California/Nevada 23/24 Palisades Parking Plans

[fatbob]

When having to juggle multiple skis for different race events, as well as some for post-training recreational skiing, parking relatively close, with no bus ride, becomes more critical....

Or y'know a ski check or a rack and a lock.

 

[Alexzn]

Well, the gist of the discussion seems to be that Squaw has tried to solve a real problem for its customers in a way that maximizes its own revenue.

 

[Alexzn]

Or y'know a ski check or a rack and a lock.

FYI, Squaw does not have ski check (I didn't think that I remember it doing it, ever).

 

[Andy Mink]

Or y'know a ski check or a rack and a lock.

You still have to get the skis to the check or rack.

Count me as one of those "no issue with parking way out and getting on the bus".

A shuttle is fine IF:
a) There's somewhere to park your car off-site, which is a problem in Truckee.
b) The busses/shuttles don't get caught up in regular traffic, i.e. have their own lane. Since 89 is two lanes, that'll be tough.
c) The busses run on a quick schedule (see b). Depending on the distance to pick up points this will require a lot of shuttles.
d) The shuttles run early enough to get to the hill in time to get to the lifts before they spin.
e) The shuttles run late enough into the evening so people can aprés and still get back to their cars. Not an issue at some ski areas but Palisades has a lot going on in the village.

 

[Philpug]

Or y'know a ski check or a rack and a lock.

So how do you profess taking 3-4+ pairs of skis on a bus? Or the other choice, is drive up to the resort, unload all the skis, put them in a rack, lock them up, get back in the car, head back to the remote lot, get on the bus to to the base. Then at the end of the day, take the bus back to the car, drive it back to the base, round up all the skis then drive home?

 

[Andy Mink]

Well, the gist of the discussion seems to be that Squaw has tried to solve a real problem for its customers in a way that maximizes its own revenue.

Without really solving much of anything and providing no details. Poorly rolled out "plan".

 

[Tricia]

I think if there is going to be a 20% increase in users it should be the operators responsibility to increase terrain, parking & access by the same amount. If that means an increase in pass prices, so be it but reservations & paid parking just means they have oversold the product.

This comment reminded me of a farm in Michigan that wanted to build a 2000 cow barn, so they applied for the US Aggriculture loan. The institution wouldn't allow them to build the barn until they increased their manure pit to accomodate the increase in cowshit.
It ended up being a three year project by the time they built the new manure pit, increased their crop capacity and THEN they built the barn.

In this case, the resort would need to improve infrastructure before increasing pass sales.

In short: You need to take care of the bullshit before you increase head count.

 

[fatbob]

So how do you profess taking 3-4+ pairs of skis on a bus? Or the other choice, is drive up to the resort, unload all the skis, put them in a rack, lock them up, get back in the car, head back to the remote lot, get on the bus to to the base. Then at the end of the day, take the bus back to the car, drive it back to the base, round up all the skis then drive home?

In a race ski burrito bag? How do athletes cope when travelling?

If you let everyone make their own exceptions then every single car in the lot will have some special little flower status. Just human nature.

And anyway Palisades specific, I'm sure Alterra can find ways of providing facilities at further cost for those that need them.

In practice I guess if you're racing on a weekend you'll pay for a premium reservation close in and get there early anyway.

 

[DocGKR]

"In practice I guess if you're racing on a weekend you'll pay for a premium reservation close in and get there early anyway."

For races sure, but what about training? Most of the time I am unable to plan when I can sneak away from work to go skiing, as I have to see what emergencies come into the hospital Friday and Saturday evenings, to determine if I can get away the next day for race training. It is not infrequent from me to finish a late night trauma case at 0200-0300 and decide to slip away to the former Squaw Valley for training the next morning--can't do that with the new Reservation system. As it stands, this new "plan" may kill my ability to race Masters.

Oh--and folks just so love it when someone rolls a nearly 100lbs quad ski bag with SL, GS, SG and a pair of sport skis, 4 sets of poles, two pairs of boots, a couple of helmets, and various other accessories onto the shuttle bus.....

 

[Wasatchman]

Well, the gist of the discussion seems to be that Squaw has tried to solve a real problem for its customers in a way that maximizes its own revenue.

Yep. Get ready. Alterra and Vail are going to happily solve a lot of problems going forward. They're just getting started.

