Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
“Bro! What is this Vail?” a driver protests when stopped to pay a $10 entrance fee for the Single Occupancy Vehicle lot at Eldora Mountain, Colorado.
The parking lot attendant explains the importance of carpooling and sustainability for what is surely not the first or last time that early-season day. Eventually the driver hands over his credit card before pulling his rusting Toyota truck into one of the spots in the resort’s farthest northern lot.
In effect since the 2021-’22 season, Eldora’s SOV lot is one resort’s answer to parking issues that continue to plague the ski industry across the country—most dramatically in Colorado, where free parking has traditionally been the norm.
Eldora’s SOV fee, charged on weekends, holiday periods, and weekdays with 10 or more inches of new snow, was a contingency for Boulder County approval of 805 new parking spaces at the small, locals’ resort. On the other side of the lot, vehicles with three or more occupants are considered HOVs and are ushered into premium up-front parking on a first-come, first-served basis.
“This is a behavior modification tactic on the part of the County to encourage carpooling,” explains Sam Bass, Eldora’s director of marketing. “They expect people to be dismayed at having to pay and park far away.”
That dismay was audible in the SOV lot on a December day earlier this season, with some singles calling it the “Lot of Shame” and complaining about being penalized for not having friends. Others were more understanding.
“I mean, I get it, they’re trying to make room for the most people possible,” says Tyler Mason, whose job as a software engineer doesn’t allow for weekdays off to ski. “It’s just tough to pay for something you’re used to getting for free.”
Before the new parking spots (including those in the SOV lot) were added, there were often no parking spots available on a busy mid-season weekend at any price. Bass estimates that five or six days a season they would have to turn skiers and boarders around to go hang out in the small mountain town of Nederland and wait for a spot to open up.
“It was such a drag to get up here in the morning and be turned around,” says Bill Schmidt, another Eldora regular. “I mean Ned is a cool town, but I come up here to ski.”
Bass reports that the new system is working well.
“You can tell by the numbers that people are changing their habits,” Bass says. “This season we only had two days when people had to wait for a spot to open up—and they didn’t have to wait for long.”
To alleviate pressure on its free parking lots, Eldora gives away thousands of free bus tickets each season for seats on an RTD route that delivers weekend skiers and riders to the base of the resort. Bass has watched with interest as other resorts take on the parking pinch.
“They might not have an SOV lot, but there are a number of programs out there where you are penalized financially for showing up by yourself,” Bass says. “There’s just too much demand for too little parking—we’ve got to get creative.”
The 2024-’25 season saw the beginning of a new reservation system at another Colorado ski area known for its independent spirit and local cache. Arapahoe Basin requiring parking reservations marked the end of free weekend parking at the resort. Skiers pay $20 for a reservation on weekends and holidays. Carpools of four or more don’t have to pay the fee, but are still required to make a reservation. (Fans of the party vibe in the front row known as “The Beach” fear not, there have been no changes to the system that reserves those prime spots online.)
Before the reservation system was put in place, Arapahoe Basin’s four main parking lots ran out of spots many weekends and holiday mornings. Skiers were forced to turn around and head back down to make another plan for their ski day, or scrap it altogether.
“Our main goal is to preserve the true skier and rider experience we’re known for,” says Arapahoe Basin’s marketing communications manager Shayna Silverman. “Jammed parking lots, crowded slopes and a dangerous situation on the highway do not make for a good day.”
With not a single day in the ’24-’25 season where skiers and riders had to be turned away, Silverman reports that the reservation system has “absolutely been working.” The ski area also saw the rider-per-vehicle average increase to 3 this winter, up from 1.8 per vehicle during the 2023-24 season.
“It’s understandable that not everyone is stoked for the new system,” Silverman says of the reaction to the new pay-to-park weekend reservations. “But we’re also hearing from people who think it’s worth $20 to get in a few extra hot laps.”
