Vote for Utah ski bus

[Not Sure]

Or some 1800's Pa. Coal mining technology ? Sort of like the Cog Railway with a 5 mile gravity railway ?
http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/Switchback.html

 

[BenedictGomez]

thats what sucks for me. I want to move there. I've seen a huge change (obviously) in the past 22 years. Used to be a good dump day was no problem except for avalanches closing the road up and back. Traffic was heavy but not insane. Its a total shitshow now. My friends out there have spent 2 to 3 hours just getting up there and the same getting back..and they live 10 minutes from the road.

We're in the exploratory phase for moving out west to a ski locale, and this is the 1 thing that really scares us about Utah. There doesn't seem to be any sort of zoning concern among the powers that be, and there are now tower cranes and/or homes going up everywhere on the Front. On the Back, condos & townhouses seem to be reproducing faster than bacterial fission. Some poor old farmer kicks-off near Heber & his 3 kids sell the 50 acres rather than working their azzes off on the land & 200 more units quickly go up. It's such a wonderful place, but I'm very leery of that.

If you’re flying somewhere to ski anyway, there are so many choices that the Cottonwood areas don’t seem worth the hassle. I’ve been a couple of times and had no issues but these stories are discouraging me from returning.

You'd think Ski Utah & the various resorts would be cognizant of this & rather fearful, but I'm not sure that's the case. In any event, I'm sure the opinion you're expressing is not uncommon, as I'm starting to hear it more & more as a "concern" regarding vacation from ski peeps.

You realize if they just essentially shut the road down and beef up the frequency of busses and parking almost all the issues go away right? The problem with the lcc road is the drivers not equipped with AWD or snow skills. Its not an issue when the road is clear usually

The is 0 chance they ban private vehicles. I cant imagine that getting passed, and if it did, it would crush them financially. Tourists would say, screw that, I'll go Colorado (or Montana, or California, or ______insert western ski locale).

 

[deadheadskier]

Wouldn't Utah just look at Colorado front range and see people still flock there despite the bad traffic? Really hasn't been much done to I70 to improve the situation in Colorado.

Sent from my motorola one action using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[jimk]

The LCC/BCC road situation is getting worse, but it's still not so bad that I'd advise people to skip it, by any means. Trailboss would be the best guy to comment. I've spent most of the last two winters in UT and visited often the three winters before that. The big problem is when there is more than 6" new snow on Friday or Saturday nights between Christmas to mid-March. Meaning - enough new snow to draw out the high number of Utah powder snobs (people who primarily come out only for big snow days) and also cause road closures due to avi mitigation work. This winter that only meant about 4-5 really messed up morning drives. Last winter was much snowier and maybe there were 7-8 really messed up days. The problem is some of the very best days are the ones that are messed up. But still there are another 150 very decent ski days out here

Also, if you are a visiting vacationer and stay up in the canyons it's almost a moot point except for the very rare situations when the road is closed when you need to catch plane home.
In my opinion, I'd rather deal with a few messed up days in UT per winter when most days it's a 20 minute ride, than deal with heavy traffic on Interstate 70 driving from Denver, CO all winter long, when it's about 75-90 min drive on good days. I also know that traffic from Boston or NYC to many New England resorts is not always a picnic during prime winter weekends.

PS: one more thing, the best weekends now for moderate crowds are the holiday weekends. This is because they are blacked out for the IKON basic pass. The basic has been a big seller with Utah locals and the black out really makes a difference. I was at Snowbird for one day Prez Weekend 2020. It was a powder day, yet one of the smallest weekend crowds I experienced this winter. My son said Christmas week and MLK weekend were also good for moderate crowds. So if you have full IKON, then visit on a holiday black out time. (BTW black out days on Epic local are similarly light at Park City.)

 

[FBGM]

Lol at that scrub above not wanting to move to Utah because farmers making their property into cookie cutter homes. Get out more, way better stuff then Mo Land then Lehi

Covid time is gonna make all thought of this go away. When Snowbird says they are only taking 1,000 people per day this year, that will really cut down on traffic Hahahaha

Backcountry still empty. The good backcountry that is. With no traffic.

 

[kingslug]

So...the first 1000 to show up...that should be entertaining.

