Anyone ever take mass transit skiing?

[abc]

Anyways, one of my biggest complaints about skiing in the northeast is the lack of mass transit options. Living in NYC has spoiled me. I should look more into trains/shuttles this year and see if there are any better options since the last time I really checked it out.

Well, there's the ski bus...

I've never taken it because they don't leave from places close to where I live. I've take a mountain bike bus to Plattekill but that's much easier because I can simply RIDE to the bus and then RIDE home. But with skis and boots, whatever little hike to get from home to the bus pick up is monumental!

 

[Gloria]

For as behind as we are on public transportation, the Bitterroot Resort model is actually carless. They are proposing putting a train service in from Missoula to Florence where skiers would ride a gondola from the highway to the resort. There would be a shuttle service from the airport to the train and back again. Whistler I believe has a pretty cool system in place also.

 

[Consuela]

For day trips from Bay Area to Tahoe, we do have a bus service that is private, not public, called NACski. They might be a better deal next year with the price of gas going up, but in previous years it has been more expensive than carpooling even with just 2 people.

The main benefit is that you get to sleep on the 4-5 hour drive up. The down side is that the bus is usually full of nerdy college students that don't have proper hygene, so it tends to be... a bit musky in there.

https://www.nacski.com/faq.aspx

 

[Skier31]

I drive from Denver to Breckenridge every weekend during ski season. Luckily, I have a condo where I can walk to the slopes once I am there but there is no good alternative to get from Denver to Breck. I have taken the Hound (Greyhound) from Denver to Frisco and then the Summit Stage from Frisco to Breck but there is only a morning and afternoon bus which is difficult to make. I wish there was a high speed train of some sort from DIA to the mountains. It would clear some of the I-70 weekend parking lot mess.

 

[Consuela]

I drive from Denver to Breckenridge every weekend during ski season. Luckily, I have a condo where I can walk to the slopes once I am there but there is no good alternative to get from Denver to Breck. I have taken the Hound (Greyhound) from Denver to Frisco and then the Summit Stage from Frisco to Breck but there is only a morning and afternoon bus which is difficult to make. I wish there was a high speed train of some sort from DIA to the mountains. It would clear some of the I-70 weekend parking lot mess.

Plus, if you are staying at the condo for the weekend, you might want to bring an ice chest with food, right? Seems that would be pretty hard to manage...

 

[AnnKH]

We ride Amtrak to Whitefish for our ski vacations. There is a shuttle that takes us from the train station to our condo for $25 per person (round trip). Once on the mountain, we can shuttle from the condo to the base lodge or a chairlift, and there's a free bus into town.

It's one of the reasons we aren't looking hard to ski elsewhere - it just doesn't get much more convenient than this.

 

[vanhoskier]

Perhaps an upside to high gas prices is that train transport will become more viable and economical as people demand it.

When I went to school in Boulder, my Subaru sat parked on the street most of the time. I walked or rode the bus most places in town, and took a bus to ski up at Eldora. Only when I skied at WP or elsewhere did I drive (and I had 3 others in the car with me).

I wouldn't mind an extra hour travel time by train to/from a ski area if it meant that I could SLEEP instead of fighting traffic!!

 

[vanhoskier]

I wish there was a high speed train of some sort from DIA to the mountains. It would clear some of the I-70 weekend parking lot mess.

About 10 years ago, I took Amtrack from central UT to Denver. I swear it stopped in Breck. At least I remember several stops in mountain towns. Does it still run?

 

[abc]

I wouldn't mind an extra hour travel time by train to/from a ski area if it meant that I could SLEEP instead of fighting traffic!!

I woldn't mind that either. But it only works if your destination has plenty of public transport or you don't go anywhere at all.

Tons of people take the train to work in NYC. But they have to drive to the train station. I did it the reverse way. Parked my car at the train station and rode the train there for weekend. That way, I have a car where I need it.

Sadly, majority of ski destination aren't like that. You can ride to train to some, but there's no shuttle in and around the resort. Those that has around resort shuttles (Park City, Summit county), don't have good public transport to get you there and back!

(what really gets my blood boiling is the SLC airport to PC van, they charge a two person minimum. So my rental car cost is actually less than the van, and I was traveling alone! The problem is, private for profit transport are simply too expensive to be rely on as "mass transit")

 

[Quiver Queen]

This winter for the first time ever I took a vacation without renting a car, but I'd been told the Aspen area had a good mass transit system, so I took the plunge.........and loved it! My hotel was right on the bus line--the stop was 1/2 a block away going one direction and directly across the street going the other--and the transfer center was only two minutes away. Since I was unsure about mass transit's ability to get me where & when I wanted I took a cab to & from the airport for $60 RT plus tip. The grand total I paid for the week of mass transit to/from Aspen, Snowmass, & Aspen Highlands was $3! Next trip out there I'll skip the cab & sit back & just enjoy the mass transit.

 

[Pequenita]

I wish there were more NYC->VT mass transit options. The trains (amtrak) are slower than driving (really, by over an hour for Killington) and kind of expensive.

Yeah, I read SkiDiva's post and thought to myself that I'd rather slit my wrist than take the Vermonter anywhere north of NYC. It takes the most roundabout route ever, I think due to lack of having easements on the most direct route.