Park City and I-80

When we first moved to Park City, for four years, I was commuting every day on I-80 (Interstate 80) to Salt Lake City. I only traveled on the sole and previous road, Route 40, in 1971, but was asleep and didn’t remember a thing. 

Then, in 1980, I drove from Salt Lake to Park City on I-80 in 1980, but didn’t know how that impressive stretch of Interstate highway came to life. After doing some research. I found that I-80 was finally completed in the SLC airport area on August 22, 1986, while the specific stretch I knew so well between Salt Lake City and Kimball Junction (Park City) had been completed in 1973.

At that point, the entire 2,907-mile I-80 (from San Francisco to New Jersey) became the world’s longest completed freeway, and Salt Lake City became the "Golden Spike" of the Interstate Era. The transformation of the old two-lane US-40 into the mostly six-lane I-80 was one of the most difficult engineering feats in Utah's highway history due to the narrow, vertical walls of Parley's Canyon. The timeline of completion that follows speaks volumes about the work required that spanned from 1962 to 1973. 

• 1850: Parley P. Pratt completed the "Golden Pass Toll Road", marking the first time wagons could bypass the much steeper Emigration Canyon. 
• Late 1950s: With the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, plans began to upgrade US-40 into a controlled-access freeway. 
• 1962: The section from Wanship to Silver Creek opened, which provided the first major "freeway" feel east of Kimball Junction. 
• 1969–1970 (The Big Closure): The most disruptive phase. A 5.5-mile section of Parley’s Canyon was completely closed to traffic for 9 months (October 1, 1969, to July 23, 1970). Drivers had to detour through Emigration Canyon or Weber Canyon to reach Park City. 
• 1971: The westbound lanes of the canyon stretch were officially opened in July, completing the four-lane "split" through the lower canyon. 
• 1973: The final segment between Mountain Dell Reservoir and Kimball Junction was completed, officially linking the Salt Lake Valley to Park City with a high-speed divided highway. 

Building a modern freeway through a narrow mountain corridor presented obstacles that required "brute force" engineering, like massive rock blasting. To fit six lanes of traffic into the lower canyon, engineers had to use millions of pounds of dynamite to blast away the sheer quartzite and limestone cliffs. 

This is why there are dramatic vertical rock cuts today near the mouth of the canyon. The thing that always amazed me was that the highway was essentially built "on top" of the creek in its lower section, with massive culverts installed and multiple shifting of water paths multiple times to make room for the roadbed. 

Managing the steep ascent to Parley's Summit (6% grade to reach from 4,610 to 7,120 feet) was a major concern for heavy trucks. Designing "runaway truck ramps" and the wide, sweeping curves was also essential to prevent the high-speed accidents that plagued the old US-40. 

Construction in 1967 near the mouth of the canyon required massive amounts of "fill" dirt, which nearly buried the local landmark known as Suicide Rock (it now sits much lower relative to the freeway than it did originally). 

Because the summit is over 7,000 feet, crews could only work effectively for a few months a year. Sudden mountain snowstorms frequently shut down construction and destroyed fresh roadwork, but in the end, it contributed to make Park City the world's most accessible ski town from an international airport!

Easing traffic in Park City

In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to navigate our little town of Park City and regardless of the season, traffic keeps on getting denser. A few examples. We’ve live in Park Meadows for more than 40 years and even during its busiest building period. Would I even suggest how this growing problem could cause havoc in the event of an emergency evacuation? 

Now that the town is built out, remodeling and tear-down projects seems to bring many more workers cars on site, almost always one person in one car, creating a real traffic and parking nightmare. Between these vehicles and those of landscapers or other trades pulling enormously wide and long trailers, locals have to slalom through cars parked on either sides of the streets and there appear no way this trend is going down.

Just look at the above picture... So the issue is that it’s time to stop that trend and begin seriously controlling who gets into town. What I’m proposing is a bunch of ideas that our City should be considering and seriously discussing. Here are a few of them as mixed sampling: Just a steadily growing and concerning vehicle traffic on SR 224 and 248. 

