F Vail

It only ends at the parking lot in the wintertime 108 is the Notch road, which is closed November-April most years. That was why this was a meaningless gesture on Vails behalf. Easing traffic in Stowe is not possible without a scale of infrastructure development that would never pass due to 250. Prior to Vails purchase of the resort during the Spruce Peak development a multi-tier parking garage was proposed on the Mansfield side of the mountain road. Act 250 was the primary driver behind keeping this project from happening. That and the fact that local residents did not want to increase the parking capacity of the mountain because of the added traffic load through town.
 
Low Angle Life said:
It only ends at the parking lot in the wintertime 108 is the Notch road, which is closed November-April most years. That was why this was a meaningless gesture on Vails behalf. Easing traffic in Stowe is not possible without a scale of infrastructure development that would never pass due to 250. Prior to Vails purchase of the resort during the Spruce Peak development a multi-tier parking garage was proposed on the Mansfield side of the mountain road. Act 250 was the primary driver behind keeping this project from happening. That and the fact that local residents did not want to increase the parking capacity of the mountain because of the added traffic load through town.
Click to expand...
I wish there was a sarcasm emoji.

I know were the road ends. Taking almost 300 cars off 108 between the proposed lot and the Stowe base alleviates some of the traffic north of the proposed lot. It is still better than nothing. If you think this traffic issue will self cure because of the crowding you are mistaken. Vail is responsible for some of this mess with the cheap passes, but they did not build the Spruce base area. Act 250 is also responsible for the mess as they did not add enough parking. There was not enough weekend parking at Stowe when I first visited in the early 1980s and the line of traffic from the town to the resort existed back then.
 
Thats kinda the point, Stowe has a traffic problem, adding parking adds cars which in turn adds traffic. If you want to alleviate traffic there are a few solutions, improving and supplementing the existing roads and infrastructure and increased public transit options are two. However roadways are not being improved, there are not additional bypasses, and the town and state all coordinate to offer various forms of public transit already. There are too many people for the area to support without further development. Thats common theme here with Vail, exploitative tourism that doesn't take into account the impact on local communities. You can build up and increase capacity, but at the end of the day these resorts mostly exists in rural places surrounded by protected land, often at the end of dead end seasonal roads. These places have strained infrastructure and were never intended to support crowds the way amusement parks are. The OG Vail resort is the ideal amusement park location one giant parking lot right off the interstate, many of these other mountain towns not so much.
 
Low Angle Life said:
The OG Vail resort is the ideal amusement park location one giant parking lot right off the interstate, many of these other mountain towns not so much.
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Copper Mountain along I-70 uses their parking lot as a driving range for their golf course.
We got some good roll outs when we tagged em but YMMV.
They’re both contributors to the winter I-70 shitshows.

Alterra’s iconic Crystal Mtn. had their natives riled up recently when they tried to limit skiers lift access by implementing a reservation system for season pass holders. (They’ve gotten lots of snow lately.)
Recently just changed it to a reservation system for parking.
https://www.crystalmountainresort.com/media/news/the-way-forward

TGR’s Maggots' comments:

Crystal Mountain Becomes Alterra - Page 39

Didn't see this posted anywhere yet: https://www.alterramtnco.com/news/2018/09/06/crystal-mountain-acquisition
www.tetongravity.com
 
simple solution to complex problem.. get your ass up early..
I'm usually sitting in a lodge at 7 or 7:30 eating or just drinking coffee...
i like to get to a place early enough to park next to the person who opens...
 
jasonwx said:
simple solution to complex problem.. get your ass up early..
I'm usually sitting in a lodge at 7 or 7:30 eating or just drinking coffee...
i like to get to a place early enough to park next to the person who opens...
Click to expand...
I have to do this here when it’s busy. It’s ok and it works but there are days I’d really like to sleep in a little bit.
 
raisingarizona said:
I have to do this here when it’s busy. It’s ok and it works but there are days I’d really like to sleep in a little bit.
Click to expand...
Plus, it's a solution for you (and me), but Stowe needs something scalable to solve their problem.
 
Harvey said:
Plus, it's a solution for you (and me), but Stowe needs something scalable to solve their problem.
Click to expand...
I bet I’m more of the problem in the eyes of ski area management. I take up space and rarely if ever spend any money in the lodge.

A family of four or five can park in that same spot and spend more money in a day than I invest for the whole season.
 
Last edited:
tirolski said:
Copper Mountain along I-70 uses their parking lot as a driving range for their golf course.
We got some good roll outs when we tagged em but YMMV.
They’re both contributors to the winter I-70 shitshows.

Alterra’s iconic Crystal Mtn. had their natives riled up recently when they tried to limit skiers lift access by implementing a reservation system for season pass holders. (They’ve gotten lots of snow lately.)
Recently just changed it to a reservation system for parking.
https://www.crystalmountainresort.com/media/news/the-way-forward

TGR’s Maggots' comments:

Crystal Mountain Becomes Alterra - Page 39

Didn't see this posted anywhere yet: https://www.alterramtnco.com/news/2018/09/06/crystal-mountain-acquisition
www.tetongravity.com
Click to expand...
Crystal is a mess. Covid has made it worse.
While Alterra, like Vail, gets some of the blame due to the passes, there have been plans to expand the parking since the early 2000s. It has never happened. Crystal is also subject to the population explosion in the Seattle metro area which has multiplied the demand for skiing at these Washington areas. The other factor that is never really discussed is the US Forest Service and the unreasonable limits they tend to put on ski areas.

Here is the 2004 Crystal Mountain Master Development Plan. You can see where the planned parking lots were to be built and why the lots were never built as the requirements are prohibitive. I bet they wish they had those lots now.
file:///C:/Users/27BB/AppData/Local/Temp/1392057371.pdf
 
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