T day is busy but nothing like any weekend between Xmas and mid april or any weekend between mid June to last week....at least in Summit. Open terrain is the limiting factor so it will seem crowded unless we have significant terrain open.
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Colorado 2019-2020 Colorado Weather and Stoke (and beer)
- Thread starter jmeb
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I think Summer i70 Traffic was way worse than Winter Traffic. At least in the past few years.
Even with that, in the last 5 years the average flow through the tunnel on Friday (the 2nd busiest day of the holiday weekend westbound, Wed the first) is ~19.5k. About 2000 cars more than the average Nov Saturday -- and November is the 2nd slowest month on I70 overall. That's still 4k-5k less than the average Saturday Jan-March.
So yes, busy compared to the rest of the month. Not busy compared to average ski season Saturday.
https://www.codot.gov/travel/eisenhower-tunnel/assets/holiday-traffic-comparisons-through-2017
Certainly way higher traffic volume. Around 20k more vehicles per weekend through Eisenhower.
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Maybe a decent storm coming through Sun/Mon. Kind of bummed about that holiday for some late season Crested Butte mountain biking this weekend since I’ll be down that way, but I suppose it’s time to dust off the ski gear.
F
From Colorado Springs the concern is I-25 on a workday (yes a lot of people still work and commute Black Friday).
CS has TWO viable routes to Breck/Frisco/Copper and they have a marginally different commute time, but I-25 and then through Denver has significantly higher downside risk weekday, weekend, or holiday.
An overwhelming group of folks in CS who ski primarily Copper and Breck do not take I-25 and 70, because the back route via US-24 is more scenic and runs into far fewer traffic problems.
My concern is not I-70 for Thanksgiving.
From Colorado Springs the concern is I-25 on a workday (yes a lot of people still work and commute Black Friday).
CS has TWO viable routes to Breck/Frisco/Copper and they have a marginally different commute time, but I-25 and then through Denver has significantly higher downside risk weekday, weekend, or holiday.
An overwhelming group of folks in CS who ski primarily Copper and Breck do not take I-25 and 70, because the back route via US-24 is more scenic and runs into far fewer traffic problems.
Monday at A Basin was better than Saturday. Big smile.
(Holiday early opening - Columbus Day. First other skier I encountered was on the eighth run.)
(Holiday early opening - Columbus Day. First other skier I encountered was on the eighth run.)
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I don't disagree - I was just disagreeing with the "I70 crazy" idea. US24 is far prettier drive.
Unless the wind is howling in South Park. Then things can get spicy.
Does the pass/switchbacks on 9 before Breck get bad? Or is it more sheltered? I've never driven it in iffy weather.
Hooiser pass (what you're referencing) can get nasty. But in my experience it is sort of predictable, high-mountain pass nasty.
The scariest driving I've ever done in CO is across South Park (think Harstel to Fairplay if coming from the Springs on 24) in the winter with wind. The wind across the park is ferocious, causes sudden and surprising white outs, and can literally push your car straight off the road. Even if it's not snowing. Add in a lot of drivers that have no problem doing 70mph in those conditions and a 2 lane highway -- you're in for a white knuckle treat.
You don’t do the drive in bad weather. Remote and plowing can be limited.
The switchbacks are tight and you need to take tour time and drive the speed limit.
Thing is that if the weather is bad I-70 may not be great either. Possibly better if just snow. But wind and the increased traffic and accidents...
If you are driving into the mountains in bad weather you run obvious risks even with smart planning and good tires/vehicle. (And you should probably ski LL and save the tunnel and Summit County mess likely to develop)
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Here's a nice site that uses CDOT interstate sensor data (Denver to Frisco) vs. tunnel stats. Last year's Tday traffic looks much worse than Xmas. https://denverdavis.com/i70?from=20181122&to=20181126 compared to https://denverdavis.com/i70?from=20181221&to=20181228.
We do normally see weekend daily spikes up into 2hrs, but nothing like Tday.
3/3 seems to have bene the worse i70 day of the year. This was the beginning of that March cycle as I recall (3/2 was 15'' at Luv with no power) and 3/7 being the huge avy day that hit a gas line between Frisco and Copper. https://denverdavis.com/i70?from=20190301&to=20190331
We do normally see weekend daily spikes up into 2hrs, but nothing like Tday.
3/3 seems to have bene the worse i70 day of the year. This was the beginning of that March cycle as I recall (3/2 was 15'' at Luv with no power) and 3/7 being the huge avy day that hit a gas line between Frisco and Copper. https://denverdavis.com/i70?from=20190301&to=20190331
March 3 was a huge powder day with long shutdowns on I-70 with an avalanche hitting the road in Officers Gulch. I was fortunate that I skied Copper that day but headed west to Vail afterwards instead of into the mess that was east.
Cool site. But worth noting, last years Tgiving had a big snow storm too. Look at 2016 and 2017 Tgiving weekend data, and you see nothing like last years.
https://denverdavis.com/i70?from=20171120&to=20171126
https://denverdavis.com/i70?from=20161121&to=20161127
See that big gain in SWE right before December? That was around the Tgiving holiday.
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I don’t think it’s going to be two weeks.
Luv is taking their time a bit this year - they posted yesterday about moving the guns to the lower mountain.
My guess is they will open next week after the weekend storm and are choosing max coverage over pushing a super early opening that nobody is skiing.
I’m going to get my first day next week whether it’s A-Basin or Luv. Probably ski both same day if Luv is open just for fun.
My guess is they will open next week after the weekend storm and are choosing max coverage over pushing a super early opening that nobody is skiing.
I’m going to get my first day next week whether it’s A-Basin or Luv. Probably ski both same day if Luv is open just for fun.
That makes sense for Luv.
until they can feel like they can make a net return on operations they might as well wait. As long as they open by Oct 31, they can claim Oct skiing in some fashion. Maximizing snowmaking efficiency keeps costs down and quality up.
Chet’s is the other big factor now too. Last year it made sense to open and celebrate a shiny new toy and market the change. Now they need to consider the extra cost of running a WROD with a high speed detachable vs the old Chair 1.
Waiting a week on the part of Luv is smart business.
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