Bump so this gets seen...
Gonna bump this:
Train is so wrong for so many reasons.
I don't care who benefits from it but we shoulda put a gondola in a long time ago.
We need the road, but we need a fire escape.
It doesn't have to be one lift but several like the Collins lift is.
Thus moving more people per hour.
This is what I sent the CWC in October, and our Governor this morning:
Hello,
My name is Jim Collinson. My family and I have lived in LCC for 30 years, and I have worked here as a ski patrolman, avalanche forecaster, rescuer and dog handler for 40.
The most terrifying moments of my life have been performing avalanche road rescues in the canyon, especially at night.
And I've been involved in many.
To address safety concerns and traffic congestion I feel that both a minimum of snow sheds AND a gondola are necessary.
Snow sheds under the earliest and most frequent running slide paths will mitigate but not eliminate rescues. And when they run they will allow forecasters say "time to close the road." Not "the road just closed itself" and have bumper to bumper vehicles under adjacent paths.
If we do not move the public in a safer manner than the highway during increasing hazard there will be catastrophes involving many people.
Avalanche hazard and weather will not affect a gondola's ability to move people and goods quickly and safely.
The current UDOT gondola proposal does not fit the bill at 1,050 people an hour with parking at the gravel pit and does not have my support but the Gondolaworks proposal appears to.
If it can truly move 4,000+ people per hour and park them at the base terminal then it is a no brainer for many, not just me.
If one must choose between gondola and snow sheds, I vote gondola first with snow shed plans for the near future.
White Pine Chutes #s 1 + 2 are the earliest runners, usually.
They enjoy a steep hillside above which I assume would make construction costs less that Little Pine or White Pine paths.
I suggest starting small with one shed covering WP 1 + 2.
As an aside, if one believes in climate change there will be no snow in Summit County or the temps to make it in say 20 years.
Yet most of our hotels, condos, eateries, etc. are located there.
We need to spin bull wheels not bald tires to get these guests to upper BCC and LCC where the last island of snow will be around these parts.
So I am in full support of connecting Park City with the Cottonwoods via a gondola.
Thank you for accepting input on a solution to a very real set of problems for us here in LCC,
Jim Collinson
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