 

[FBGM]

So...the first 1000 to show up...that should be entertaining.

I could see them doing pre-paid reservations if this Corona time goes into winter which it sure looks like it will. So no, not first come show up shit show. Maybe tram closed lift only.

This could be the norm at all ski areas this winter. Limited amount of peeps on hill and on lifts.

 

[kingslug]

How about Alta? I prefer it there.

 

[FBGM]

How about Alta? I prefer it there.

Alta is for Natzis

 

[BenedictGomez]

Lol at that scrub above not wanting to move to Utah because farmers making their property into cookie cutter homes. Get out more, way better stuff then Mo Land then Lehi

Oh yes, please do entertain us with your vast real estate knowledge & prognosticate the future of the Wasatch market a decade or so out. I only hope that in-depth market analysis will include a discussion of how "different companies" with affect & alter the landscape.

 

[BenedictGomez]

We already know enough about COVID19 to know that gondolas are absolutely toast until not only is there an approved vaccine available, but that significant penetration of that vaccine has occurred to enable you to have enough customers numerically to make running gondola cars financially worthwhile.

Were I forced to predict how this plays out, l'd probably say you'll need a dated proof of vaccine plus 21 days to step inside a gondola. Outside os that, the only remote possibility I can see for gondolas this winter is that some resorts may run them in "at your own risk" fashion, but force you to sign a COVID19 awareness liability waiver to ride them, though I think that's less likely. Trams shouldn't be much different, though I could see one or two of the few tram operators in North America trying to run them with far lower occupancy.

Anyway, if anyone does run a gondola or tram this winter, you do NOT want to be on one. I can think of no better SARS spreading environment than an enclosed box with poor ventilation, protected from ultraviolet light, operating in the winter, at low temperature & at high altitude. If COVID19 were an evil sentient being planning its' strategy for attack while sitting behind a mahogany desk smoking a cigar, that's exactly what it would come up with.

 

[VTKilarney]

Why can’t they just restrict gondola cabins to members of the same household?

 

[kingslug]

Alta is for Natzis

Do you have this as a bumper sticker???

 

[ss20]

Killington's gondola is opening next weekend....

 

[jaytrem]

Killington's gondola is opening next weekend....

And Jackson Hole's has been running since the end of May.

 

[FBGM]

Do you have this as a bumper sticker???

Negative. I like skiing there. Natzi it is.

Off to lick gondola doors!!! See if I can dumb down my Brian to get to Benedict’s Level.

 

[BenedictGomez]

See if I can dumb down my Brian

Brian's his gimp.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Why can’t they just restrict gondola cabins to members of the same household?

The hazard doesn't go away due to non-immediate proximity to the vector(s).

COVID19 transmission is primarily via aerisolization, so in your example of 5 members of a family in a gondy cab, let's say only Father has the virus. When they exit the cabin viral particulate will still remain in the air for the next group who enters. What's the average interior gondy size? I'll use Stowe as an example and say maybe 25 feet, give or take. That's really, really, tight for 4 or 6 bodies.

In that tight an environment with no ventilation & low humidity, based on known indoor contact tracing multiple-person spreading examples we have in conditions which are far less "dangerous" than a gondy, I'd speculate almost everyone in that next cabin would contract COVID19. Bonus "contagion points" if Dad's a bit winded from a tough mogul run.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Killington's gondola is opening next weekend....

Pretty shocked to hear Killington's opening the gondola next week, especially in Vermont, the state taking COVID19 the most over-the-top in terms of excessive restrictions versus low infection in the state.

But perhaps I shouldn't be shocked since many of these politicians coast-to-coast who claim to be making rules based on "following the science", seem to be doing anything but making rules following the science. If Vermont grossly over-regulated whimsically based not on science, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised they under-regulate on the backside of this crisis not based on science.

 

[deadheadskier]

That's what I'm wondering about virtually all opening "phase rules". It all seems so arbitrary.

University of New Hampshire just put out their plans today. Among other changes they are reducing dorm capacity by 50%.

So, what is the data behind such a decision? Do they feel it will result in 50% less infections? It can't.


https://www.fosters.com/news/20200623/unh-reopening-plan-dorms-50-capacity-or-less


Sent from my motorola one action using AlpineZone mobile app