Wasatch 23/24 Stoke Thread: Red Snake Coverage coming at you live from tgapp's fartba

[MarsB]

Snowbasin closing day skied really well, in spite of base area rain/ buckshot graupel face exfoliation conditions all morning. Fortunately the sun came out for afternoon tailgating.

[ghosthop]

I had my bike stolen from out of my carport this afternoon. Millcreek adjacent.

Black Santa Cruz Bantam, single pivot 27.5. Pike and x2, skinny gravel tires, and an orange Thule baby seat on the front.

[schindlerpiste]

That sucks. Sorry to hear it. I'll keep an eye out

[Dshack89]

Spoke with a ski bus driver today who told me the drivers were just told the ski bus will no longer be run by UTA due to budget cuts. Nothing to see here, move along...

[Buzzworthy]

Not a surprise in the least

[muted reborn]

Uncle Maui is asking people to show up on 5/8 at 9am to the board meeting (669 w 200 s Downtown SLC) to protest the cut.

https://rideuta.com/Board-of-Trustees/Meetings

[Dantheman]

I thought it was announced or at least strongly hinted at awhile ago that UDOT was going to take over managing the ski bus per Phase 1 of the gondola plan. I'm not saying it makes sense for UDOT to manage the ski bus given that they don't operate a single other transit system that I'm aware of, but I don't think this was unexpected if you've been paying attention.

It's pretty scary that it doesn't seem to be coming with a corresponding announcement from UDOT. "We need a year or two to figure this out," would be really messed up.

[BobMc]

https://x.com/unclemaui1983/status/1...Q80BvcvhhV778w

[Bojangles Mgillicutty]

As in, no more ski bus? As cynical as I am I can't believe the fucktardness or the corruption of our leaders can be that fucktarded

[jackattack]

Utah is so fucking backwards.
Some great times riding the UTA bus with my buds when we were in high school. None of us had a good reliable 4wd with snow tires or chains but we could always count on the ski bus to get us there in a storm. If I was there I’d be at the board meeting for sure.

[Phall]

proposal is to go 3rd party to supplement the fact that they can’t meet service requirements for popular routes in the valley, shifting UTA operators to those routes during ski bus times, ya know for people who need to go to work, doctors office, school, get groceries, survive without a car in a city, etc.

Could be good? 3rd party supplementation could lead to…wait for it….more ski busses?


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[headrush]

I had my bike stolen from out of my carport this afternoon. Millcreek adjacent.

Black Santa Cruz Bantam, single pivot 27.5. Pike and x2, skinny gravel tires, and an orange Thule baby seat on the front.

Color? Size? Location (more specific than "Millcreek")? The baby seat will be gone immediately, so any other identifying characteristics? Very small chance any of us would find it, but we all hate bike thieves. Your thief may live fairly close to you.

[Dantheman]

proposal is to go 3rd party to supplement the fact that they can’t meet service requirements for popular routes in the valley, shifting UTA operators to those routes during ski bus times, ya know for people who need to go to work, doctors office, school, get groceries, survive without a car in a city, etc.

Could be good? 3rd party supplementation could lead to…wait for it….more ski busses?


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If this is an actual budget issue I don't see how paying for-profit 3rd party operators fixes that. Seems like the play would be to use the 3rd party operators for the valley routes and keep UTA drivers with actual canyon driving experience on the ski routes.

If the Cottonwood Connect thing is any indication this is going to majorly suck. Cottonwood Connect fares are double the UTA fares and it's *not* free for passholders like UTA.

[schindlerpiste]

Problem with 3rd party (private ski busses for profit) is the seasonality. Cost of vehicles, labor, leases may be prohibitive for a business to succeed when it operates only 5 mos./year

[DigSki]

If this is an actual budget issue I don't see how paying for-profit 3rd party operators fixes that. Seems like the play would be to use the 3rd party operators for the valley routes and keep UTA drivers with actual canyon driving experience on the ski routes.

If the Cottonwood Connect thing is any indication this is going to majorly suck. Cottonwood Connect fares are double the UTA fares and it's *not* free for passholders like UTA.

This. I saw a few Cottonwood Connect buses off the road in BCC this year too (at least I think they were the CC busses)


If free buses are gone, is that a good thing or a bad thing for locals? I used to love the bus pre-COVID, but started driving once service got cut back.
Argument for good - less skiers
Argument for bad - resorts could really start to bend us over for parking if there's no free option to get there...

[NBABUCKS1]

argument for bad - more cars up the canyons and more traffic and harder to actually get to actual skiing

[Dantheman]

Put me firmly in the "bad" camp. At least half my days this season I was either unwilling or unable to be up earlier enough to get a parking spot, so I took the bus up at 10ish skied until 3ish and took the bus or hitched down. Adding upwards of $20/day to that program will add up fast. A free bus pass is a major factor in my decision to get a pass in the first place.

[muted reborn]

Are canyon tolls starting this fall or next?

[TheK12]

Now that Park City is closed for season, how serious do they enforce no uphill policy? Just looking at doing some morning before work laps to ramp up for mtb season (too far to go around to LCC or BCC).

[brutah]

Now that Park City is closed for season, how serious do they enforce no uphill policy? Just looking at doing some morning before work laps to ramp up for mtb season (too far to go around to LCC or BCC).

I don’t think it’s very seriously enforced. I’ve heard of people being told they are trespassing or the resort is closed to uphill but all my encounters with employees have been pleasant; a wave and a smile…. Both PC and DV do clear out the snow around there bases so you have to walk a few 100 yards before you can skin.

Empire typically has signs at the base that say the mountain is closed. I like to skin up a few times a year so I can get the dog out.

[schindlerpiste]

Never incurred a problem hiking up Condor. I bet Iron is easy pickins too

[Dantheman]

Are canyon tolls starting this fall or next?

Scheduled for next year.

[TheK12]

Never incurred a problem hiking up Condor. I bet Iron is easy pickins too

Do you access condor from the Canyons base?

[Core Shot]

Are canyon tolls starting this fall or next?

Scheduled for next year.

The googs didn’t find anything except old articles from a year ago.
Any links to better info? $20 to $50 a day is steep. Any carpool discounts or freebies? Season toll pass?

[DigSki]

argument for bad - more cars up the canyons and more traffic and harder to actually get to actual skiing

Fair point, but BCC was quite a bit better this year with reservations.

Put me firmly in the "bad" camp. At least half my days this season I was either unwilling or unable to be up earlier enough to get a parking spot, so I took the bus up at 10ish skied until 3ish and took the bus or hitched down. Adding upwards of $20/day to that program will add up fast. A free bus pass is a major factor in my decision to get a pass in the first place.

Yeah, that's totally fair. One of the things I liked about reservations was they got rid of the "rat race" feeling of weekend skiing - didn't have to get up stupid early anymore.

In other news - Solitude announced their parking details yesterday.
- $500 full parking pass (with more of these available this season apparently)
- $100 midweek parking pass
- Reservations Fri / Sat / Sun
- TBD when they'll go on sale

Happy they finally announced. I don't know how it makes sense that Solitude is more expensive to have as a home mountain than Snowbird or Alta... (as someone who drives Solitude is $1359 season pass + $500 parking)