Utah Crowd Comparison Park City Vs. BCC/LCC

[marjoram_sage]

Last season, I read that Park City is now less crowded than LCC/BCC as Ikon is the preferred pass for Utah locals and visitors. I'm wondering if anybody has any data points from this year and might want to speculate what the situation will be next year. I'm planning to ski PCMR from Jan 14-18, 2021 and March 6-8, 2021. Nothing is locked down yet though.

The lifts I'll likely be on will be Motherlode, Silverlode, Iron Mountain, Sun Peak, High Meadow, and Saddleback.

 

[HardDaysNight]

It’s been a puzzling year at PCMR. I ski every day of the season but still can’t really predict with any reliability. We are basically at 100% of average snow pack year-to-date because the past several weeks have been somewhat dry. Average is pretty good conditions around these parts. Crowds over Christmas, although obviously not negligible, were down from the insanity of pre-Ikon days and remained manageable through MLK and Presidents Week. In fact President’s Day was a blue-bird powder day and I got untracked runs until 11am despite the Local Pass blackout of Saturday and Sunday being lifted. Amazing. And yet the past couple of Mondays, together with the weekends, have been bezerkulous for no obvious reason. It’s as if people come for a long weekend and stay through Monday. Why now I haven’t a clue. Tues, Wed and Thurs tend to be mostly light crowds but the buggers pour in on Fri. Basically it seems like it’s luck of the draw whether you get a decent experience or a mob scene.

 

[Jim Kenney]

Good post by HDN. I was there on Prez Day too and concur with light crowd and good snow. Although I skied mostly the Super Condor lift that day, one of the less busy lifts.

PCMR is a big place. If you go high and to the black diamond areas it is usually a good crowd beater strategy. The lifts you mentioned are typically some of the most crowded except maybe Sun Peak.

 

[marjoram_sage]

It’s been a puzzling year at PCMR. I ski every day of the season but still can’t really predict with any reliability. We are basically at 100% of average snow pack year-to-date because the past several weeks have been somewhat dry. Average is pretty good conditions around these parts. Crowds over Christmas, although obviously not negligible, were down from the insanity of pre-Ikon days and remained manageable through MLK and Presidents Week. In fact President’s Day was a blue-bird powder day and I got untracked runs until 11am despite the Local Pass blackout of Saturday and Sunday being lifted. Amazing.

That's a great data point from someone who skis every day! Great to hear about the lower crowds compared to pre-Ikon days. Seems like Ikoners are soaking up lodging in PC to ski at DV instead of PCMR.

And yet the past couple of Mondays, together with the weekends, have been bezerkulous for no obvious reason. It’s as if people come for a long weekend and stay through Monday. Why now I haven’t a clue. Tues, Wed and Thurs tend to be mostly light crowds but the buggers pour in on Fri.

I can tell you one thing. The ski on Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon is exactly what I was planning on doing. So that is probably something a lot of others are doing as well.

Maybe what I should do is ski Sat/Sun/Mon and Tue. At least get one uncrowded day.

Basically it seems like it’s luck of the draw whether you get a decent experience or a mob scene.

At least a decent experience is possible at PCMR. What I'm reading is that an uncrowded experience is not possible at LCC mid-season.

 

[marjoram_sage]

Good post by HDN. I was there on Prez Day too and concur with light crowd and good snow. Although I skied mostly the Super Condor lift that day, one of the less busy lifts.

PCMR is a big place. If you go high and to the black diamond areas it is usually a good crowd beater strategy. The lifts you mentioned are typically some of the most crowded except maybe Sun Peak.

I'm planning to ski PCMR partly because I don't know how to ski the black diamond terrain of LCC/BCC. So it sounds like it I may have to deal with crowds.

Last year in March, I skied Sun Peak and Iron Mountain a lot. It was not bad at all compared to what I saw at Alta this year in Feb.

 

[Jim Kenney]

A decent weekend experience is possible in LCC and BCC in midseason if there is no fresh powder (the irony is not missed in that statement). A decent midweek experience is even more likely. The really bad days in LCC only occur about 5-10 days per winter and are when it starts snowing heavily at 7 PM on Friday or Sat night. Then all locals will come out next day and things are worsened by the likelihood of road closures next morning at 6 AM for avalanche mitigation work.

 

[Tony S]

Well, there are crowds in specific places and
at specific times. And then there is just the constant overbearing press of humanity and its commercial and automotive artifacts. The Cottonwoods and PC/DV both have the former, but only the Park City side has the latter.