Why? Too many workers (one per car) insisting on coming right to their place of work in the own car. Make people (except those living in PC school district to enter Park City) via electronic (RFID) tags. The entry fee could be adjusted dynamically and be free between 6pm and 6am. Visitor who rent cars are the airport would get temporary tags that Rental Companies would pay for during the stay. 

Parking lots and bus service at Park and Ride areas at the entrance to the City or PC School District A limited number of vehicles should be permitted to park near a project (maintenance, remodeling, tear down and reconstruction). Passed that, standing vehicles would be fined. Workers coming outside of say, the Park City School District (PC addresses) or perhaps Summit County should carpool at the entrances to the main activity centers (i.e. Kimball Junction and Queen Junction or at some additional “Park and Ride” areas). 

In our City subdivisions, all vehicles should be parked on one side of the street using even and odd house numbers to match the daily date. That would eliminate having to dodge cars as we literally have to slalom through them. There maybe many a multitude of extra ideas, but the above ones should be seriously explored, discussed and decided upon before total gridlock is reached.

Juggling with bike and dog...

For the past 15 years, I’ve observed more and more bike riders combining cycling and trying to hold their dogs on leash. It must be a deep-seated craving for wanting to multitask at all costs. Fitting too many activities in a finite amount of time, or perhaps wanting to show up one’s bike skills to the rest of us. 

Still, I’m of the opinion that if “bikejoring”, as it’s called, might look like a fun and clever activity it’s unfortunately generally practiced carelessly, putting both the dog and the rider at risk. Observing whether the rider is attentive to the dog's condition, using proper equipment, and choosing safe routes are supposed to mitigate the risk, but in the vast majority of cases, nothing guarantees a secure ride, so I do question the riders’ judgment. 

Just like the fact of driving a car with a dog on lap, the legality of riding a bike on a public street or roadway while having a dog on a leash, varies by state and local laws in the US. Only California explicitly prohibits biking with a dog on a leash due to safety concerns as it’s considered unsafe if it impedes control. Other states have no specific laws against it but may enforce general reckless cycling or animal endangerment statutes, only New York City considers biking while holding a leash risky and police may issue fines. 

A few places allow it but may require the leash to be of a certain length. As far as Utah, my state goes, there’s no statewide law explicitly prohibiting riding a bike while holding a dog on a leash. Just imagine doing this in Park City when there’s snow on the ground (as the photo illustrates, I’ve seen it more than once!) Fortunately, several countries explicitly prohibit riding a bike while holding a dog on a leash, considering it a traffic safety or animal welfare violation. 

Germany requires cyclists to always have "both hands on the handlebars unless signaling." Holding a leash violates this rule. Holland, the world’s number one bike country requires that cyclists must maintain full control, and holding a leash is often deemed unsafe. Police can fine riders under general endangerment rules. Some Swiss cantons explicitly ban biking with a leashed dog. In others, police may penalize it under "reckless cycling" statutes. 

Down under in Australia, in states like Victoria and New South Wales biking with a leashed dog can result in fines for "not having proper control" of the bicycle. In Sweden, the law requires that the cyclist must always have full control over the dog to avoid endangering themselves, the dog, or others. Some countries like Finland, Canada and the U.K. are more washy-washy as they respectively stipulate that the dog is well-trained and runs calmly and that a hands-free bike leash attachment is used. Now you know the deal. 

Use your common-sense and if you have some, don’t do it!

Hey, taxi!

When the next Winter Olympics return to Salt Lake City in 2034, I’ll be just 86 years old and might need a quick and easy commute to watch all the venues, so if you’ve seen these science-fiction schemes in which air-taxis help people hop from one place to the next, by taking to the skies instead of using a self-driving car (which I hope, might work perfectly by then), then air taxi will be the perfect mean of transportation! 

