Stowe Thread

[Smellytele]

Not a fan of Vail , but rember this:

By encouraging more people to use public transport, carpool or visit during non-peak times, we hope to move congestion off of the two-lane road leading to the resort and from our main lots.

In addition, we are ramping up our partnership with Green Mountain Transit, with proceeds from our paid parking going toward additional buses and capacity as well as toward our own resort shuttle system to improve public transportation in and around the resort.

Taken from:

Stowe to Add Paid Parking – VT SKI + RIDE

It’s 7:27 on a weekend and already the parking lot at Stowe Mountain Resort is nearly filled. On Route 108,

vtskiandride.com

They need a private road from the toll house to the mansfield lodge for shuttle busses. How about a monorail?

 

[mbedle]

Toll house lot will be filled by 7:15 Friday - Sunday. Maybe about 200 spaces in that lot on both sides of the road.

I didn't get it...no idea it would sell out that fast..
Now wondering if parking in the toll lot is worth it. Not sure when that chair starts. Rode it once last year..for the he'll of it.

Typically it spins at 9AM. The plan I am hearing is people will be parking at the Toll House or Cross Country lots and grouping up into 4s and taking the one car up to the resort and avoid the $120 worth of parking fees. I'm based out of the condo's at Toll House, so just trying to figure out if I should just take the bus up to the resort. Depending on how things go, I would think that Vail would consider spinning the Toll House double at 8AM to get people out of that lot and also people coming from the cross country lot. At a 1,000 people per hour, it should be able to handle the 7:30 to 9:00 am rush.

Edit: Of course this only may work when there is enough natural snow to open the Toll House lift.

 

[doublediamond]

It’s about 15 minutes exactly no stops. It’s also extremely low capacity. There’s ~17 seconds between chairs, or ~425 pph.

 

[skiur]

So which is it? 1000 pph or 425? Big difference in the two numbers.

 

[cdskier]

So which is it? 1000 pph or 425? Big difference in the two numbers.

And Liftblog has yet a 3rd number and puts the capacity at 800 pph...

 

[machski]

Vail wants to do this right, they need to add snowmaking, a HSQ up Toll House and spin that lift at 730 every Fri-Sun. But that won't happen, even with the added parking revenues.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

toll house has been in sore need of replacement a long time and that will only be exacerbated by the coming shit winds

 

[mbedle]

And Liftblog has yet a 3rd number and puts the capacity at 800 pph...

Have no idea - just got the Information from the


Potentially increasing the amount of pedestrian traffic trying to get across Mountain Road to the bus stop at Toll House should also be interesting (if not dangerous!). Since there is not a bus stop on Mountain Road down at the Cross Country Center (they may eventual put one), it's also going to interesting to see how the increased bus traffic exiting that lot is going to effect Mountain Road traffic. I can also see people parking in the area along mountain road's shoulder that is just pass the Toll House bus stop. They do it all the time in the Fall to look at the foliage. Looks like Vail conducted a traffic study but only for PM traffic. Town is pushing for a AM study to determine what effect these changes will have on Mountain Road. Another problem I see is if you increase the number of people using the bus service, how is that going to effect crowds in lodges in the morning. Big difference getting ready in the Mansfield or Gondola lots compared to getting ready in the Toll House and Cross Country Center lots. Nobody is going to want to hop on the bus to get something out of their car mid-day. Number of bags in Mansfield is going to sky rocket this year along with the number of people in the morning.

https://www.townofstowevt.org/vertical/sites/%7B97FA91EA-60A3-4AC6-8466-F386C5AE9012%7D/uploads/DRB_08-16-2022_Minutes.pdf

And Stowe most likely exceeded 500,000 skier visits last season!!! That explains the cluster F&$k... lol

https://www.townofstowevt.org/vertical/sites/%7B97FA91EA-60A3-4AC6-8466-F386C5AE9012%7D/uploads/DRB_06-07-2022_Minutes.pdf

 

[cdskier]

Have no idea - just got the Information from the


Potentially increasing the amount of pedestrian traffic trying to get across Mountain Road to the bus stop at Toll House should also be interesting (if not dangerous!). Since there is not a bus stop on Mountain Road down at the Cross Country Center (they may eventual put one), it's also going to interesting to see how the increased bus traffic exiting that lot is going to effect Mountain Road traffic. I can also see people parking in the area along mountain road's shoulder that is just pass the Toll House bus stop. They do it all the time in the Fall to look at the foliage. Looks like Vail conducted a traffic study but only for PM traffic. Town is pushing for a AM study to determine what effect these changes will have on Mountain Road. Another problem I see is if you increase the number of people using the bus service, how is that going to effect crowds in lodges in the morning. Big difference getting ready in the Mansfield or Gondola lots compared to getting ready in the Toll House and Cross Country Center lots. Nobody is going to want to hop on the bus to get something out of their car mid-day. Number of bags in Mansfield is going to sky rocket this year along with the number of people in the morning.