After a half dozen trips to LCC over the years, friends and I drove to DV on a Saturday in hopes of avoiding crowds at AltaBird. Holy crap, what a Disneyesque mob scene trying to boot up amid the families and newbies. FAR from the quiet, genteel experience I'd been led to expect. And the crazy four-lane roads and ranks and ranks of condos and houses getting there and back. Not to mention all the visually unattractive roads and mansions interwoven THROUGH the slopes, preventing you from getting to Point B.

Aesthetically I'd give that whole PC/DV area a big fat FAIL. I won't be going back any time soon, even though the skiing itself, once we finally got to it, was fine.

 

[musicmatters]

Not to mention all the visually unattractive roads and mansions interwoven THROUGH the slopes, preventing you from getting to Point B.

This is one of my favorite parts about DV, skiing through all the real estate. (And the benefit of being able to utilize that real estate for plentiful ski in/out access). And I’m not sure I agree that the houses impede you from getting anywhere you need to.

 

[KingGrump]

Holy crap, what a Disneyesque mob scene trying to boot up amid the families and newbies. FAR from the quiet, genteel experience I'd been led to expect.

I told you so.

IKON the Lightning Rod

Ikon has increased skier traffic at most destination mountain--the pass is doing what Alterra created Ikon to do. Do any locals at an Ikon resort feel like skier visits have seen little or no impact? Is there a resort Ikon's lightning has not scorched? Those of you with good experience at Epic...

www.pugski.com

 

[tnerb]

Aesthetically I'd give that whole PC/DV area a big fat FAIL. I won't be going back any time soon, even though the skiing itself, once we finally got to it, was fine.

100% agree, PC has to be one of the worst resort towns in the US. I don't get the appeal.

 

[Tony S]

I told you so.

Apparently I wasn't listening.

The other thing I wasn't prepared for - and I acknowledge that this is totally subjective and partial - was how uninspiring the Deer Valley / Park City / Canyons "skyline" would be. I have no doubt that there is great skiing to be had, but it's just not the alpine environment I was imagining. For New Englanders who have never been there, here's how to envision it:

First, take a picture of Sunday River and change the scale legend in the corner to indicate that everything is twice as big.

Draw in a bunch more lifts.

Next, peel away all the pines, spruce, oaks, and maples. Replace them with sparse aspens, juniper, and sagebrush here and there.

That's it.

 

[Tony S]

This is one of my favorite parts about DV, skiing through all the real estate.

Right. It's a preference thing.

 

[Started at 53]

DV does not have the views of the cottonwoods, nor the terrain. Add in the narrow runs and ikon crowds and the experience is just not the same as BCC/LCC

 

[AmyPJ]

It’s been a puzzling year at PCMR. I ski every day of the season but still can’t really predict with any reliability. We are basically at 100% of average snow pack year-to-date because the past several weeks have been somewhat dry. Average is pretty good conditions around these parts. Crowds over Christmas, although obviously not negligible, were down from the insanity of pre-Ikon days and remained manageable through MLK and Presidents Week. In fact President’s Day was a blue-bird powder day and I got untracked runs until 11am despite the Local Pass blackout of Saturday and Sunday being lifted. Amazing. And yet the past couple of Mondays, together with the weekends, have been bezerkulous for no obvious reason. It’s as if people come for a long weekend and stay through Monday. Why now I haven’t a clue. Tues, Wed and Thurs tend to be mostly light crowds but the buggers pour in on Fri. Basically it seems like it’s luck of the draw whether you get a decent experience or a mob scene.

I also ski almost daily at Snowbasin. I avoid every other Saturday. My experience is exactly the same, except for President's Day. It was a zoo (Disneyland, I've used that reference many days this year for my experience at Basin.) Maybe they all came over from PC with their Epic passes. It's been busier this past week as it has all season, too. Not sure if there are a bunch of spring breakers coming in or what. It's been kind of a bummer the past 6-8 weeks, too, with no real powder days since then and off piste a crusty mess.

 

[Eleeski]

Some of these posts are bumming me out. We are taking a Utah trip in a couple weeks.

Snowbasin on Saturday. I'll be one of the thousand extra there for the Dave Goode day. I accept that it might be busy. Any out of the way lifts? Preferably with bumps. Or powder.

Sunday we need to choose between Snowbird or Brighton. I loved the mountain at Snowbird but it's been a long time since that not particularly crowded visit. I imagine things have changed with respect to crowds over the decades. Will Sunday be too crowded there?

I've never been to Brighton. Is it less busy on Sunday? Is it worth the trip to explore?

We're staying in Park City for Monday and Tuesday. I guess Deer Valley is our only Ikon choice there? Is it worth buying a ticket elsewhere (which one?)?

It might be stormy. How do road choices affect things? We have a rental car. And where might outsiders find powder?

