Northstar, Heavenly, and Kirkwood skiers should prepare themselves for new parking systems, with a mix of free and paid options headed to each of the three Tahoe-area ski resorts. The new parking plans, intended to address current traffic and parking difficulties, are slated to go into effect next season.
“Ultimately, it is our goal to improve the experience for our guests, employees, and communities – it’s why we are taking action ahead of next season. We are committed to providing our guests with plenty of options – free parking, preferred paid, reservations-based parking, and carpool incentives to reduce congestion and support the environment. We anticipate a real improvement to traffic and parking availability, and we are grateful for the support and collaboration from our community partners in both North and South Lake Tahoe.” VP & COO of Heavenly and the Tahoe Region Tom Fortune
At Northstar, parking at Village View will require a reservation on weekends, holidays and peak periods between 7am and 1pm. Reservations will be a flat fee of $20 for any vehicle with less than four occupants. Reservations for vehicles with four or more occupants will be free (a reservation, booked through the Northstar website, will still be required, regardless of the number of occupants). The Lower Village Preferred Paid lot will continue to function the same as it currently does, and Castle Peak lot will remain free.
Parking at Heavenly will be fairly similar to parking at Northstar, with the California Base Area lot requiring $20 reservations until noon on weekends, holidays and peak periods. Vehicles with four or more occupants, once again, will be free, but will still require a reservation. Every other lot that’s currently free at the resort will remain free next season.
Kirkwood appears to be going without the reservation process, but will require skiers and snowboarders to pay $35 to park in the Chari 9 and Volcano lots on weekends and holidays/peak periods (in addition to current paid lots). Once again, vehicles with more than four occupants will be able to park in those lots for free, and more than 80% of the resort’s parking area will remain free (100% free on non-holiday/peak period weekdays).
I know my opinion probably won’t mean all that much, but I fully support this move. While, yes, paying for parking is never fun, it definitely encourages people to carpool like crazy, and I’m always a fan of that. Also, if you can’t find four people and you really feel the need to park in those lots, you could swing $20, especially if your with a friend or two (and $35 certainly isn’t a terrifying number). Is it a lot for a day of paid parking? Maybe. Is it a lot for a day of paid parking at a ski resort? I definitely don’t think so.
Plus, less cars means less carbon emission, so that’s pretty cool.
Featured Image Credit: Heavenly Mountain via Facebook