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At the start of 2022 MLK holiday weekend (US holiday), I was driving out of Leadville this past Saturday traveling to Denver airport. The road (Hwy. 91) comes out to Copper Mountain in order to access interstate highway. Not only was bumper-to-bumper from I-70 exit ramp to Copper Mountain, but was bumper-to-bumper for several miles on I-70 for traffic coming from Denver. Weather was fine.

Luckily, for me, I was going in the opposite direction. Had never seen such ski traffic with my own eyes. If I lived around Denver area, don't think I'd drive to Summit / Eagle counties unless it was mid-week. Although I'm just a tourist, I'm starting to envy the locals less for this.

(This is just a random pic, but traffic density looked real similar.)

I heard the normal Friday PM 1.5 - 2 hr drive from Denver to Winter Park was over 3 hours. And last weekend when the snow was “freshies”, it was dead.

There had been talk of putting in a gondola to take people up Little Cottonwood Canyon here in Utah. I thought it was a great idea. Immune to avalanches and avalanche control, takes traffic off the canyon road. It looked like they had the parking figured out. But I guess that got shot down.

We're waiting on a preliminary decision on a plan to tackle the problem there sometime this week, I think.

Widening the road and adding buses seems to kick the can down the, well, road. There's still the problem of avalanche control.


https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/12/9/ ... esort-utah


LCC is narrow with several very significant slide paths. On one occasion, 40 avalancehes resulted in 7 that reached the road!

https://www.firsttracksonline.com/2017/ ... od-canyon/

I've heard the stories and seen similar pics of that canyon road. I don't plan to be in Utah until March for the Powderkeg, but I def plan to stay up at Brighton or a resort nearby. I don't expect the same traffic in mid-March, but I'm still going to stay at the resort

The LCC gondola was going to wreck a bunch of boulders and climbing routes and was *only* going to benefit Alta and snowbird. I believe it was stopped because it was making a very multi use canyon less multi use. For sure, there’s some need for a better transit plan… but that wasn’t it.

Today at northstar in tahoe it was 1.5 hours to go the 4 miles from 80 to the parking lot. The lots all filled by 10 and they were shuttling folks from the airport. Complete disaster and I should have known better than to be part of the problem. Beautiful day tho…

spopepro wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 16, 2022 8:02 pm

Today at northstar in tahoe it was 1.5 hours to go the 4 miles from 80 to the parking lot. The lots all filled by 10 and they were shuttling folks from the airport. Complete disaster...

I have to say it......... Vail Resorts strikes again. In these challenging times, I think they have to get out of their comfy offices in Broomfield and actually get their hands dirty with Operations. (A technique not generally embraced by current MBA teaching standards.) The more news articles I read this season, the more I am inclined to seek out ski areas, not ski resorts.

I understand that current pass holders got up to a 20% discount this season, AND La Niña weather system this season, AND labor shortages this season, AND COVID virus, AND margins are always tight in the ski industry, AND lots of excuses.

This really triggers the cynic in me. Of course Vail Resorts can't be blamed for traffic volume, nor traffic management on public roads.

Still, Broomfield took a gamble to buy low (other ski areas, new customers, etc.); however, the market has not shifted yet. They do support the ski industry by acting as an operator, and for that I am grateful. However, they do substantially hurt the ski industry with substandard service.

I live in Summit/Breck and MLK is definitely one of the busiest weekends there is! Most local don't ski at the resorts on the weekends for the most part. Sunday afternoons can be good on non-holiday weekends, with Tues-Thurs being better except for Christmas through New Years. With the increase in population on the front range (Denver and burbs) it's just that many more people on I70 headed to the closest resorts (Breck, Copper, Keystone, Vail, and A-Basin). Plus Vail Resorts sold a record # of passes this year I've read. Personally, I avoid the resorts altogether for backcountry or XC skiing. Being here full time there's just a lot more choices for places to ski for free with the appropriate skill/safety training.

Yeah, I have complicated feelings about the evil empire of skiing. There’s so much I’m not a fan of… but also my wife is retired military and the Vail deal for us is so good I can’t possibly be mad. I just should know better than to go anywhere near the resorts on a holiday weekend. This is the worst I’ve seen though.

Fortunately, while lift lines were a disaster I got 20k of beautiful xc skiing in and saw like 2 other people. Gonna try and just be first tomorrow and leave early.

joeatomictoad wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 16, 2022 1:27 pm

At the start of 2022 MLK holiday weekend (US holiday), I was driving out of Leadville this past Saturday traveling to Denver airport. The road (Hwy. 91) comes out to Copper Mountain in order to access interstate highway. Not only was bumper-to-bumper from I-70 exit ramp to Copper Mountain, but was bumper-to-bumper for several miles on I-70 for traffic coming from Denver. Weather was fine.

Luckily, for me, I was going in the opposite direction. Had never seen such ski traffic with my own eyes. If I lived around Denver area, don't think I'd drive to Summit / Eagle counties unless it was mid-week. Although I'm just a tourist, I'm starting to envy the locals less for this.

(This is just a random pic, but traffic density looked real similar.)

traffic-min.jpg

That is why we moved from Colorado to France (Massif des Ecrins) in 1996! Because the entire Front Range became a megalopolis from Ft. Collins to Colorado Springs and became essentially one town/city and then pushed up the canyons. All these roads and turning lanes and traffic lights, snarled interstates, water shortages, $100 lift tickets, and endless Condo developments, I remember one summer up in Indian Peaks sitting on a summit and looking down towards Denver and seeing the bowl of smog hoovering over it. Not for us. We have another friend an MD who four years ago moved his family to Europe from Boulder, where he had lived for over forty years- , he was just back in CO this autumn installing his son at CU and says Boulder is a lot more, how can I put this..(.redneck? 'merken?) than he remembered it, with huge pick-up trucks all over the place "coaling". Not sure what coaling means exactly. It is a shame when beautiful areas become urbanized. Same mentality largely devastated So-Cal. Progress?

randoskier wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:28 am

he was just back in CO this autumn installing his son at CU and says Boulder is a lot more, how can I put this..(.redneck? 'merken?) than he remembered it, with huge pick-up trucks all over the place "coaling". Not sure what coaling means exactly.

YouTube "rolling coal" to see all the hot action you're missing out on.