14 replies to this topic

[floridaskier]

The gondola between Deer Valley's Empire Pass development, PCMR's Town lift, and Main Street in Park City is apparently officially not going to be built. They've been talking about it for a while, but nothing ever was built

http://www.parkrecor...ines/ci_4185767

[Powdr]

Instead, each resort is planning to build/upgrade their own access from town into the resorts:

- PCMR wants to upgrade the Town lift to increase/enhance access from Old Town via a HSQ or Gondola

- PCMR wants to increase uphill capacity out of the resort center with a Gondola that would go from the 1st Time area to the Meadow area up on the mountain.

- DV wants to run a Gondola from Daly Avenue up to the Empire Canyon lodge area.

All these projects provide a better access/enhancement and distribution of crowds around town in a more meaningful way than the original concept of a Gondola from Main Street up to the area between the resorts.

Powdr

This post has been edited by Powdr: 23 August 2006 - 02:12 PM

[skier2]

where is the meadow area @ PCMR? (it's been a few years since I've been there)

[floridaskier]

Not sure, but I think Powdr is talking about the top of the mountain where the Summit House and top of Bonanza is. It's pretty flat up there. There's no other place that would deserve a gondola from the base

[sphrrt]

floridaskier, on Aug 23 2006, 08:42 PM, said:

Not sure, but I think Powdr is talking about the top of the mountain where the Summit House and top of Bonanza is. It's pretty flat up there. There's no other place that would deserve a gondola from the base

The meadow he's referring to is the flat run-in to Assesment and Powder Keg. The gondola would run up Ski Team Ridge, down over the desert and terminate around where Loran Larsen Park is.

[Powdr]

I'm kinda wondering about the merits of this. Doesn't PCMR have enough difficulty getting people up the mountain as it is? The Payday/Bonanza drive fiasco was evidence enough of this. The upper terminal for this Gondola would allow access only to Silverload, a heavily overused lift, as it is. Wouldn't it make more sense to drop skiers off higher up to give them more options to access other lifts?

Powdr

[floridaskier]

Yeah I was wondering about that too. Having it end at that spot just puts more people onto Bonanza and Silverlode and doesn't really access any of its own terrain, except maybe some ski team runs? I was picturing the gondola going all the way to the top like the old one. That would handle the crowds a lot better if any of the six packs went down again

[skier2]

Well, eventually it really won't matter how overloaded the upper lifts are... The bottom half of Park City is in trouble as far as snow, and within the next twenty years, that part of the mountain could become less of a ski area and more of an access point than it already is... who knows maybe Silverlode or Payday will be upgraded.

[sphrrt]

Powdr, on Aug 24 2006, 04:10 PM, said:

I'm kinda wondering about the merits of this. Doesn't PCMR have enough difficulty getting people up the mountain as it is? The Payday/Bonanza drive fiasco was evidence enough of this. The upper terminal for this Gondola would allow access only to Silverload, a heavily overused lift, as it is. Wouldn't it make more sense to drop skiers off higher up to give them more options to access other lifts?

Powdr

Actually you can easily get to Bonanza Lift from this location and even to McConkey's and Pioneer with a catrack traverse ; therefore, this does fit the bill as an additional high-speed access to the 'upper mountain'. I personally think that this location makes more sense for a top terminal than the "summit" area as that is already overcrowded and this location would be more beneficial for downloading as well (a big issue at PCMR during crowded times and the spring time as there is no dowloading available currently - lots of 'courtesy rides') since it's easy to get to and already part way down the easiest way down. I think the only negative it would bring is congestion on the way down at the end of the day, and I don't know that there's a real solution to that at PCMR.

[Powdr]

sphrrt, on Aug 24 2006, 09:05 PM, said:

Actually you can easily get to Bonanza Lift from this location and even to McConkey's and Pioneer with a catrack traverse ; therefore, this does fit the bill as an additional high-speed access to the 'upper mountain'. I personally think that this location makes more sense for a top terminal than the "summit" area as that is already overcrowded and this location would be more beneficial for downloading as well (a big issue at PCMR during crowded times and the spring time as there is no dowloading available currently - lots of 'courtesy rides') since it's easy to get to and already part way down the easiest way down. I think the only negative it would bring is congestion on the way down at the end of the day, and I don't know that there's a real solution to that at PCMR.

That may solve some problems, but doesn't address one of the biggest skier complaints at PCMR: it doesn't ski very tall. Here, you have a 3,000' vert mountain that doesn't feel any taller than a day hill. Using a Gondola to entice people up to the Summit area and adding a few more routes (or at least clarifying/lineating the current ones) would go a long way (literally) to make the mountain ski taller, spread the crowds and increase uphill capacity.

As for the previous comment regarding snow elevations, doesn't that issue plague nearly every resort? Aspen, Vail, Sun Valley, Squaw & Heavenly to name a few will ALL have to reconsider their lower mountain layouts in the upcoming decades. If anything, Utah is probably better poised than most, since it has a deeper snowpack and relative base elevations than most. Tahoe @ 6,000' is at a lower latitude than the Wasatch, which has base elevations nearly 1,000' higher, for example.

[skier2]

Yes, but there is something about the Park City/ Canyons/ Deer Valley valley that is odd... it doesn't get as much snow as the other areas to begin with,and overall has much larger problems than other places, regardless of elevation.

[skier14]

skier2, on Aug 28 2006, 07:23 PM, said:

Yes, but there is something about the Park City/ Canyons/ Deer Valley valley that is odd... it doesn't get as much snow as the other areas to begin with,and overall has much larger problems than other places, regardless of elevation.

Park City, Deer Valley, and the Canyons dont get as much snow because they dont get the lake effect snow like the cottonwood resorts do. I went to PCMR in early march this year and i was skiing on green snow!!! even with this great season we just had.

[SkiBachelor]

Lake effect snow?

I think the reason why the Park City Resorts get less snow is because storms can easily pass by them without getting trapped unlike the resorts in the Cottonwood Canyons.

[skier14]

SkiBachelor, on Aug 28 2006, 08:47 PM, said:

Lake effect snow?

I think the reason why the Park City Resorts get less snow is because storms can easily pass by them without getting trapped unlike the resorts in the Cottonwood Canyons.

i use to live in slc and based on my experience the lake effect snow went just south of park city area which makes the cottonwood canyons a bullseye for it. I could be wrong

[sphrrt]

It's certainly fact that the Cottonwood Canyons recieve more snow than the resorts on the Wasatch backside and if I remember correctly, it's due to lake effect and also to orthographic lifting, what happens when a cloud slams into the back of a box canyon, it dumps enough moisture to allow it to get up and over.

In regards to POWDRs comments, I agree that PCMR skis smaller than what it could, although I don't know that there is much the resort can do to rectify this other than (as P noted) educating their guests on how to better 'use' the mountain. Also, I don't see where additional routes down could be cut, mainly due to PCMR's 'ridgey' layout.

Anyway, it seems like the gondola will eventually go in, and I expect it will be to the Loran Larsen Park area, probably becuase there could be a new (sorely needed) day lodge built in that flat meadow area.