Wasatch Parking / Driving / Gondola/ Bus / How does my Ikon Pass work?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
tuco
I'd be happy if Solitude just concentrated on getting their fucking terrain open! Like maybe paying a decent fucking wage to retain the people that do their control, instead of concentrating on the cash grab that parking has become! Taking until 11 or after to start loading PH in a powder day is strait bullshit! Especially when it happens consistently. Fuckin' fantasy open less a dozen times. Waiting to open HC closer to weekends for fuckin click bait! Been skiing up there for 30+ and it's never been like this. Theyve already got a couple avalaunchers and they haven't sped up shit!Pay your patrol Amber!Rant over??????
They officially unionized a couple days ago and one of the focuses was increased retention pay. Big win imo, but we’ll see.
The powderhown delays are because of rope duckers which happen because the penalty is so small. 30 days. I say pull passes and staple them to a board by the lifts. Wall of shame. People will learn.
AFAIK, Fantasy was because of shitty snowpack and patroller turnover / head of avy forecasting leaving midseason. Sucked for sure, but I’ve never felt a bigger buzz on the top pad the first day it did open. Psyche was thru the roof, new head of avy looked like a proud father watching the sendfest too. I suspect I’ll be better next year.
The wyssens they’ve put in so far are purely for patroller safety. They can blast high risk zones before sending people in there. I believe it won’t be until they get to 10+ that it’ll speed things up, so maybe 26/27 season?
On click bait - yup, that happens (and their instagram footy fucking sucks). My theory around head of avy forecasting leaving was the straw that broke the camels back was mgmt holding HCC for a holiday weekend the first time it opened this year. We were told it’d be ready on a Thursday (?), and it was ready, but they didn’t open it and he quit that day. Maybe that’s just a coincidence, but I like conspiracy theories and the info I had fit pretty well.
I still love solitude but man their product has declined for regulars. Fill the lots with beaters and families, fine by me, but do something to improve our experience slightly. Vertical ropes to prevent low traverses are needed so badly. West face of HCC has become a travesty. Same with the traverses under evergreen chutes. When powderhorn is delayed until 11 eagle traversers hit diamond lane. That’s insane, everyone is getting 1/2 the skiing and hitting moguls after skiing untracked pow from the top sucks a lot. I say run a rope vertically from eagle terminal so the cliffs can only be hit from PH, that zone would be so good without the traverses in the takeoffs / landings. And while we’re at it, move the milk run gate above the patrol shack. I’ve suggested this and offered to fluff the ropes for free, I’d do it purely because it’d make my experience better. They didn’t accept my proposal, but I offer it every time I fill out a survey (which is a lot and I recommend you fill them out if you get them. They do read the responses. I got a call from them one time after I filled out one with very negative feedback and talked about my feedback for 30+ minutes. Some changes I suggested to the park - building a midsize line so people don’t consistently get choppered out - happened later that week)
Not parking, but whatever, I’ll rant logistics all day haha.
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Wasatch Parking / Driving / Gondola/ Bus / How does my Ikon Pass work?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
tuco
I heard about the unionization. Fingers crossed things change! Concerning PH openings. I understand they had some rope duckers. One set off a sluff above patrol doing control. I get how that could delay PH opening---for that particular day! Not all the sudden this is new policy. People paid a lot of $$$ for passes(incl. fucking parking). Why do all the people that aren't fucktards have to pay the price for that. Fuckin' bullshit. Catch that bitch and pull the fucking pass--game over! Last season was not the only time there has ever been a shit snowpack. Never seen that gate controlled that way! That excuse can work for a period of time and I get it but the whole season!?!-WEAK AF!! Not to mention, if HCC is open, all that 'ooen' terrain sits below what's closed. That excuse doesn't hold water. I didn't get a discount on my pass so they could nickle and dime the crew that is the soul of the mountain and consistently not open the terrain I paid to access In theory, if those first 2 launchers are for patroller safety, seems like they should have helped speed things up! I understand controlling Fantasy is no joke and as far as I know, the only area Solid has lost a patroller(1995, Jeff Brewer. Great dude! Two patrollers standing on top when cornice broke sending Brewer over the cliff I believe in the Pinnacle zone. A friend of mine was patroller 2 and cornice broke right in front of his boots. Even w/ the launchers, they will still have to run the ridge. From what I heard, the Wyssens hold only 12 shots and cost ~50k to refill--- by helicopter. Sounds like a recipe for waiting to do control to me. Yeah, a buddy of mine heard it straight outta I believe Ambers mouth @ and employee meeting. So I know delayed click bait openings are happening. Desilhorsts never operated this way and they didn't have near the budget these Alterra fuks have and they didn't have the parking cash cow. Are their Instagram vids put out by that clown that called me a 'poacher' that day we scored Crystal? As much as I hate their new roping policy, I get it. My brother has officially taken to calling it Traversitude because of all the gapers cutting back and forth. Part of it is because people think they need to hit all the stupid side hits. I wish patrol would rope off some of those. I talked to patrol about it when I almost waxed that fuckin dude that cut all the way across a run, w/ out looking, to hit a six inch side hit w/ and inverted landing--- they didn't do shit. Edit: sorry about the way ^^that reads, this site is pretty fucked through my phone still
Also, one more thing.
Seems to me that Solitude being an 'unlimited' ikon resort is the root of the Wasatch congestion problem. I wonder if a petition to Alterra or county pressure to remove Soli from unlimited status 'for the good of the residents and the canyons' could be an angle to help w/ congestion
Hah, no, not the same dude in crystal. He’s a good skier, they decided to cut all their good skiers from marketing last year.
Totally agree it absolutely sucks we all get punished for a few bad actors (and ambers refusal to allow stiffer penalties to deter bad actors)
As far as I understand, the wyssens so far are to limit overhead hazard when they run the high east face route. The one in boundary might be for on slope hazard when they do the high boundary ridge route. They still have to do the same exact routes, perhaps 4 less shots (4 towers). I’ve heard the same numbers for cost, which sure would make you gunshy to use them if they’re pressuring on cost.
I’m totally with you on the unlimited. I’ve suggested for a long time that they go to limited days on ikon. For unlimited, offer a soli pass that’s in the same cost bracket as other cc resorts. Right now when you consider the cost of parking, it’s more expensive to be a soli only skier than Alta or bird skier, which is absurd. I also think they’d make more money off passes, because they wouldn’t have to share visit costs with other alterra resorts. But what do I know, I’m a skier not an mba trying to squeeze every cent out of skiers.
Oh, and I said shitty snowpack, but now I remember the reason they gave us. Coverage wasn’t good enough in the main shots to open to public. They didn’t feel comfortable having people go up there with 5/12/cwm having shitty coverage. Not a great excuse for high expert terrain, but I also kind of get it, rope rescuing people on the ridge when they’re so short staffed is not ideal. (As it is if they have a bunch of accidents at once they have to shut lifts/terrain. Happened to summit a few times this year, it delayed milk opening at least once)
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