https://www.townofstowevt.org/vertical/sites/%7B97FA91EA-60A3-4AC6-8466-F386C5AE9012%7D/uploads/DRB_08-16-2022_Minutes.pdf

And Stowe most likely exceeded 500,000 skier visits last season!!! That explains the cluster F&$k... lol

https://www.townofstowevt.org/vertical/sites/%7B97FA91EA-60A3-4AC6-8466-F386C5AE9012%7D/uploads/DRB_06-07-2022_Minutes.pdf

Those minutes again seem to show how Vail is very resistant to working together with local towns and wants everything their way or else...

DRB: We'll approve the report on the condition that you also study AM traffic and we revisit this in a year. (seems like reasonable requests)
Vail: No, the board should just informally accept our word that we'll do this and not actually put it in writing as a condition for acceptance (LOL)

Also love this from Vail/Stowe: "M. Lillis stated they do not know how the skier gets to the mountain now." I'll give you a hint, they're not being dropped out of a plane via parachute...

 

[slatham]

Wow I would be shocked if Toll House doesn’t run until 9am on weekends. While that lift ride isn’t fun, it’s a hell of a lot better than a shuttle bus. I would think they would want to encourage 1) parking at Toll House and 2) not needing to use a bus. A lift not running doesn’t do that.

 

[Hawk]

I still take IKON and Sugarbush over the EPIC Stowe zoo any day and twice on Tuesdays. What a mess over there.

 

[snoseek]

I still take IKON and Sugarbush over the EPIC Stowe zoo any day and twice on Tuesdays. What a mess over there.

I'll take neither but midweek at Stowe will be missed.

Is SB North still the goto to get away from the crowds?

 

[Hawk]

Yes North is always great but generally compared to Stowe on the weekend, Sugarbush is not really that bad. Even at peak time lift lines at Bravo and Gate House never go more that 15 minues anytime. Castlerock is different but we all know that. And the access road never backs up a mile down the road. Maybe a 1/4 mile on Holiday weekends at 9am but that is it.

 

[cdskier]

Yes North is always great but generally compared to Stowe on the weekend, Sugarbush is not really that bad. Even at peak time lift lines at Bravo and Gate House never go more that 15 minues anytime. Castlerock is different but we all know that. And the access road never backs up a mile down the road. Maybe a 1/4 mile on Holiday weekends at 9am but that is it.

Agreed. The key of course is all lifts running and all terrain open to spread people out. When SB is 100% open, it handles crowds very well.

I'd prefer if we stop talking about North being a good escape from the crowds though. A few more people than I would like have been figuring that out the past couple years lol. I don't get as many runs to myself on a Saturday morning there as I used to!

 

[Kingslug20]

We all don't get as many runs..at all any more..almost anywhere..

 

[doublediamond]

I got the 425 by counting chairs In a video on YouTube.

34 seconds to pass 4 chairs means it’s 17 seconds to pass 2 chairs means each chair is 17 seconds apart.

6 seconds spacing for 2 people is 1200 ppl. So 17 seconds for 2 people is 423.5 ppl.

The chairs are FAR apart. which means the capacity is low.

 

[hovercraft]

I still take IKON and Sugarbush over the EPIC Stowe zoo any day and twice on Tuesdays. What a mess over there.

Works for me one less person at the ZOO. 🥹

 

[hovercraft]

On another note, I noticed the parking pass starts on the 18th of November which is the scheduled opening day and ends on the 30th of April. Seems like that could be the intended closing date. If so that is two weeks later then the past few years. That would be nice……

 

[snoseek]

On another note, I noticed the parking pass starts on the 18th of November which is the scheduled opening day and ends on the 30th of April. Seems like that could be the intended closing date. If so that is two weeks later then the past few years. That would be nice……

I'm taking this year off from epic but I honestly feel like things will improve quite a bit this year across the board. When they stop sucking they get my money. If they transition to Paid parking in NH they can forever fuck off though.

 

[SteezyRob]

Sunday afternoon at Stowe is deserted, at least it was a few years ago. Never had to wait in line. Don't know if it's any different now, but I would assume it's the same, everyone leaving early to get back home and avoid the traffic etc.