Solitude’s "dear" parking

On Tuesday, Solitude Mountain Resort announced that it will charge for parking this upcoming season.

Cars with one or two passengers will be pay $20 to park for the day. Three passengers will be charged $10 and four or more will “only” chuck $5. As an option, a $150 parking pass will be available to Solitude’s frequent skiers. To compensate for this, Ikon pass holders will be able to park at the mouth of the Canyon and ride the Salt Lake bus system for free. This is what I’ll do.

The idea is to cut car traffic in the Canyon and encourage skiers to carpool or ride the bus and it’s a great one. Jackson Hole has a much better program though, in which they charge $20 per car up to two passengers and then offer free parking for cars with at least three passengers.

Car traffic is a huge problem and solutions are needed like better mass transit, car pooling, or “resurrecting” the idea of an interconnect that would provide a car-free connection for Park City folks wishing to ski Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons or vice-versa.

Yet, what seems a bit unfair, is that this new policy was announced after the passes were sold in the spring, making the whole Ikon pass far less attractive for folks living in the Salt Lake Valley and even Parkites like me who purchased the pass.

Solitude claims it will give “some of the proceeds” to Breathe Utah, a non-profit dedicated to improve Salt Lake’s air quality. This means seems a little disingenuous on the part of Solitude management, they should give the whole proceeds, less parking management expenses, this would really look much better.