SANDY, Utah — Without a bus to take them up Big Cottonwood Canyon, Spencer Daniels and Adam Furner got creative in the park-and-ride Wednesday morning.
“I’ll just park here and put my thumb up," said Daniels. "Usually the first or second car just comes and picks me up.”
The Utah natives never used to have issues finding parking at Brighton and Solitude, but now they don’t want to bother.
“When I was learning to ski, the parking lot would be open by noon still, you could still find parking," said Furner. "Now it’s, by 10 o’clock, everything’s roughly taken up.”
This Sunday, UTA’s ski buses will finally start running up Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, weeks after most resorts started running their lifts. Last season, the ski bus ran every 15 minutes in the Canyons. This year, it will run every 30 minutes, due to staffing shortages and hiring challenges, according to UTA. Local skiers and snowboarders, like Davis Killpack, have spent hours in traffic this season.
“You’re expected to be in bumper-to-bumper the entire way to the top," he said.
Even when UTA’s buses start running, Killpack isn't going to want to wait up to 30 minutes to hop on, he said.
“I feel like it’s not worth my time to want to park and wait for the bus."
The Central Wasatch Commission is currently working on a Big Cottonwood Canyon Mobility Action Plan. Dan Knopp, Mayor of Brighton, is hoping to put in a few mobility centers along the road so the bus doesn't have to enter the ski area parking lots. The goal is to find a traffic solution that gives everyone the opportunity to enjoy the Canyon, he said.
“You’re going to exclude the poor people? You’re going to exclude the unhealthy people?" Said Knopp. "Who are you going to exclude, who are you going to say, ‘You can’t come up here’? I want to have equal opportunity. It’s got to be equitable.”
Skiers and riders are thinking up solutions, like expanding parking.
“Giving more spots for people to park further up the canyon instead of having just the one down here," suggested Killpack.
Or maybe, another gondola.
“I think they should build one in Big Cottonwood too," said Daniels. "That’d be sick.”
The Central Wasatch Commission will have a public online survey people can take starting in January. They hope to have a final mobility action plan by May of next year.