This past Tuesday, an agreement was signed by BETA Technologies, an electric aircraft manufacturer, and 47G | Utah Aerospace & Defense, to bring air taxi technology and charging stations to Utah. These new electric air taxis would have the ability to fly up to five passengers — or up to 1,250 pounds of cargo. According to BETA Technologies website, the taxis can reach a full charge in just under an hour and can travel over 350 miles per charge, reaching speeds of about 155 miles per hour. 

On November 13, BETA Technologies completed the first flight of an electric aircraft built on its scaled production line. Within a year, BETA set up shop in its 200,000 square foot manufacturing facility in South Burlington, Vermont, and fully installed tooling, an organized supply chain, and manufactured propulsion systems — to rolling an aircraft off its production line, getting a certificate of airworthiness by the FAA, and flying it. 

The air taxis, which garnered support from the Utah Department of Transportation and the Governor himself, are expected to run statewide in time for the 2034 Winter Olympic Games. By early 2026, the plan is for Utah to be moving cargo in them before transitioning to people. 

A spokesperson for BETA said that “From early next year onward we start with cargo, medical logistics, and then we move into passenger flights over the next years. By the end of the decade here we’re flying cargo, medical passenger, both in… conventional takeoff — landing airport to airport — and vertical takeoff, landing going from vertiport to vertiport in quiet, clean electric airplanes.” 

We’ll see if the plan develop in time for my using it, if and when I should reach my mid-eighties! 

A shorter, quicker way to skiing

Over all these years, if I had gotten a good option, I would have taken public transportation to go skiing instead of taking my car and contribute to traffic and parking problems, but that wasn’t available except if I was willing to walk one mile round trip, in my ski boots and my skis on my shoulder, to and from the next regularly scheduled shuttle stop. 

This year, however, Park City is offering a bus service that can be waved down anywhere on its new route. 

This puts my next bus stop less than 250 ft away from my garage door and it takes me less than a minute to get there. 

The only problem is its limited frequency, but as the service gains in popularity we might see that factor increase in the upcoming season!

 

Utah DMV’s problems

Rare are the Departments of Motor Vehicles that enjoy a pristine reputation, yet until now, Utah wasn’t too bad in my eyes. 

One year ago, when I had to renew registration on my electric car, I was invited to join the Utah’s road usage charge program which helps pay state road maintenance. Like in other states, Utah roads are maintained by using taxes from gasoline sales. As vehicles become more fuel efficient and the number of electric vehicles grows, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is changing to a per-mile fee as a way for drivers to pay their portion of roadway operations and maintenance. 

During the 2018 Legislative session, lawmakers instituted an alternative fuel fee to cover a portion of those vehicles’ contribution to building and maintaining our roads. ​This comes in addition to the annual vehicle registration fee assessed on all vehicles in the State​. Utah’s Road Usage Charge provides a choice for owners of alternative fuel vehicles to pay by the mile instead of paying the alternative fuel vehicle fee. The Utah’s Road Usage Charge Program is voluntary for electric vehicle owners.

UDOT had first contracted with Emovis, a Spanish firm that specialized in transportation systems to operate the program. In April, the state changed contractors and went with Etan, a Dallas based company, and promised a seamless transfer to provide a better value (read cheaper). This didn’t work seamlessly at all for me. 

When time to renew my registration came, I couldn’t do it at the rate I was promised. My records were lost in some malfunctioning software. I quickly became a football bouncing from UDOT, Etan and a separate customer service program that bounced me from place to place as they were incapable of solving my situation. 

Eventually, two Etan's ladies, through trial and error, were able to help me after admitting that its software was all screwed up and that I had lost one full day trying to solve the problem. They gave me a bogus name, something like “Go11” as a first name and “Trustees” as a last name because a trust owns my car. 

They really made it work. Another example in life that we get what we pay for in terms of value; “Trust” me!

Park City, Après-ski Style

Going skiing is one thing, but returning home is a whole different kettle of fish, even on a Friday afternoon, when I had to get out of Park City Mountain’s parking areas. 

