The parking conundrum at resorts

[PinnacleJim]

While Guy in Shorts "loves" his $350 Killington parking pass, 99% of the parking at Killington is free. And that pass is only needed for that tiny lot on weekends and holidays. Even when it's free to park there, I don't. Not my favorite location.

 

[Tom K.]

Love that my parking pass only costs $350

Yikes! My cheapo, midweek SKI pass only costs $400.

And negative consequences (cost) affects people more than positive ones (rewards).

The old "beatings will continue until morale improves" approach, eh?!

It's still MOSTLY free here, but the walk is getting longer. They've converted a free lot to a carpool lot and they also assigned another double-sided row to the rich folks buying a Patron Pass.

Thanks to my young adult nieces, who have skied your mountain since they were 4, I know of at least one parking trick at WMR. You probably do too. If not, PM me. It's really cool to drive up there in an early morning stream of traffic, then turn off in another direction from 95% of the traffic. I feel like a bitter, jaded local!

I think Bachelor's one of the few ski areas in Oregon that doesn't already charge for parking. At least the Mt. Hood and Eastern Oregon areas all require a Sno-Park permit.

Bachelor plows their own parking lot. Sno Park Permits help fund State plowing of Sno Parks and most ski area parking lots, at least at Mt. Hood Meadows.

 

[Sibhusky]

Thanks to my young adult nieces, who have skied your mountain since they were 4, I know of at least one parking trick at WMR. You probably do too. If not, PM me. It's really cool to drive up there in an early morning stream of traffic, then turn off in another direction from 95% of the traffic. I feel like a bitter, jaded local!

I have a locker so my options for a couple secret places are limited. I park in the big lot by the lodge, flat each direction. I know of a couple/three good places, but none are convenient to where the locker is. And I love my locker.

 

[raisingarizona]

Do any of the big resorts have parking garages up in the front? That would make sense to me and charging for that would be ok imho. Hopefully they leave some lots far off for the rest of us though. I like a good walk before and after my ski day anyways.

Honestly I’ve never had to pay for parking and I’ll likely never go somewhere where I would have to. Gotta draw a line somewhere.

 

[Pequenita]

The reason it's obvious that the parking at Squaw is about revenue is because you can park in the carpool lot on holidays without the requisite number of people by paying $30/day, so it's not forcing the environmentally friendly behavior, preferred parking in the garage is $900 for the season, and seasonal lockers start at $1100.

 

[dbostedo]

Do any of the big resorts have parking garages up in the front?

I know of two. Vail has multiple garages that are $25/day. And Stratton has a pretty small one - it's free, but parts of it are for passholders only on weekends I think.

 

[Brian Finch]

Love my Stratton Parking Pass.

 

[OldJeep]

Vail is the new evil empire. I don't go to one of the local ski areas anymore due to the changes they made to what was a great family run area.

 

[DanoT]

I think the paid parking is more about turning prime location parking lots into on hill prime retail and accommodation spaces and then using the remaining paid parking area to finance free shuttles from the remote free parking lots.

 

[Bad Bob]

The solution is so simple.

Ski someplace where there aren't so many people and cars.

 

[Tom K.]

Do any of the big resorts have parking garages up in the front?

Deer Valley comes to mind. At least very close to "up in front".

 

[SilverGaper]

Vail looks for anyway to squeeze a dollar out of real estate. Has nothing to do with carbon footprint, but if that makes you feel better, their job is well done.

This^^^^^^

 

[Wasatchman]

I can see how Vail/Alterra could significantly ramp up paid parking. This would be a more disguised way of jacking up pass prices. And at this point, what are we going to do about it? Those two entities account for 85 percent of USA lift ticket revenue.

And as others have stated, unfortunately, they would be following a well travelled path of other entertainment venues (amusement parks, stadiums, concerts ,etc.)

The suggestion of skiing places that have fewer people and cars works for people who travel to ski, but doesn't work for people who ski near a home mountain they live by. Vail/Alterra has me over a barrel. It's still going to be cheaper for me to ski locally as they make me pay for parking rather than travel elsewhere that is less crowded in bad Bob's neck of the woods.

Plus, the cost of travel to ski is high enough that I would think paid parking won't make or break the decision for a lot of people on where to go. With Solitude starting paid parking this year, I expect more Utah resorts to start to follow. Vail actually recently sold the parking areas at PCMR to a developer, so it would seem paid parking there is only a matter of time.

 

[dusty]

Flatstar is walkfar no more...

 

[blackke17]

how about somehow limiting the number of cars in the canyon instead of picking on folks with less than 3 in the car?

I left Solitude about noon yesterday and the amount of cars running up Big Cottonwood was staggering.
Solitude's lots were already jammed and cars were parked down the canyon road.

one out , one in. just like a bar at Capacity . they dont just keep allowing late arrivals to keep running through the doors.

if you cant get out of bed early enough don't go skiing . or wait at the bottom for people to leave.

 

[dbostedo]

Vail/Alterra has me over a barrel.

PowMow pass next year?

 

[FlyingAce]

My home mountain just started blocking off the closest parking lot for paid/hov/children ski school only. Not sure if it is just a busy weekend/holiday thing or they will stay forever. But 99% of the cars are from TX. Most locals don’t get to park in those reserved spots.
I spent $1500 on ski lockers this year so I don’t have to worry about where I park. But I have a feeling that cost will go up very soon.

 

[James]

Lcc, Bcc-
Ban cars with less than four people, or better yet, ban them altogether.
Ridiculous. You drive up a dead end road.

Remember Janis Joplin singing -
“Freedom’s just another word to justify any crap you want...”

 

[dbostedo]

Lcc, Bcc-
Ban cars with less than four people, or better yet, ban them altogether.
Ridiculous. You drive up a dead end road.

Remember Janis Joplin singing -
“Freedom’s just another word to justify any crap you want...”

You'd probably need to have an allowance for people driving up to stay for the week, or people that own places up there. Otherwise, I agree... seems like with good bus service and parking at the mouth (better than they have now) it could be done well.

 

[crgildart]

I frequently wonder how many people try telling the attendants they are dropping off/picking up someone or gear or whatever to get past the workers pushing people to the satellite lots on busy days and just grabbing a spot as someone else is leaving or really was just dropping off people??