It’s not all bad news, though. There are still resorts with free parking, and when we find it, we skiers sure do like to shout it from the roof, er, mountaintops. But it goes both ways. The comments in our 2025 Reader Resort Survey are also filled with mentions of crowded, expensive lots.
The following list collects the best and worst survey comments about resort parking last season, along with tips to navigate the toughest scenes. If you know before you go, it tends to sting less.
Top Resorts With Free and (Relatively) Easy Parking
1. Smugglers’ Notch, Vt.
From the 2025 Reader Resort Survey: “I would recommend Smugglers’ Notch to anyone looking for a great value, uncrowded slopes, and easy, free parking.”
Parking is free at all of Smuggs’ parking lots. Get an early start for a spot in Lot #1, which provides the closest access to Sterling Mountain. Lot #1 is also tailgate central and can be quite the fun scene on non-bitter afternoons. Lots #2, 3, and 4 are close to Madonna Mountain. For ski school, use the parking lots at the base of Morse Mountain.
2. Snowbasin, Utah
From the 2025 Reader Resort Survey:“I love how easy it is to get there, parking is fast and it’s quick to lifts. My whole family is happy there.”
There’s plentiful free parking in Snowbasin’s Earl’s and Maples lots, although Earl’s A through E lots are reserved for carpools of three-plus skiers on weekends on holidays until 11 a.m. After that, they open to everyone. In the event that the main lots fill up, there’s expanded parking availability in the Canyon lots, plus a skier shuttle to the base from all of the parking lots.
3. Bretton Woods, N.H.
From the 2025 Reader Resort Survey: “Great sense of community with both other skiers and mountain staff. Great grooming and snowmaking. Nice variety of terrain, especially in the glades. Best feature of this mountain are its glades. Midweek skiing means less crowded lift lines and slopes. Easy parking and access into and out of resort.”
There’s free parking behind the Slopeside Restaurant & Pub for day skiers, and of course lodging guests can park at their accommodations and ride the free resort shuttles to the slopes—if they’re not ski-in/ski-out, which much of Bretton’s lodging happens to be.
4. Lake Louise, Alb.
From the 2025 Reader Resort Survey: “Lake Louise is pretty amazing, from the vast terrain, the amazing tree skiing, and just the whole scale of the place. I also really appreciate the EV parking and charging spots.”
There’s free all-day parking in the large lots behind the ski area’s main lodge, plus as mentioned by a SKI reader, EV charging is available as well. But if you’re staying in Banff, the resort runs daily free shuttles on cushy coach0-style buses that drop you and your gear off right at the lodge. It doesn’t get much easier—or earth-friendly—than that.
5. Wachusett Mountain, Mass.
From the 2025 Reader Resort Survey: “Wachusett Mountain offers one of the most family-friendly atmospheres out there. The mountain is extremely accessible with plenty of parking. The staff is all very friendly and helpful.”
There’s free parking in the ski area’s huge main lot, which is pretty easily walkable to the lodge. If you’re coming with lots of gear and small, you can opt to pay for a spot up close in the VIP lot, which costs $29/day.
6. Copper Mountain, Colo.
From the 2025 Reader Resort Survey: “Copper is great fun. I skied there eight days in the last two years. Terrain variety is great. The lifts are good. FREE Parking and FREE shuttle bus system is fantastic. Good for all abilities, wonderful fun.”
At Copper Mountain, more room to expand parking lots has allowed the resort to keep its position as a reader favorite for free parking. Last season, the Far East Lot was expanded to accommodate nearly 900 additional spaces. This not only increased capacity but improved parking efficiency, allowing more guests to get into the lot and onto the slopes faster. This season, the resort began alternating incoming traffic between its two free, bus-served lots.
“Parking the Far East lot during peak traffic times and before Alpine lot is full allows for a smoother flow of vehicles off the highway and into our lot,” explains Copper’s Olivia Butrymovich.
Resorts with the Worst Parking Rants
1. Park City Resort, Utah
From the 2025 Reader Resort Survey: “Parking is only getting worse at this resort. They need to solve this problem before they do anything else. Perhaps build a few parking structures similar to Vail.”
