Got a nice weekend vibe this AM with the rock work closure near Idaho Springs...thought that was just last month but it's still going on.
After just spending 2 weeks in Utah I think I have finally hit my limit. I got laid off but finally got a job and back to being a weekend warrior. Last saturday was 2.5 hours there and back to A Basin for mediocre snow. Today I got to the dino lots at 6:30 and they were 100% full. Google maps was once again saying 2.5 hours to A Basin. I just didn't bother going. Its always been a shit show but now its just getting worse. Usually it was a random day here and there or after a big week dump, now its every single time without fail.
I went to Caribou and that was fucking packed as well with barely any fucking snow. The only nice drive left is clear creek to eldora but their lift lines and parking lot is ridiculous. Colorado is a completely different state during weekdays. If I am stuck to weekends its not even worth it to me anymore. FUCK. So depressed.
Yeah and on the one patch of top to bottom snow they had I would have thought it was inbounds since there were so many tracks LOL. I have never seen that parking lot full before last week. That's the end of my rant. I am just bummed because I got a new job and don't see myself skiing every other day like the last few months and that I will eventually be moving out of the Denver area.
If skiing is a priority its just too expensive and too many people.
What the fuck did you expect getting to Dino lots at 6:30 on a prime season saturday? Football season is mostly over, holidays are too. For at least 5 years you need to be past Dino before 6am from Jan-March.
I had minimal traffic and no slow downs going past Dino at 5:45 this morning.
Usually if its a powder day I will leave at 5 but I am not leaving at 5 for no new snow. I had a saying that if it was over 6 inches leave at 5 but anything under leave around 10 to try and miss the 7am traffic. But that doesnt work anymore. I also would never go to dino lots but was skiing with new people.
It's not about leaving at a specific time for new snow or not new snow, it's about not being traffic.
Intredasting, my benchmark for being past the Dino lots for the past couple of years has been 6:15-6:20, I think. Maybe I'm wrong on that, who even knows. Anycrap... didn't set an alarm and didn't really have a plan to ski, but woke up at 5:45 and couldn't sleep so I decided to make some coffee and buzz up for a few runs. Got on the road this morning at about 6:20 and BAM... wandered right in to the I-70 parking lot. Spent some time being traffic, suffering, and complaining about it... ultimately turned around and went home. Went for a mountain bike ride on Dakota Ridge instead... beautiful day for it, and a great ride. Flexibility, I hear, is gold.
two or three years ago you could leave Golden at 6:30 and it was fine. Last year you had to be past Golden by 6 or even 5:45. last weekend, I couldn't sleep at all saturday night. Woke up at 4 and hit the road by 4:30. Got to the Copper parking lot at 6. Slept in the back of my 4runner for two hours (I keep a sleeping bag and pad back there just for such occasions, slept warm). Skied til about 1 and headed home. just over 1.5 hours each way. not that I want to wake up at 4 on sundays, but it was nice beating all the traffic. Thing that amazed me was how many other people also hit the lot at 6 and stayed in their cars for a couple hours.
Friday night is the new Saturday morning. Have some dedication or STFU.
You have to buy the whole tire but you only need the edge.
went to copper this morning, left the intersection of 70 and 25 at almost exactly 5:30, took an hour and half, minimal traffic, slept in the car an hour, went skiing. Left the parking lot to come home at 12:45 and hit bumper to bumper traffic just past Silverthorne going up the hill. bleargh. bit over 2 hours coming back, so an extra 30. not terrible, but ridiculous leaving that early and still hitting that much traffic.
Headed up to BP Saturday morning.
A few observations/questions:
- 5:30am is the new 6:30am. Was shocked at the number of cars heading up the hill at that time.
-10:30am is also the new 6:30am. Where are all these people going at that time? Suffering through the 2 hours to get to Loveland at Noon?
- The issue of people cruising at the speed limit in the left and middle lanes is clearly not dependent on the time of day. I feel like an asshole passing people in the far right lane, but what the hell am I supposed to do when two Littleton Larrys are holding up 50 cars and the right lane is wide open to get around the entire cluster?
- How do people ski with their young kids these days? I’m not waking my 3-year old at 5:00am. And leaving Denver at Noon to get two hours on the mountain and then sit in traffic on the way home doesn’t strike me as a real attractive option either.
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go upside down.
Yeah I dunno that I’ll be doing it much more. Def doesn’t feel worth it. I’ll have to figure something else out. Either paying for a dog friendly Airbnb or staying at the mountain until 8 doing work or something. Unfortunately I’m a weekend warrior with a normie job this season. At least it coincides with my PCL recovery season.
In a way, this is all good for us. The more people who get jaded and quit skiing in the Front Range, the better.
Also, this traffic now (in January) only makes things get less crazy come March. I've noticed that a lot of Frangers quit skiing by mid-March (due to traffic burnout and warmer temps). As soon as there is a nice warm, sunny weekend in Denver, a lot of people tend to stay down low.
I worry even more people will find ways to ski weekdays
Also, smooth sailing up to Luv this morning.
If some of you grasshoppers need a dose of reality regarding the “sudden” increase in traffic, pretend you’ve been playing this game since the year 1990. I certainly could have been a lot more successful or maybe even a rocket dentite without all those weekday ski days, but we all have to play the cards we’re dealt.
Disclaimer - if you’re not new to i70 then the preceding message doesn’t apply to you. I don’t want to check in later and have to field any surface to air missles.
Last edited by Rideski; 01-12-2020 at 06:52 PM.
If you don’t think social media and the readily available of dumbed-down forecasts have a lot to do with it, then.... ok. The population is obviously a driving factor, but it’s just part of the equation.
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