terrain quality these days every time but I’m a bit weird and I really dislike crowd scenes.

“So let my friends at Uber take the stress out of coming to the mountain! You’ll EPICLY love it! You’re welcome!”

Uber Ski Hits the Slopes This Winter Season

Uber teams up with Epic Pass to offer skiers and snowboarders a seamless way to reserve rides and lock-in access to world-class ski resorts As winter approaches and millions prepare their skis and boards for mountain adventures, Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) is introducing an easy new way...

investor.uber.com

 

[4aprice]

I caught a midweek powder day at Eagle a number of years ago and it was great. I think there were probably 25 cars in the lower lot, and not many more up top. Strange ski area layout there for sure. Powder all day.

Can’t wait to get one of those days at Granby. Roll out of bed out to the lift and powder all day. Sometimes these smaller mountains rule.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Can you provide a link to the poll?

2025 Reader's Poll link by Town Lift (local PC media).

Utah’s Best Ski Resorts 2025 – TownLift Readers’ Choice Awards

Discover the top ski resorts in Utah, ranked by locals. See the 2025 winners for snow, terrain, vibe, and more in TownLift’s Readers’ Choice Awards.

resorts.townlift.com

 

[jaytrem]

Strange ski area layout there for sure.

Indeed, to get from the bottom to the top you have to hike, then take a chair, then take a bus, then take 2 more chairlifts.

Fun place though, and like you said the fresh powder lasts all day.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Or Beaver

I'm definitely waiting for a weekend storm and hitting that place this winter, sometime in March after kid's weekend clinics are over.
Slope side lodging is crazy cheap, as are lift tickets, and kids ski free.

EDIT: Wait, I was thinking about Brian Head. Though I've never been to Beaver either so that's on the list too.

 

[BenedictGomez]

the "locals", many of whom are transplants who moved there because they loved the area,

I would estimate that that's literally over 90% of Park City residents. Approaching 75% of the housing units are vacant (second homes, vacation homes, investment properties, or AirBnb), and there arent that many people who actually live there full-time. Practically everyone's from somewhere else, tons of CA & TX.

It's only going to get worse given homes prices almost doubled in the last 5 years as child-bearing young people can no longer afford homes. Park City School District opened enrollment slots to other Wasatch Back towns because they've lost a bunch of students; some of that was illegal aliens leaving too, but either way enrollment's down.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I don’t really get the crowding complaints at PC honestly…go to LCC on a weekend pow day to see a real shitshow. Yes the base areas are a clusterf*ck but every popular ski resort is like that now. Plus you can lap 80% of the lifts there on the busiest days of year with near zero wait once you get up the mountain. Most of the people there are tourists which is great because they don’t know how to get anywhere good vs somewhere like Alta/Bird where the majority of the people there know every little pocket and track the place out in 30 mins.

I agree 100% with everything you said.

I think the reason everyone says it's "crowded" is as you noted, these are mostly tourist comments. If they're locals they're remembering & fanaticizing over 1993. This place is so massive it takes forever to learn. Tourists have no hope. It's going to sound like ridiculous hyperbole, but I think you need about 100 days skied here to really know/understand the place. If you don't? Yeah, you're going to get trapped at some choke points at some "incorrect" times. Like on weekends at Canyons, DO NOT ski all the way back down to the base prior to 11:30, or you'll waste 35 minutes of your day in line to get back up the mountain.

The lift layout is extremely complex. Until you understand it, it is sometimes a nuisance. That will get people "trapped" or in a place they didn't think they'd be until they learn it. Almost every review of Park City, even expert skiers mention this "annoying" lift complex. And it's true. But it's certainly much less true once you understand how the puzzle pieces fit together. It's not perfect (I think there should be a double from End Zone to top of Ninety-Nine Ninety so you can lap ♦♦ terrain). The upshot as you mentioned is when it's "crowded", it doesn't feel that way, and the woods don't get skied out because so many people are beginners & intermediates.

 

[ThatGuy]

It's not perfect (I think there should be a double from End Zone to top of Ninety-Nine Ninety so you can lap ♦♦ terrain). The upshot as you mentioned is when it's "crowded", it doesn't feel that way, and the woods don't get skied out because so many people are beginners & intermediates.

Thats my dream spot for a lift too I am always thinking how great it would be to have a lift that brings you back from the Tombstone side of 9990 to the top of Paradise Ridge. One benefit sans lift is that it gets tracked out way slower on that side.
Another thing that doesn’t get brought up alot is the crazy good access Canyons side has to backcountry stuff thats out of bounds but easily accessed. Yes there are no gates besides Peak 5 but if you're not an idiot and know how to get out to it from other ways you can access zones that people have to skin 3+ miles from BCC/Millcreek to get to.

 

[4aprice]

I don’t really get the crowding complaints at PC honestly…go to LCC on a weekend pow day to see a real shitshow. Yes the base areas are a clusterf*ck but every popular ski resort is like that now. Plus you can lap 80% of the lifts there on the busiest days of year with near zero wait once you get up the mountain. Most of the people there are tourists which is great because they don’t know how to get anywhere good vs somewhere like Alta/Bird where the majority of the people there know every little pocket and track the place out in 30 mins.
This is coming from someone who has lived in PC for three years and skied ~300 days there by now. I think most of these “locals” are people from California/Texas who moved here and think they own the place now.

I see the same thing over in Colorado. Someone posted a picture which meshed 3 lift lines together on holiday Saturday making it look like Winter Park was a total zoo But once you are out of the base line ups every thing spreads out and any line is usually minimal or like you said you know where to go to avoid them.

 

[kingslug]

Hopefully the new gondi helps with the shitshow at the base..

 

[BenedictGomez]

Hopefully the new gondi helps with the shitshow at the base..

If it doesn't it will be one of the bigger lift failures in recent history from an economics perspective given that was a large part of the supposed point. Peak OBX lines on Saturdays are about 40 minutes, and RPG I dont even know because you'll never see me make that mistake, but I imagine 50 or 55 minutes anyway.

The reason I'm a bit skeptical is that it seems like it will be a gondy mostly for people staying on property on that side, which makes me think there must be way more of those people than I realize. Because I don't see who's going to take that lift if they're like most people arriving via the Cab, as that drops you off right near the other two lifts, whereas the Sunrise Gondola is not only a decently farther walk, but it's not going to be obvious to tourists how to navigate to it around buildings, etc...

 

[ThatGuy]

The reason I'm a bit skeptical is that it seems like it will be a gondy mostly for people staying on property on that side, which makes me think there must be way more of those people than I realize. Because I don't see who's going to take that lift if they're like most people arriving via the Cab, as that drops you off right near the other two lifts, whereas the Sunrise Gondola is not only a decently farther walk, but it's not going to be obvious to tourists how to navigate to it around buildings, etc...

Yeah I don’t see most people making the hike from the main base area over to Pendry. Thats good to me since Ill definitely be doing just that. Plus if you ride the High Valley shuttle it will be dropping you off right at Pendry anyway.

 

[kingslug]

I'll be checking it out..sick of waiting 1 hour on the line..damn near every time I go.
And this weather sux too....

 

[BenedictGomez]

Yeah I don’t see most people making the hike from the main base area over to Pendry. Thats good to me since Ill definitely be doing just that.

Just noticed the new trail map's out that incorporates it.