Parking has long been among the top complaints at Park City, and the resort is working to address it. Construction just began on a parking structure at the Canyons base last month, which will greatly increase capacity when it open for the 2025-’26 season.
The resort moved to a reservation system a couple seasons ago, requiring parking reservations in the Mountain Village base as well as four other lots. Reservations are required every day of the season between Dec. 5 and April 1 and cost $28 per car.
There is still free parking at Park City High School (weekends and holidays), and at the Ecker Hill and Richardson Flat Park-n-Ride locations. Also, carpools of four or more people can park free in any of the lots.
2. Stowe Mountain Resort, Vt.
From the 2025 Reader Resort Survey: “The parking situation remains a bit of a mess. The gondola connecting the two base areas is helpful and I went mid-week, which I’m told is key. Having to take the bus up from one of the free lots looks really unpleasant.”
Stowe took a multi-pronged approach to solving its parking woes a couple seasons ago, and continues to tweak things. Visit ParkStowe for the nitty-gritty, but the basics are that parking is free in the main Mansfield lots on non-holiday weekdays (Mon-Thu), and will cost $30 a day on weekends (Fri-Sun) and holidays. You can bypass the fee by carpooling with four or more of your buddies or parking at the Cross Country Center or the Toll House lots.
3. Palisades Tahoe, Calif.
From the 2025 Reader Resort Survey: “The parking reservations system is a nightmare. You have to stop skiing mid-day on a Tuesday to try to get Wifi at the lodge to log in to reserve parking for the weekend. Then, if you are not able to ski one of those days, you have to cancel before 9 a.m. (one minute late and they will not accept your cancellation) or pay a $200+ fine. It’s insane.”
All parking is free midweek at Palisades Tahoe, and no reservations are required (with the exception of a a couple holidays). All weekend days require advance reservations for free parking, which open to the public on Tuesdays at noon. You can see all of the dates requiring reservations here.
If you don’t want to monkey around and want to be guaranteed a spot, you can fork over $30 for one of the prepaid spots at the Alpine or Palisades base.
4. Loon Mountain, N.H.
From the 2025 Reader Resort Survey: “Parking!!! The lot fills up too quick‚ and rumor has it they’re going to start charging for it next year. I purposely haven’t bought a pass to Loon yet because I’m concerned about this and waiting to see what they do. If they go this route, Cannon, which is a short drive up Route 93, will gain another regular next season.”
Despite there being nine free lots, readers still lament the parking difficulties at Loon—no doubt the price of being one of the closest major resorts to the Boston area. While four of the lots are walkable to the base, the five outer lots (South Peak and Escape Routes A-D) all offer skier shuttles. On the bright side, there are 13 EV-designated spots for charging your vehicle.
5./6. Alta and Snowbird, Utah
From the 2025 Reader Resort Survey: “Very busy resort, particularly so on weekends/holidays, which creates challenging parking and canyon access (especially as it shares a small access road with Alta). Parking reservations/paid parking at peak times would likely assist in providing some relief to a deeper highway issue that extends beyond the scope of Snowbird’s responsibility.”
The neighbor resorts that adopted similar parking policies a couples seasons ago and got similar flack for it. There’s still some free parking at both ski areas, but if you want to be guaranteed a place to stash your car on a powder day, you’ll have to make weekend and holiday parking reservations at Alta and daily parking reservations at Snowbird. Reservations range from $20 to $50 a day.
While Alta’s policy is fairly straightforward, Snowbird is applying a hybrid approach consisting of some free parking, prepaid self parking, prepaid valet parking, day-of reserved parking, carpool benefits … and a partridge in a pear tree. There’s also a Preferred Parking Pass at Snowbird which, for a steep $1,299, gives pass holders access to three lots with no reservations required. It goes on sale on April 15, and will likely see out fast. Get the full scoop on Snowbird’s parking situation here.