Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash

The good news is that several ski/snowboard resorts in Utah have increased parking spaces, paved lots, preferred close-in parking for vehicles with three or more passengers, and added shuttles from outlying lots to the base area. The bad news is that parking is likely to cost you more this season.

Here are the new parking policies and prices in Utah.  But first, the advantages of taking the UTA Ski Bus:

The UTA Ski Bus picks up at several locations in Salt Lake City and throughout the Salt Lake Valley and beyond, including at special park and ride lots. Many resort season passes and the Ikon Pass offer FREE fares for their passholders.

The UTA Ski Bus takes riders directly to the following resorts:

So here are the new parking rules, by area:

Alta Ski Area – For the 2022–23 season, Alta requires a $25 parking reservation for Friday-Sunday and during holiday periods. For those who purchase an Alta day pass, parking is only $10. No reservations are required any day after 1 p.m.

Find information about reserving your early morning parking spot here. Your Alta season pass and/or Ikon Pass comes with a free UTA ski bus pass, and carpoolers (3+ passengers) get preferred parking.  Alta is releasing parking spaces every Sunday afternoon during the winter season.

Snowbird – There’s a a variety of parking options, from their Preferred Parking Pass and valet to $25 parking reservations and free first-come parking. Snowbird is making carpooling a priority for vehicles with 4+ passengers by providing expanded carpool-only parking areas at all the entry points. There are free UTA bus passes for all-season passholders and employees.

Brighton – Since free parking is known to fill up quickly, you can guarantee a spot by reserving one of their 120 VIP parking spaces between Great Western and Explorer for $30.

Solitude Mountain Resort – There is a fee now for all lots. Cost depends entirely on the number of people in your vehicle and whether it’s weekday or weekend or holiday.  Fees range from $5 to $35, but parking after 2p.m. is free. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect to pay for parking this season.

Vehicles with 4+ occupants: Free parking opening day through December 11. $5 Friday through Sunday after December 11 and holidays/peak periods.

Vehicles with 3 occupants: Free parking opening day through December 11. $5 parking Monday through Thursday. $15 parking Friday through Sunday and holidays/peak periods.

Vehicles with 2 occupants: $5 parking opening day through December 11. $10 parking Monday through Thursday. $20 parking Friday through Sunday and holidays/peak periods.

Vehicles with 1 occupant: $10 parking opening day through December 11. $20 parking Monday through Thursday. $35 Friday through Sunday and holidays/peak periods.

Sundance Mountain Resort – In keeping with their long history of conservation efforts, Sundance has introduced winter paid parking for select lots for cars with 1-3 occupants on weekends and holidays. Cars with 4 or more occupants receive complimentary parking.

Lot B (Premium) – Weekdays 7am – 2pm: $25/day or $5/hour • Weekends & holidays 7am – 2pm: $45 all day

Lot A & C – Weekdays 7am – 2pm: Complimentary • Weekends & holidays

7am – 2pm: $22/1-3 occupants, complimentary/4+ occupants

Lots D&E – Weekdays 7am – 2pm: Complimentary • Weekends & holidays 7am – 2pm: $5/1-3 occupants, complimentary/4+ occupants.

Park City Area Parking Information

The UTA PC-SLC Connect is a great public transit option between Salt Lake City and Park City. Once you’re there, the town of Park City buses are all free. Park City Transit routes can be found here.

The Mountain Village base area moves to a parking reservation system with a combination of paid parking – up to $40 a day – with free parking, and incentives for carpooling and public transit.  Paid reservations are now required at the Main, First Time and Silver King surface lots and in the Mountain Village Garage. Here are the details:

Reservations will be required seven days a week until 1:00 pm, and are available online. After 1:00 pm, all parking is free and no reservations are required.

The fee for paid reservations will be $25 per vehicle per day in the surface lots, December 12 through April 2.

Early and late season parking reservations are free in Main, First Time and Silver King surface lots, but reservations are be required.

Reservations for surface parking are free for vehicles with four or more occupants, but reservations are still required.

The fee for paid reservations is $40 per vehicle per day in the Mountain Village Garage for the entire season.

Free parking will remain available at the Canyons Village base area, Park City High School (on weekends and holidays) and High Valley Transit Park-n-Ride locations.

