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Avalanche Of Complaints Causes Eldora To Reverse Parking Charge

Eldora Mountain Resort
A Full Parking lot at Eldora

Following backlash from skiers and snowboarders, Eldora Mountain Resort reversed its decision to charge skiers for parking.

The move to charge was made in early December after the resort was forced to turn hundreds of vehicles away when its parking lots all hit capacity.

“Pass holders thought that we had sprung this on them too late” said Eldora spokesman Sam Bass. “And it was sort of a breach of the unwritten contract between the mountain and the passholder that no more hidden charges would appear.”

The initial decision was made to encourage people to carpool or use public transportation to ease traffic congestion, Bass said. Vehicles with fewer than three occupants would have been charged a $20 parking fee on peak visitation days, including holidays, weekends, and to-be-determined weather driven days – often called “powder days.”

In 2017, a vehicle occupancy study by the resort showed Eldora visitors averaged 1.7 people per car.

It’s unclear if Eldora will try to implement a parking charge for the 2019-2020 ski season. The resort is currently working with Boulder County to expand its parking options, but nothing has been decided, Bass said. For the rest of the season, parking will be first come, first served.