I had asked Snowbowl a few years ago about widening that upper catwalk. They didn't respond, but then again i really did not expect to hear back.
Regardless of the new Chondola, my thoughts about the widening were specifically for enhancing the experience. In its present state, the catwalk is just plain awkward on a busy day. Too narrow and picks up speed around a corner, sending skiers/riders into wall or other people who are hesitating about entering the bowl . Is it just me, or have any of you had to use the Ski Patrol method of snowplow (one ski forward, one turned in) to slow down so as not to run into the snowboarders taking the entire width of the catwalk?
I don't mind the Upper (Spur) Catwalk. In theory, most of the folks using it should be "advanced", or at least not complete beginners, so the traffic seems to flow fairly well down it. I'm usually dropping into the trees, or heading down White Lightening, so rarely get to the end where it bottlenecks. Of course a lot of the problems could be resolved if people (snowboarders!) didn't just hang out in the neck of the turn and force others to cut the corner at speed, or brake as they exit the catwalk.
Now that the new sixpack is dumping so many beginners off mid mountain, the bigger issue is for me is the Midway Catwalk down to Logjam. There are times where it is almost impassable with falling beginners and people running out of speed. It also suffers at the exit where it dumps out with little space for folks to slow down or turn. People wanting to get to the Humphreys side have to keep up their speed to hit the trail, everyone else is trying to stop, there is a black run feeding in from above and many folks like to get air off the lip of the trail where it enters the bowl. That whole catwalk could use being regraded, widened and the exit area redesigned. Thankfully I usually take Volcano or Lower Gully down, but it is a mess.
I know it is unlikely to happen, but I have always felt that a mid mountain lift that serves the more advanced terrain, and removes the need to return to the base, would really help the flow around the resort. Well, at least my flow.