In partnership with the City, Park City Mountain is establishing a new traffic circulation plan in the Mountain Village base area that will prioritize bus and transit access seven days a week.

Park City Mountain also is implementing text message alerts to provide updates to text subscribers in real time.

Make your 22/23 season parking reservations here

Richardson Flat – The park and ride has more than 700 parking spots and will have bus service every 20 minutes from 6am to 11pm. This route also services the Park City Heights neighborhood.

  • Learn more about this route here.

Woodward Park City – Parking is free, but the lot can fill up quickly. If you’re in the town of Park City, take the free PC Transit Bus

Deer Valley Resort – There is free parking at five base area parking lots below Snow Park Lodge, along with a complimentary shuttle to the lodge. There is also limited complimentary parking at the Jordanelle Express Gondola.

Limited paid parking is available mid-mountain at the Silver Lake Lodge. There is no day skier parking at Empire Canyon Lodge.

All day lodge locations are serviced by Park City’s complimentary transit system, which runs frequently throughout the greater Park City area and within the Deer Valley Resort area.

Vehicles containing three or more people are allowed to park in Lot 2 during busy holiday periods and on weekends throughout the season.

Snowbasin Resort – There is free parking in five locations: Earl’s Lot, Maples Lot, Canyon Rim Lot, Wildcat Lot and Green Pond Lot. Snowbasin has expanded the total number of parking spots, and those who carpool with three or more in their vehicles have the option to park in the carpool lot closest to Earl’s Lodge.

  • The UTA Ski Bus also runs routes to Snowbasin from Ogden.
  • Find more information here.

Powder Mountain – Free parking can be found at the Timberline, Hidden Lake and Sundown base areas. The UTA Ski Bus also provides routes to Powder Mountain. More information can be found here.

There are complimentary shuttles between the Powder Country area, Sundown Lodge and Timberline Lodge.

These Utah resorts provide complimentary parking, but do not have UTA Bus Service:

Brian Head Ski Resort
Beaver Mountain
Cherry Peak
Eagle Point
Nordic Valley

This list was assembled from a combination of press release information from Ski Utah and from individual resorts.  Of course, make every effort to be factual and accurate, but sometimes things change after an article has been published. If you find that one of the prices or conditions is different than what you read here, please let us know so we can fix it.

See you on the chairlift. Or gondola. Or Magic Carpet.

6 Comments

  1. Harold Goldberg says:

    Evelyn
    Great article on the parking problem at the Utah resorts. Our neice Holly Lafontaine sold her house in Vermont and moved to Kamas Utah in the last 2 weeks.
    Holly is here with us untill Tuesday. For an update on the senior parking issues give us a call (new home number)518 755 0478.
    Harold & Dani

    • barb marshall says:

      I just read this comment below the parking in Utah areas which I found very helpful. I am from Vermont and Holly and I used to work and ski together. So happy she has moved to Utah for the good weather and great snow!!!!

  2. I can’t wait to see the Western US ski areas start charging a clearing the snow fuel surcharge on top of their concocted parking fee in order to park in their parking lot. Disney doesn’t have snow removal, so this will come from some resort ownership boardroom decision, other than trying to copy-cat Disney. What else can they do to we gullible resort crowd? Coin op the restrooms? Right up there with paying another 50% over and above the lift ticket price to use a “lightning” express lane to avoid where the common folks wait their turn. What a menagerie our ski corps are making of our sport.

  3. Wouldn’t it be wonderful If passes had just remained at their old cost rather than dumping the pass price and then working it back up piecemeal by little bites on parking and the like? Zillions of passes were sold cheaply And now the product is watered down. The traffic jams in the town where I live rival major cities on Saturdays.

  4. Paul LaShoto says:

    When we go back to Utah, we’ll be staying in Ogden, skiing Powder and Snowbasin.

  5. It was reported in the Salt Lake Tribune that UTA buses will no longer stop at Alta’s Goldminer’s Daughter Lodge (Collins Base) due to safety concerns. Parking policies at both Alta and Solitude have made it difficult to access certain popular backcountry trailheads on US Forest Service lands from state highways 210 and 190.

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