Well, another ski season has come and gone. This one had its challenges with below average snow, supply chain difficulties, and employment issues not to mention Covid, a weird economy, local traffic and tourist reluctance. The results were lack of open terrain and closed lift access, reduced grooming efforts and overcrowding caused by the limited terrain and increased skier days. Restaurants were restricted if not closed and the on -site amenities were anemic and undistinguished. Consequentially I would rate this season uninspiring and insipid, at best. Deer Valley did better but there was no buzz, vibe or there, there at PCMR.
But maybe its me.
After two years of Covid weirdness my heart was not in it. After going up a few times after New Years ,
I could bot be bothered, even in the brilliant blue sunshine of January and
February. By March and April we had move
on to spring time occupations and forgot about the icy bumps on the mountain
under warm but steal grey skies. The
City put out a Sadness Survey and as I took it I realized that although I am
not technically sad or mad about this, things are deteriorating and not necessarily getting
better or more happy around here. So it goes, all
things must pass.
Obviously, skiing has changed over the years, getting locally more
popular and crowded, feeling like a Visa commercial. There are times now
when I feared for my life skiing shoulder to shoulder with von-traversers or
wild men schussing from the back seat with their hands down and their coats
open. Yahoo. There is no courtesy or civility but it feels
like dog eat dog out there and I can’t go fast enough to leave it all behind me
anymore. People are getting hit and
diverted in bounds while ropes are being cut and people are skiing above and on
top of you in the backcountry, in mass and not safely, one at a time.
We get a few 1-2 foot powder days these days but not the 3-4
foot ones from days gone by. Even if you
get up there at 8 am and find a place to park, you don’t get on the mountain until 10-11 and it is
mysteriously skied out already by people with Fast Trax or Trophy Homes. The climate has changed and the season is
shorter and warmer on both ends. It rains in Janualry, up to 10,000 feet. We
didn’t have appreciable snow this year for almost two months and things got a
little hard and scrapy.
Traffic clogs the resort entrances and exits with grid lock on 248
and 224 on big days. The line to get off
the freeway backs up to Jeremy Ranch and the side roads are packed or
policed. Parking is gone by 10 am,
cutting down our flexibility for unscheduled or impulsive visits and it is hard
to break or meet for coffee on the hill without reservations or repercussions. Lift lines are Vailien in scale and bigger than ever, especially
at pinch points and it sometimes takes hours to get off the mountains with lift and run closures, mechanical breakdown or moose jams.
Consequently, road trips were in order and places like Alta, Brighton, Powder Mountain, Sno-Basin, Sun Valley and Jackson seemed to be coping with it much better, not to mention the Ma and Pa places in Montana or Canada. If they can do it then why can't we. How did we miss the bus and how can we do better. Perhaps it would help to return control of the resorts to locals who know how to run them and deal with local problems. Or perhaps we should all find something better to do and move on, counting our blessings for the great years we have had and wishing those that remain good luck with what they have come to accept and appreciate.
'Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till its gone. They paved paradise and put up paid parking lots.' Joni.
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