I was thinking more about the A-Basin parking scheme, and I understand how they kind of got to where they are. Parking is their biggest capacity limitation on the hill.
One of the "issues" with A-Basin is that it attracts a lot of Summit County locals who will run up early and either up-hill or ski some laps for an hour or two before going to work or getting on with their day. A non-issue most weekdays when its quiet, but it amplifies itself on weekend or peak powder days. Then this skier demographic leaves by 11am, but it really crunches the parking in the morning. From a business perspective, I can see that A-Basin would rather have the day-tripper or destination visitor who is going to stick around most of the day and probably spend more money on F&B, lessons, rentals, swag, etc.
A "free" reservation system wouldn't really solve this problem, as it would simply get a lot of people booking reservations who want to ski for an hour or two and leave. $20, makes people think a bit more and might cause some to change their behavior to either not ski there for an hour on weekends and/or carpool, or ride the Summit Stage. The issue with the Summit Stage for these types is the frequency at an hour a part, and kind of limits the flexibility of the "ski before work" crowd.
$20 x 20 weekend holiday days is $400. That will make people think twice. The $20 and reservations for day-tripper from the Front Range or destination skier visiting CO isn't going to balk at spending $20 on a handful of days throughout the season. I can see why locals are going to be increasingly frustrated, but then again the easiest solution is to not ski weekends but not everyone has the flexibility or schedule to shift their skiing to weekdays, particularly if they want to ski with their school-aged children.
The mega passes and population boom in Colorado have changed the scene in big ways.
I actually think this actually bodes well in the medium-term for the smaller ski areas in the mountain west as a lot of people are going to eventually spill-over from the mega resorts due to all the reasons of price, hassle, flexibility, and vibe/culture.
. But let’s be honest we’d all pay $20 for the better day, right?
