Eldora Mountain is the most convenient option for skiers near Boulder, CO to enjoy lift-serviced terrain. The mountain is just a 30 minute-drive from the popular college town/outdoors hub.
Like many ski areas across the country, Eldora has been met with the excruciating challenge of handling parking on holidays, weekends, and powder days.
The recent uptick in skiing and snowboarding interest can bring crippling crowds to a relatively-small ski area like Eldora that they simply can’t handle.
Eldora has turned to paid parking for single-occupancy vehicles (SOV) on all weekends and holidays as a solution.
^Eldora parking. Credit: Colorado Ski Authority
All guests that arrive in a vehicle by themselves on those days will be charged $10 to park. The goal is to encourage carpooling to free up spaces in Eldora’s limited parking lot.
Charging for parking on weekends and holidays is nothing new. Ski resorts have been using this tactic for years.
What’s new, however, is that Eldora is charging the same fee for SOVs on any day when 10 or more inches of snow is forecasted to fall on the mountain.
Here are the details from Eldora:
“As required by Boulder County in alignment with its sustainable transportation priorities, SOVs will be charged $10 to park at Eldora on weekends and holidays, as well as on non-holiday weekdays with ten or more inches of snow in the forecast.
Parking will be free for SOVs on any non-holiday weekday with less than ten inches of snow forecasted, and parking will be free every day for vehicles with two or more occupants.
Vehicles carrying three or more passengers are considered high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs) and will not be charged parking fees at any time, and may take advantage of premium, up-front HOV parking near the alpenglow chairlift on a first-come, first-served basis.”
We’ve all called-in sick on a day when it’s supposed to dump, right? Now imagine when thousands of other like-minded individuals at a major city like Denver all get the same idea.
I absolutely hate paying for parking at a ski area, but I can appreciate when one is trying to encourage carpooling. It’s better for the environment, it’s better for everybody’s wallets, and it’s better for the ski area itself.
How do you feel about Eldora charging for parking for SOVs on powder days? Is it a good business decision? Do you think it will make a difference in the parking lot crowds?