This following video episode, which could be found a bit lengthy (quite logical, given the wait involved), only lasts 3 minutes but condenses a good quarter of an hour taken to get out of this automobile entanglement. 

Fortunately, Americans are both civil and disciplined and that's why everything works pretty well in this country if we exclude characters like Musk and Trump. 

Another observation of interest is that, these days, fewer motorists seem to use car racks or boxes to carry their gear; instead, they stuff everything inside their SUV or in the back of their trucks. 

While driving to skiing is a great exercise to hone my patience, I think that next time, I’ll take the shuttle! 

Moving, thirty-eight years ago!

On August 21, 1985 a large moving truck left our home in Chappaqua with all of our belongings, headed for Park City, Utah. This would be our sole, official move in our lifetime with all the trappings familiar to so many American households.

At the same time my wife and our two kids were boarding our small passenger car, kind of ready for a long trip. Just before leaving, we had an early pasta dinner at our neighbors, the Chan-Noris family, and I remember that our son Thomas vomited his meal on the entry ramp to I-80 in the Bronx, starting the long journey on a rather alarming note! 

We had entrusted my wife’s small station wagon to perfect strangers willing to drive it for over 2,000 miles as it was quite customary to do in those days. The drivers paid one of the so-called drive-away companies a $100 deposit, got a full tank of gas and received directions to the distant destination. Hopefully, a week or so later, upon reaching destination, they would hand over the car keys to us and collect their deposit back. 

My wife was really sad to leave our beloved home nestled in the trees of Westchester County, not sure if Park City would be as cool as I made it appear. Fortunately, in the end, she ended up loving her new place so much that she says today that she’ll never, ever leave it!

My views on electric bikes

Like everywhere else, electric bikes have been taking us by storm. 

Was it inevitable? Presumably, as our local governments were woefully unprepared in imagining the mess it would create. 

For me, an E-bike, except for its lack of emissions, is a motorized bike and very close in the way it behaves, to mopeds or scooters such as Vespa. 

The problem is that very young kids are let to ride them without preparation, education and abilities to reign in their power and significant mass. 

Further, while I see multi use paths shareable by pedestrians, pet owners, baby-carriages, and reasonably-behaved cyclists, adding E-bikes into the mix is inviting unpleasant experiences, frightening close-calls. and very bad accidents. 

This is why I’m not of the opinion that they should be allowed on paths that were designed and built for much slower traffic, with blind curves and bottlenecks, and also significantly lighter and slower two-wheeler. 

I believe they’re incompatible with the concept of quietness and immersion into nature these paths were designed for in the first place, and for many, are ruining the experience. 

E-bikes should only be used on roadways and trails built to be accessed by motorized vehicles.

Mapping a way to and from Geneva airport

I have used the airport in Geneva hundreds of times in my entire life, mostly to go from and to the home village where I was raised in the Alps. 

There are basically two main options, following the most direct route or circumnavigating the city as the airport is located on my destination’s the opposite side. One huge hurdle is that the Rhone river splits the City in two, requires bridge crossing and with that, some major delays. 

Over the years, like everywhere else, things have changed enormously through continued expansion, and traffic has become both very intense and complex in navigating a metro area that's exploding on an aging layout, trans-border traffic with France and roadways everywhere. 

What used to be the most obvious and direct route has gradually become gridlocked, and the advent of the GPS hasn’t been quite able to resolve these traffic issues as the options available are so multiple and complex. I'm not even mentioning the fact that the airport straddling the border offers to entrances, the main one on the Swiss side and a secondary one on the French side.

Further, Switzerland requires a $45 sticker to access its freeways, and in many instance my rental car doesn’t have it, because I rent or drop it at the French sector of the airport (rental rates there are significantly cheaper) . 

So way too many times, I've got stuck which led me to haplessly experimenting new routes or rush to make a departing flight and this never ends well. For these multiple reasons, I wanted, once and for all, find a better way for my next trip. 

