[tmatlack]

Westbound on Stevens Pass Sat., Jan 30, at 10:37 am I was amazed to see the parking staff waving people away from the entrances to the full parking lots, two state troopers shooing people back down the mountain, and intense chaos as long drive snow sliders tried to evaluate their options for an over-capacity resort that was just getting the chairs started. What about the pull in pit toilets on south side? Lk. Valhalla/PCT parking on north side? Why can't public use them? There were people parking at overflow at Yodelin(both sides of hiway), not sure about Nordic Center, and one parking guy at lower south side was waving cars in, but I believe that was to turn them around to go back down east side. One sign at main lot said, "Come back at 3:00," but how come no signs down at Bern or 11-worth? Sultan used to have a sign about Pass conditions but it was blank? Are there shuttles? I lost a lot of respect for that operation. USFS needs to upgrade that Conditional Use Permit. Tom

[Snowbrushy]

[HitTheTrail]

Mission Ridge has been the same way the past couple of weekends. Total chaos with parking all the way down the hill at the boy scout camp or state park at the bottom. I normally never go up on weekends but have been lately because my wife is dealing with some medical issues that limits her activity and she keeps telling me to get out of the house to give us both a break. I don't know what the deal is with ski areas this year. Maybe pent up demand after the disastrous year last season.

[cascadeclimber]

I took my family there about three years ago and had the same experience: We got to the top and they told us they were full. "What are we supposed to do?" "Come back another day." "Thanks, we'll come back never." To top off the stupidity, I drove down to the Nordic center and found that they were parking people there and shuttling them up in buses, so we did get to ski. Why they didn't tell us that at the top I'll never know. But we've never gone back.

[Randito]

http://stevenspassshuttle.com/schedule-routes/

[reststep]

A few years ago on a Sunday we were turned around at highway 410 and Crystal Mountain Blvd. because they were full. They were handing out lift tickets to be used at a later date to the people that were turned around.

[DIYSteve]

[Schroder]

Aren't you retired Tom? What are you doing up there on a weekend? Fridays can be pretty bad too, especially after a big powder dump, but the rest of the week is usually pretty quiet.

[tmatlack]

Schroeder, I wish. 2-3 more years teaching then no more damn day job. I don't ski weekends. I was just coming home after a visit to Spokane and I always cut over at Quincy 'cause I love Wenatchee River, Tumwater, and Stevens Pass, except when chaos is going down. PS: SAR going out Mtn. Loop Hiway this morning...incl. one rig with snowmobiles. ): ): ): Tom

[Backpacker Joe]

Dang it would be great if there was some private land at Stevens so they could put in some services like Sno pass has. It would be great to see a hotel and restaurant up there.

[Randito]

[treeswarper]

Population growth and cheap gas. Maybe less people are carpooling because gas is so cheap?

[CC]

[tmatlack]

CC, There was no SP parking report on any of the big signs along US 2. That is one reason I posted my message. They used to do that. Tom

[Schroder]

The highway signs are controlled by the State Patrol & DOT for driving conditions. The parking situation at the pass changes very quickly and sometimes the lot attendants get overwhelmed by unexpected volumes that arrive in a short period of time. It can empty out just as quickly in the middle of the day. They expect the skiers know that it's a fluid situation.