Wow. Today was gorgeous. With 10 inches of new snow over the last two days, the skiing was fantastic. I think we proved again, on spring powder days, skiers' driving habits change completely.
I talk about comfortable carrying capacity (ccc) often. While not an absolute number, for us that is 4,140 skiers per day. Today we had a little less than 3,000 skiers. That is awesome for a Wednesday, but not a big, busy day at all. Parking on the other hand was a tremendous challenge. The lots were full by 9:30. Cars were backed up on the highway. People were frustrated.
I talked to several people this morning that wanted to blame someone for the parking (me or Ikon or the Front Range or whatever). The reality is that today's parking issue is purely an A-Basin community issue. On powder days, we change the way we drive. I worked the High Noon lot for a few hours. I witnessed the challenge. Our travel to the resort becomes a single person mission. Carpooling gets tossed out the window. With room to spare, the mountain very easily accomodated today's skiers. The parking couldn't handle the 50+% increase in cars for the same number of people.
The issue lands on all of our shoulders. This is a self inflicted wound and, interestingly enough, the issue is so easy to fix. When we head up on a spring powder day, we should should grab a friend or two. That is all it takes.