To accomplish it, I used Google maps and also asked my friends who know the area like their back pocket to help me. Very few responded, because, like me, they probably had no idea what the most optimum solution was. 

It’s also true that we’re all are creatures of habit and are sticking to itineraries that feel second-nature to us while they might be not the very best, but we’re simply so attached to them, that we never seek a potential better way.

Dare I say, that after hours spent on the subject and with some good help from one of them, I found that so coveted "best itinerary" that I'll be following for my next trip. Sure, this kind of progress is arriving a bit late in my lifetime, but it still is priceless!

Potholes galore!

Our winter has been marked with lots of snow and now that the white stuff is receding, we’re invaded with a myriad of… potholes. 

These wonderful, hollow creations that we see on roadways and parking lots are created when the top layer of pavement and the material beneath bend under the weight of vehicular traffic, due to the amount of traffic and the presence of water below.

Snowmelt or rain seeps through cracks in the pavement and into the substrate. Short of draining away quickly, the ground underneath becomes saturated and soft. That trapped moisture is subjected to repeated freeze/thaw cycles and with each occurrence, the expanding ice lifts and cracks the pavement more. The passing traffic weakens the pavement, cracking it further. 

This is also exacerbated by multiple passages of heavy and abrasive snow-removal trucks and abundant sprays of salt (remember that here in Utah, we have a Great Salt Lake nearby, with plenty of cheap supply!). As the process repeats itself from November through April and temperatures keep on fluctuating, the ice freezes and melts continuously, a void is left under the pavement. 

This void collects more water and after enough of that treatment it has no other way but growing larger and deeper. This whole winter has been a constant battle between my car and an army of potholes. I’m now looking for a cease-fire!

The Boeing 747 finally bows out

At the end of January, the last 747 rolled of the assembly line at Boeing Everett’s plant near Seattle after more than half a century since the original jumbo jet was introduced to the world, contributing in a great way to change the way we travel, not to mention the cost for doing so to passengers.

I remember flying for the first time inside that giant airplane between Montreal and Paris on a brand new Air France 747 in October of 1971. 

I have lost count on how many times I had a good night sleep, fully stretched out on the plane center row. Since that time, I must have flown hundreds of time in that remarkable aircraft. 

In total, Boeing has built 1547 model 747 and there are still more than 400 in service (mostly to carry air cargo like the very last delivered to Atlas Air) including 44 still transporting passengers. 

As always, when a page is being turned, it’s easy to feel a bit nostalgic. I won’t. This is just the march of progress and history in the making...

How good is our new transit system?

In November, I had explained our upgraded transit system, including on-demand microbus. 

Yesterday, I tested it and, as I feared, it wasn’t that simple. In the afternoon, I got dressed, put my ski boots on and dialed my ride at 1:11pm, using the phone app. 

My ride supposed to show up in 10 minutes made it in 15 and dropped me by a bus stop, but very close to the ski lifts, so I decided to walk and not take the bus. I arrived at the lift at 1:44 pm. No bad, but not great. My car would had taken me there in 7 minutes. 

On the way back home, it got more complicated. I took off my skis at 4:14 pm and walk to the bus loading area. There was none going to my subdivision, so I jumped in the next best vehicle that took me to the Park City High School. 

When I got there however, the app told me to take a bus back to the one going to MY neighborhood, so I took a half a mile shortcut and got there, hopped in the next bus, called a microbus and was home by 5:00 pm. In both cases, I had a hell of a time fitting my skis in the minivan ski rack. 

So, all in all, a long time on the road plus a two times half a mile hike, so long in fact, that next time, I might continue taking my car!

Ready to fly electric?

I was pleasantly surprised to hear about “Alice”, the electric plane that took off earlier this week from a small airport in Washington State. 

The 9 passenger aircraft flew at an altitude of 3,500 feet for eight minutes. With batteries similar to those of an electric car and after charging it for thirty minutes, Alice would have been able to fly for about one hour. 