We ski Squaw normally from our very close cabin. We know the quiet lifts and powder stashes (the ones that last a long time - till 10:30). Since we aren't staying slopeside in Utah, we will be stuck with the masses and traffic and parking hassles to be at the tail end of the powder chasers. Sigh. I like crud and soft bumps. Unless you can steer me to the quiet spots!

Is there a little resort in Logan? Is it worth the drive from Ogden and missing Snowbird or Brighton?

Thanks.
Eric

 

[locknload]

Longtime PC skier. Have been on IKON this year...switching from Epic last year. I was just in PC a few weeks ago using our Ikon days at DV and did a day at Brighton. I thought DV was incredibly crowded. It was a Holiday weekend but it still seemed crowded after the Holiday crowds left. I haven't skied PCMR this year, but I kind of missed skiing the stashes that I know there and how quite Jupiter Bowl gets in the afternoon even on a POW day. Having been skiing regularly in UT for a decade, I have always believed its less crowded than CO (I still ski in CO once a season), however, my question is if EVERYWHERE is crowded now, UT, CO, Jackson Hole (which I also ski every year) OR are we seeing a massive increase in skier visits country wide? Or are we just seeing the craziness of the few Prime weekends and there aren't really more skiers out there. I BC ski as well..so I will avoid really crowded days and go tour for a few hours, but I'm really curious what the data says about what's going on across the major resorts in the Intermountain West, CA and New England.

 

[raytseng]

Some of these posts are bumming me out. We are taking a Utah trip in a couple weeks.

Snowbasin on Saturday. I'll be one of the thousand extra there for the Dave Goode day. I accept that it might be busy. Any out of the way lifts? Preferably with bumps. Or powder.

Sunday we need to choose between Snowbird or Brighton. I loved the mountain at Snowbird but it's been a long time since that not particularly crowded visit. I imagine things have changed with respect to crowds over the decades. Will Sunday be too crowded there?

I've never been to Brighton. Is it less busy on Sunday? Is it worth the trip to explore?

We're staying in Park City for Monday and Tuesday. I guess Deer Valley is our only Ikon choice there? Is it worth buying a ticket elsewhere (which one?)?

It might be stormy. How do road choices affect things? We have a rental car. And where might outsiders find powder?

We ski Squaw normally from our very close cabin. We know the quiet lifts and powder stashes (the ones that last a long time - till 10:30). Since we aren't staying slopeside in Utah, we will be stuck with the masses and traffic and parking hassles to be at the tail end of the powder chasers. Sigh. I like crud and soft bumps. Unless you can steer me to the quiet spots!

Is there a little resort in Logan? Is it worth the drive from Ogden and missing Snowbird or Brighton?

Thanks.
Eric

Eric go to deer valley at least one day esp since free and on a weekday. take the advanced mountain tour. I recommend it. it basically is a morning orientation of the mtn but actually goes on advanced and expert terrain, my host even had us do a few 5min hikes to get a run.
There is enough advanced terrain there to check out for at least a day. Imagine it to be like northstars adv and expert terrain there's enough there for 1 day to check out. However to me, mtn is still for the groom. If you want to rip groomers bring your groomer skis and switch to those after lunch or 2nd day.

We ski squaw, we are used to crowds. Just like Saturdays here, the lines will be for the intermediate runs you'll be fine if you don't want to ski the equivalent of shirley.
You may need to just be early to for parking. Between Snowbird/Brighton its up to you. Dont base it on crowds but what you want to ski. Remember if you get stuck in mineral basin you can pop over to alta.

Given the way the season is going, powder is scheduled to take place back in Tahoe the exact days of your trip, and will reach Utah exactly when you board for your return flight.

 

[marjoram_sage]

DV does not have the views of the cottonwoods, nor the terrain. Add in the narrow runs and ikon crowds and the experience is just not the same as BCC/LCC

Ok. I will not visit DV even though I have Ikon this year. DV sounds like the Northstar of Utah. Nice facilities but way too crowded.

 

[zircon]

First, take a picture of Sunday River and change the scale legend in the corner to indicate that everything is twice as big.

Draw in a bunch more lifts.

Next, peel away all the pines, spruce, oaks, and maples. Replace them with sparse aspens, juniper, and sagebrush here and there.

That's it.

I had to laugh reading this, because I went to Deer Valley for one day in January (on a low snow day, so admittedly not the best conditions they had to offer) and came away thinking "if I wanted to ski in New Hampshire I would have done that"

Although I will say, people on the lifts complained about the hordes clogging the slopes but it was substantially less crowded than a good weekend day in New Hampshire.

 

[Eleeski]

@raytseng Thanks for the info. I gave you a "like" despite your conditions forecast. Originally that weekend was scheduled for Squaw. Sigh.

How early is needed for Snowbird parking on a Sunday?

Eric