There are two conversations herein, Goose's OP about his dislike of common raw dirt and gravel parking lots that he would like to have paved and my related issue of wear on ski boots walking to lifts atop abrasive surfaces. Goose has not found any sympathetic members about the lots and some have noted resorts on national forest lands of which there are many in the West, cannot easily do so due to environmental issues.
Wearing down our expensive ski boots plastic soles probably should have been on a separate thread. I do think providing a less abrasive surface for customer's to walk to lifts is is a valid feature ski resorts ought to consider when designing parking lots. It is discussion about such subjects on snow sports boards like this that can alert resorts to issues they might not have considered important enough in the past but upon reading our reasoned ideas may act.
Despite my input above not liking carrying Cat Tracks in my pockets because they are bulky, nor leaving them at the base of lifts because they would need to be secured lest they disappear, I thought of something that could solve those issues at least for this person. Thus spent $20 buying a pair yesterday morning before getting on the Heavenly gondola. What I did was after removing them from my boots up on the mountain, put them into one of those common thin white plastic retail bags (blends in with snow) and easily buried it under snow next to pine branches at a spot not in view of others I would be passing by at the end of the day. Went well. Beyond my own awkward solution, it is something resorts could improve on.
Also note, the issue is beyond resort parking lots. At some resort lift bases are town lodging and commercial areas especially restaurants, streets etc that have the same problem when people wearing ski boots are walking around.
