Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah — How valuable is a parking spot in Little Cottonwood Canyon during ski season? According to Snowbird, it’s worth $1299.
Last week, Snowbird announced its batch of season pass products for the 2025-26 season. This included the Snowbird Preferred Parking Pass, which costs $1299. This price point is noteworthy because it costs nearly as much as the Summit Pass (the core Snowbird season pass product), which is $1439 for an adult. These parking passes offer access to the Gad Valley, Pond, and Bypass Road Preferred Parking Lots. These are sold on a limited basis, so they do sell out.
Proceeds for the pass go towards programs that incentivize carpooling at Snowbird and the UTA Ski Bus.
This isn’t the first season Snowbird has offered this pass, as they’ve sold these for a while now. Last season, the parking pass went for $1100. Back during the 2022-23 season, it was offered for $799, so it’s gone up. This can partially be attributed to inflation, and partially because demand is still very high due to the congestion in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Snowbird is the only ski resort in the Cottonwoods that doesn’t require parking reservations on weekends and holidays. In addition, it’s the only ski resort in the Cottonwoods that still offers free parking. This non-reservation system has drawn the ire of Alta Ski Area, which wants Snowbird to fully go to parking reservations on weekends and holidays.
Snowbird also tries to reward carpoolers by offering discounts or freebies, such as a free burrito from General Gritts if you carpool ten times, 50% off an item from Wings (retail shop) for 20 carpools, and 50% off a lift ticket for 25 carpools. There’s probably some room for improvement on the perks side.
Paid parking now exists at various Utah ski resorts: Alta, Brighton, Park City Mountain Resort (mix of paid reservations and free parking), Powder Mountain, Solitude, and Sundance. Out of these, Alta and Brighton offer free parking reservations on peak dates for passholders. Not every ski resort offers parking season passes, but Solitude does. Its parking season pass is much cheaper than Snowbirds, with a price point of $499 for the 2024-25 season. Solitude has yet to announce whether this pricing will go up for the 2025-26 season.
I think it’s a good idea to sell a limited amount of season passes for parking. However, I don’t think I see myself paying $1299 for it.
Image/Video Credits: Snowbird
