By Matt Hansen, Powder
 
For a pastime that was built around the notion of escape and freedom in the mountains, getting to the ski hill now feels like we’re lurching in the opposite direction from those ideals: stop-and-go traffic, idling cars spewing exhaust, drivers angry at one another as they jockey for position.

Though this is nothing new for Colorado skiers trying to navigate I-70, bad traffic has coughed its exhaust-laden tentacles into even the most isolated Western ski towns. The parking lot at Bridger Bowl, Montana, overflows on powder days; the ski area even shut it down once because there was simply no more room. Ever tried driving into Aspen or Jackson or Breckenridge or Squaw Valley on a powder day? Not exactly the quiet life in the mountains we all envisioned. And then there’s Little Cottonwood Canyon. Traffic is so bad there it has a name, the Red Snake, a line of brake lights that extends 11 miles from Alta and Snowbird to the valley floor.

“Unfortunately, it’s become part of the deal, just like rising lift tickets,” says Tom Hudachko, who, at 41, has skied Alta his entire life. “Just like everybody else, I’m getting up at the ass-crack of dawn to sit in my truck on the side of the road, with a thermos and breakfast burrito two hours before the lifts open.”

Like you and me, Hudachko knows he’s part of the problem. And just like you and me, Hudachko knows things would probably be better if everyone just took the bus.

Read the whole story