A-Basin answers questions about how new parking reservation system will work this season
Arapahoe Basin Ski Area will be piloting a new parking reservation program this year that will require visitors to reserve parking on most weekends and holidays
While Arapahoe Basin Ski Area has yet to announce its opening day, skiers and snowboarders can begin preparing for the upcoming season starting Nov. 1 when the ski area rolls out its new parking reservation system.
For visitors, the parking reservations, which will be required on holidays and weekends from Dec. 21 to May 4, will be one of the biggest changes at A-Basin this year amid the ski area’s pending sale to Alterra Mountain Co.
A-Basin Chief Operating Officer Alan Henceroth explained that the ski area decided to move to a parking reservation system in effort to make parking, which has always been a pinch point for the ski area, a smoother experience for visitors.
“We are really focused on preserving the quality of the ski experience,” Henceroth said. “Our biggest challenge doing that can be parking, and at times more people show up than we have places to park. When you get caught up in that experience as a guest, it can be pretty unpleasant.”
Over the past several seasons, A-Basin’s four main parking lots — the Early Riser Lot, the High Noon Lot, the Last Chance Lot and the Upper Last Chance Lot — have reached capacity on most weekend and holiday mornings.
When the parking lots reached capacity, the ski area would post to social media, warning visitors to hold off on driving to the mountain due to the lack of parking and not to park illegally on U.S. Highway 6 and risk getting towed.
Henceroth said that the new parking reservation program aims to make it so that when people drive to A-Basin, they know there is a parking spot available for them so they can hit the slopes without worrying about parking.
After 1 p.m. on weekends and holidays, parking will be free, and no reservation will be required. It will also remain free to park without reservations on weekdays.
“The goal here is to get everyone skiing that wants to go skiing,” Henceroth said. “The parking reservations system is just a tool to help vehicle access to the place.”
To get started with the parking reservation process, those planning to visit A-Basin this winter should visit ParkABasin.com to create an account, Henceroth said. Each account may hold two reservations at a time, with only one reservation allowed per day on a single account.
The first round of parking reservations will go live Friday, Nov. 1, at 10 a.m., at which time account holders can reserve parking for weekend and holiday dates throughout the season. After the first wave, more reservations will be released starting Dec. 16 on every Monday at 2 p.m. for the following weekend.
While an account can only have two reservations at one time, Henceroth explained that once a reservation has been used, it resets, and that account holder can make another reservation for a future date.
A general parking reservation will cost $20 per car in all of A-Basin’s main lots, unless a driver carpools with four or more people, in which case, that vehicle can select the “carpool” option when making a reservation and park for free.
A-Basin also offered a limited number of season parking passes that cost $150 each. People who purchased a season parking pass will still need to make reservations, but those reservations will be at no additional cost.
After making a reservation, drivers will pull into the parking lots at A-Basin as usual, without having to provide any information or confirmation of their reservation, Henceroth said. Drivers will have already provided their license plate information when they created their account, and license plates will be checked after the vehicle is parked, he said. That way, people can park and head straight to the slopes.
Those who selected a free carpool reservation will be directed to a separate line to confirm that there are at least four people in the vehicle, Henceroth said. Carpoolers will receive a notice to put on their dashboard indicating that they had four people in the vehicle and therefore won’t be charged to park, he said.
As in years past, A-Basin will park the Early Riser Lot first, moving up the hill as the parking lots fill up, with the Upper Last Chance Lot filling up last, Henceroth said.
Those who make a parking reservation can show up at any point during the day, Henceroth said. But if someone who has a reservation decides they’re not going to show up, they are required to cancel it by 9 a.m. the day of the reservation.
Violations will be issued to those who show up to park without a reservation or who make a reservation but don’t show up and fail to cancel by 9 a.m. the day of the reservation, Henceroth said. For a first offense, the fee is $100, or $50 if paid within 10 days of the violation. For a second or subsequent offense, the fee is $200, or $100 if paid within 10 days.
But Henceroth noted that A-Basin plans to be flexible in situations where the issue is beyond a driver’s control.
“If something really difficult unexpected happens, they slide off the road, they wreck their car, just call us, we’ll fix it,” Henceroth said.
Parking spots at The Beach — the spots closest to the chairlift — and in the Admin Lot are the only exceptions to the new parking reservation system. The Beach spots will be reserved separately as they have in years past, and the Admin Lot will cost $40 to park.
Henceroth said that for those skiing at A-Basin this season, he is hopeful that the new parking reservation program will relieve some of the stress that visitors may have encountered when trying to park in the past.
“For a lot of people, they want the freedom of being able to show up any time they want without doing anything in advance, and we certainly appreciate that,” Henceroth said. “But there is just this reality that there are days where a lot more people want to show up with a lot more vehicles than we have space to park. So we hope this parking reservation plan works well for people.”
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