Based on today’s battery technology, the new plane is targeting a range of 250 nautical miles and a top cruising speed of 250 knots, or 287 miles per hour. It would be used for short flights when it enters service by 2027 as its developers are hoping for. 

Alice’s progress between now and this target date will be fun to watch… 

The transit battle in Little Cottonwood Canyon

Little Cottonwood Canyon gives access to a pair of prestigious Utah ski resorts, Alta and Snowbird. The problem is that with increased visitations comes traffic gridlock, especially in the middle of winter when road conditions can be terrible, not to mention the ever-present avalanche danger. 

Little Cottonwood Canyon’s narrow road sees 2 million visitors each year and that number keeps on growing. That means 7,000 vehicles going up and down the canyon, producing 70 tons of carbon on the most avalanche-prone highway in North America, with 64 active avalanche paths. 

I’ve already visited that issue a year ago when a fierce debate began between an improved roadway or a 3S-type gondola that would bring skiers from the Salt Lake City valley, up to their favorite resort, making car access to the ski areas a mute point. 

The 3S technology seems to be the most efficient answer to a vexing automobile problem as it would collect cars down-valley in a place where snow is rarely a big problem. The 3S gondolas use a tri-cable system, including two fixed-support cables and one circulating haul cable connected to the cabins.

The main benefits are faster speeds, the potential to increase the tower spacing up to about 9,000 feet, up to 35 passengers per cabin, high capacity to about 5,000 people per hour per direction, and much greater wind stability. Covering a distance of 8 miles, this would be the longest 3S in the world. At 17 mph, the total travel time for the 8-mile trip from the mouth of the canyon to Snowbird would be about 27 minutes. 

As an alternative to the larger 3S gondola traveling to Alta, a second gondola, possibly mono-cable or twin-cable design, could connect Snowbird to Alta. Again, I hope that cool and smart minds will prevail and that the 3S solution will be adopted. 

Whatever project is accepted, UDOT would be in charge of overseeing the project. Either way the more than half-billion dollar cost would be born by the citizens of Utah (the 11 million annual operating cost for the 3S would be user-financed), so don’t expect to have it ready next fall, as on top of a long and acerbic decision-making process; once approved, it will take 3 years for the project to be built…

Only $55 million for a space odyssey?

This weekend, a mission, called Axiom-1, lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida towards the International Space Station (ISS). into clear blue skies following a smooth countdown. Leading the flight was Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut who is now a vice president at Axiom. 

The customers were Larry Connor, managing partner of the Connor Group, a Ohio real estate company, Mark Pathy, CEO of Mavrik Corporation, a Canadian investment company; and Eytan Stibbe, an investor and former Israeli Air Force pilot. All forked $55 million a piece to get up-there. 

We don’t know how much Axiom and the ISS get out of these $165 million, but the ISS was built at a cost of $150 billion. NASA's participation was $59 billion ($100 billion in today’s dollars), Russia's $12 billion, Europe's $5 billion, Japan's $5 billion and Canada's $2 billion and most of the cost of transporting the hardware was NASA’s with its space shuttles.

The cost of operating the facility costs NASA (excuse me, the American taxpayers) about $1.3 billion a year, so they can use a few extra dollars! This is only the United States’ share; the other partners like Russia, the European Space agency, Japan and Canada pitch in too to a much lesser degree. It’s also not the first time the ISS welcome space tourists. 

The Russian started the scheme and most recently Yusaku Maezwa, a wealthy Japanese traveled on the Russian Soyuz rocket to get there. While a war is raging in Ukraine, all that “space tourism” idea and the million dollars thrown into that flight of fancy makes me cringe. Well, I might just be a tad jealous...

On a wing and a prayer

Do you still remember the ill-fated Boeing 737 max and its terrible software problem? Well that pretty scary flaw got fixed God know how, but eventually the planes were re-authorized to fly. 