Plus tourist boredom is apparently a real problem too. they want to solve that by building a waterpark at PT. They want to save you the expense and effort for needing to travel to Disneyland.

 

[John Webb]

Y

Plus tourist boredom is apparently a real problem too. they want to solve that by building a waterpark at PT. They want to save you the expense and effort for needing to travel to Disneyland.

Or in summer traveling 10 miles down the road to water at Lake Tahoe. The water park idea was killed once. I hope it gets killed again for good.

 

[crosscountry]

Or in summer traveling 10 miles down the road to water at Lake Tahoe. The water park idea was killed once. I hope it gets killed again for good.

Jeez, do you know how many motels have swimming pool on many of our lake side tourist destinations?

 

[Eleeski]

Palisades is known for the horrible traffic and parking issues - not lines on the hill. Amusement parks don't seem to have the traffic and parking issues despite having obscene lines inside. Those parking structures do work.

Right now there is a crappy dirty inadequate parking lot at Palisades (both Alpine and Squaw sides). Free parking will not solve any of the problems in the long run. A parking structure as part of the Village development on the Squaw side will solve myriad problems but is likely to require paid parking - certainly at peak times. Paid parking looks inevitable. Perhaps we should embrace solutions to problems instead of just halting all development.

Regarding the waterpark, pools with kiddie features are considered waterparks. Palisades needs year round swimming pools on site. The Truckee pool (waterpark) is quite busy in both winter and summer. The pool at the top of the tram is often extremely crowded. There is certainly a need for quality swim sites. And the traffic to get to the lake is horrendous in the summer - I've been in worse traffic jams by the lake in summer than in winter. Offering recreational opportunities in the Valley makes sense in so many ways. Meeting people's needs is so much better than excluding people.

Eric

 

[Philpug]

. Amusement parks don't seem to have the traffic and parking issues despite having obscene lines inside. Those parking structures do work.

The problem with parking structures at ski resorts verses amusement parks is the size of the vehicles, Sprinter vans and cars/trucks with rooftop carriers and that people have a lot more gear to deal with and not just a bag with maybe a bathing suit and sunscreen but boot bags and skis. I am not saying it can't work but it is going to be tough.

 

[fatbob]

Plenty of Euro resorts have parking garages. Not aware of it being a major problem with roof boxes and the like though of course I'm sure you can find some special flower with a Winnebago and solar array and satellite comms for whom it doesn't work.

Pro tip the smarter ones are built under base plazas etc when new lifts have been going in. Now where has just been installing new lifts without that

 

[Philpug]

Plenty of Euro resorts have parking garages. Not aware of it being a major problem with roof boxes and the like though of course I'm sure you can find some special flower with a Winnebago and solar array and satellite comms for whom it doesn't work.

You know as well as anyone, what people drive in Europe is much different than we have here, especially in mountain areas. It is more than just a few special flowers.

 

[Tricia]

We were able to park in two different parking garages this past winter with the S.S. SkiTalk, with Packasport on top.Heck, we can't even park in our own garage when the box is on top.
One was at Crested Butte, the other was at Mammoth. 2 in all of our travels.


Not many have the clearance needed for a vehicle this size with a rooftop box.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

Our old garage wouldn’t fit the land cruiser with skis on the rack. We used to have to remind each other to pull the skis off on the driveway.

 

[Philpug]

I will say on storm days, it would be much nicer to boot up in a parking garage and end of the day, not have to clean off the truck. Tailgating and BBQ'ing might be a different story though.

 

[fatbob]

You know as well as anyone, what people drive in Europe is much different than we have here, especially in mountain areas. It is more than just a few special flowers.

Yep but I'm sure it's not beyond the wit of man to factor in clearances needed for US vehicles.

I think Alterra have probably screwed the pooch overall with their handling of all things Palisades from their community alienating plans at day 1 to the base 2 base gondola (e.g. the same capex could have been spent on improving transit options for far greater utility for most skiers). And then the perfect storm of post Covid WFH/relocation to Tahoe homes/ great snow season has laid them bare. So kerching parking reservation/charges at whatever price the market will bear. Never forget they aren't your friend if you are local /semilocal, you're already sold so aren;t that important to a destination resort biz.

I think it's overall lose/lose for everyone in Tahoe as every resort jumps onto the all pay parking bandwagon because techbro wealth. Far cry from even 20 years ago when I first visited.