The airlines tweaked the name a little bit so it wouldn’t spook passengers, hopefully trained their pilots to the enhanced crutch that make the plane fly without crashing. 

A year ago, I even said that I’d wait a couple more years to venture myself inside that plane, but unbeknownst to my, this day happened late October ! 

We were flying on Southwest on our way to Hawaii and we flew the 737 Max8 (a new name for the same bird!) on one leg out of four. Southwest has 68 Boeing 737 MAX 8s, nearly all of which I’m told are currently active. 

For now, its fleet MAX aircraft is overshadowed by 678 other 737-700s and 737-800s in its large fleet. I must admit that I wasn’t totally reassured when I realized I was seating in that aircraft that flies thank to a convoluted software, but I was even more grateful that my wife didn’t realized that we were trapped inside that once-doomed aircraft. 

She simply found its seats pretty uncomfortable and I had to agree with her. Yet, that below part comfort wasn’t compensating for my fear of surviving the flight. I guess ignorance is bliss, and yes, we landed safe and sound with crashing!

Uber: the laws of supply and demand

As we returned from a recent vacation, our plane was late and we landed in Salt Lake City around 10 pm. By the time we walked to the end of new cavernous terminal, it was already 10:15, then among a huge crowd of travelers for that time of the day, I fumbled around to call a Lyft or a Uber to takes us back to Park City. 

I tried Lyft first and was asked to fork over $200 for a ride that normally hovers around $50. Shell-shocked, I looked into Uber and found a ride for $105 which still was a lot, but much better than the previous one, so I took it, knowing that with tip, this ride would set me $125 back! 

As I was waiting for the driver to accept my ride, my wife was growing impatient and kept on asking me: “Is that cab you ordered coming?” I told her that my phone showed it six minutes away, and asked to be patient, but since she was understandably tired of traveling all day, she kept on asking me the same question.

So much so that when I saw a white VW that looked a bit like Jetta and quickly glanced at the license plate that was about what I was expecting and screamed: “That’s it!” The roadway was a real mess and the driver had to load us on the fourth lane of that loading area, he said something to me that I didn’t understand and hopped inside the car that sped away. 

After 8 to 10 minutes driving, Fernando, our driver, exited to a Street that wasn’t our normal itinerary. I said, “This isn’t the way to Park City!” He responded, “Are you going to Park City? I thought you were going to Murray (a suburb of Salt Lake)! Aren’t you David?” I said: “No, I’m not David!” 

So clearly I messed up and didn’t really pay attention when the driver asked me if I was David when we entered his car, and the VW wasn’t a Jetta, but a CC, but in the heat of the moment, any VW looked like the Jetta I needed to get to Park City. 

Long story short, at the same time, the original driver, we ordered our ride from, kept calling me on my phone and I had no idea who he was, as he spoke with a thick Arabic accent. When I finally connected with him, I explained what had happened; he then asked me to cancel the ride, which I did and had to pay $5.75 for it. 

Then, as we were parked near the freeway, our driver asked me to re-book the ride. This time as we were 10 minutes away from the airport commotion and in zone with far less demand than supply, the algorithm brought down the cost of the ride to a reasonable $34.96, much more in line with what I normally paid. 

We were elated that the problem had been solved and even after tipping Fernando $20 for his emotional distress, my own mistake still saved me $60!

This of course taught me a very valuable lesson as to getting out of expensive Lyft or Uber rides by simply moving to a much quieter location, by simply using a free hotel shuttle going to some downtown location, away from a super crowded and crazy airport scene. Even more importantly, it also taught me that I must pay more attention to the car that’s coming for me and that I’m the guy who ordered it!

Finally, a solution for Little Cottonwood Canyon?

In recent years, accessing Snowbird and Alta, in Little Cottonwood Canyon, near Salt Lake City has become a huge traffic nightmare, with a narrow road without any avalanche protection, like what is common in the Alps, and with limited parking at the ski areas. 

The avalanche protection should have been put in place in the early 70s when Snowbird opened, but the State of Utah was too cheap to bite the bullet, and too ignorant to understand anything about avalanche mitigation. 

Today, two solutions are considered. An expanded bus service with road widening, or a 3S-type, 32 passenger gondola.

The bus option would be the fastest, getting people up the mountain in about 37 minutes, including parking and walking to the bus stop. Buses would pick riders up every five minutes, but could be slowed by variable winter weather conditions. 

The option also requires widening the road the entire way up the canyon, building snow sheds to help control avalanches and requiring cars to pay a toll during busy time. 

On the other hand, the gondola provides the most consistent travel times — just under an hour from parking to reaching the top — and would leave the base station every two minutes. 

While it would have a greater visual impact on the mountains, it would be less invasive to the nearby watershed, wildlife, and climbing. 

Both options would cost roughly the same over a 30-year period, that is over $500 million. They would also come with additional measures like building two park-and-ride lots close by, to handle visitors coming by car. 

My preference would go to the gondola in spite of its visibility defacing the Canyon’s natural beauty.

 

The dangers of flying for free

Having flown a lot for most of my life and worked near airplanes for more than a year, I’ve always been fascinated by the stories of stow-away passengers who were desperate enough to take the enormous risk of hiding inside of a plane landing gear in the hope to get to the destination of their dreams without having to pay a fare or buy the services of some human trafficker. 

An article that appeared in the April 15 issue of The Guardian, by Sirin Kale, goes at length to explain the terrible consequences associated with that kind of attempt. I just want to recap some of the points in that extensive piece that touched me the most. First, this kind of stowaway practice since to have originated in Cuba, with nine cases since 1947. 

Again, its origin is linked to despair, persecution or abject poverty. The act of stowing away inside the wheel-well of an airliner is asking for big trouble. According to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), from 1947 to February 2020, there have been 128 such incidents, all but one involving men, in which more than 75% of them died. 

Fatalities may take different forms; the stowaway may fall out of the plane as it takes off, by not holding on securely to the open cavity, plus there are some awful wind and turbulence, not to mention a deafening noise to withstand. 

If the individual survives the take-off, it may then be crushed by the retracting and folding landing gear inside the wheel well. 

Then, if all goes well, there are more serious issues. After about 25 minutes following takeoff, most airplanes reach a cruising altitude of 35,000ft feet where the outside temperature drops around -65F (-54C) that maybe brought up to -30F once the traps close and the surrounding hydraulic lines a feeble heat, but still cold cold enough to induce a deadly hypothermia. 

Then there’s the thin air with a high altitude atmospheric pressure about one quarter of what’s found at sea level, which drastically reduces the amount of oxygen needed to breathe, leading to hypoxia and brain death. There also a chance for decompression sickness, with gas bubbles forming in the body, causing a host of problems that could also lead to death. 

But that’s not all, if our stowaways survive the major portion of the trip, journey, they will be unconscious as the plane begins its descent. So when the traps open up and plane’s landing gear is dropped on its final approach, some five miles from the runway, the stowaway will probably fall from the wheel well to the ground thousands of feet below. 

In the Guardian article, Stephen Veronneau, the world’s leading expert on wheel-well stowaways is quoted to have said: “The person’s core body temperature can fall to 80.6F or even lower, vs. 97-99F normally. Upon landing, a gradual rewarming occurs, along with re-oxygenation. If the individual is so fortunate as to avoid brain damage or death from the hypoxia and hypothermia, cardiac arrest or failure on rewarming, or severe complications from neurovascular decompression, some progressive recovery of consciousness occurs.” 

This hibernation theory is pretty stunning, but when a person is almost frozen, oxygen and energy needs diminish, making them less susceptible to hypoxia-induced brain damage. When the person is gradually rewarmed, they reawaken, as if from a dream. 

This seem to be the only good news associated with that free form of travel. As for me, I plan to buy a ticket next time I’m back in the air !