As many can attest to, during weekends and holiday periods it’s common for more vehicles to enter the canyon than Solitude, the Town of Brighton, and Brighton Resort have parking capacity for. That results in more traffic than is necessary, needless congestion, and guests being turned away upon arrival.

We are committed to improving the arrival experience and have heard requests continuously from our guests and community to implement parking reservations. We’ve studied the matter closely, with a continued focus on accessibility and care for the Big Cottonwood Canyon watershed and have developed a process that we are certain will ease arrival on our busiest days, incentivize carpooling, and combat traffic congestion.

For the 24/25 season parking reservations will be required on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays*, December 21, 2024, through March 31, 2025. Reserve N Ski parking details:

​

• Parking lots open at 7:00 a.m.

• Reservations at Solitude are required for arrivals before 11:00 a.m.

• From 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., you may park at the daily rate, without a reservation, as space becomes available.

• After 1:00 p.m., parking is free, no reservation required.

• ​Some parking inventory for all dates will be released near the start of the season.

• Additional parking inventory will become available at 6:00 p.m. MST each Sunday for the following weekend.

• A small number of spaces will become available on the day of at 6:00 a.m. MST based on cancelations and snow removal.

• Arrive with four or more people in your car (reservations still required on reservation days).

• Arrive after 1:00 p.m. when free parking is available.

• Ride the UTA Ski Bus, which will have enhanced service this year and is free for all Solitude and Ikon Pass holders.

• Download the Solitude Carpool app and share a ride.

• Stay at Solitude — lodging guests always receive free parking during their stay.

On many weekends and holiday periods, more vehicles enter the canyon than Solitude, the Town of Brighton, and Brighton Resort have parking capacity for. All three are implementing parking reservations this year. Requiring parking reservations on weekends and holiday periods will increase convenience and reduce congestion by limiting the number of vehicles that drive up the canyon. This also reduces the number of vehicles that are inevitably turned away on these days as parking lots fill up. Furthermore, guests will enjoy more flexibility as to when they need to arrive (no more 6:00 a.m. arrivals to find a parking spot) and experience a more dispersed traffic flow in the morning.

Solitude will continue to incentivize carpooling by allowing cars with four or more people to park free (parking reservations are still required on reservation days). Solitude will continue to invest heavily in the UTA Ski Bus by covering the fee to allow free ridership for all Solitude and Ikon Pass holders. Additionally, UTA has announced enhanced Ski Bus service this season. We’ll be operating three full-size employee buses (in cooperation with Brighton Resort), and 12 employee shuttles. These will remove a significant number of vehicles from the road while also pulling employees from the UTA Ski Buses, allowing more seats for the general public. We are also fully launching the Solitude Carpool app, which includes incentives for usage.

Our parking strategy has always been aimed at reducing low-occupancy vehicles and incentivizing carpooling in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Our paid parking tiers that rewarded cars with two and three people have made some improvements in occupancy but have not adjusted guest behavior to the extent that we had hoped to see. As such, we are fully committed to encouraging and incentivizing cars with four or more people. This allows for the most accessibility to the mountain. Cars with fewer than four people will be charged the same parking fee.

Vehicles arriving without parking reservations on days when they are required (Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holiday periods) will not be allowed to park in any Solitude parking lot. Vehicles that violate this policy and park without reservations will be issued a fee. Reservations are not required after 11:00 a.m.

Yes, but guests should be aware that this season, the Town of Brighton will be requiring parking reservations for roadside parking on SR-190 between Willow Heights trailhead and Guardsman Pass Road on select days. Details will be posted online; Solitude does not control parking on SR-190 and all funds from roadside parking reservations go to the Town of Brighton.

If your plans change, please cancel your reservation at parksolitude.com so another guest can take your space before 6:00 a.m. on your arrival day. If you do not cancel your reservation by 6:00 a.m., there is a no-show fee.

Road closures in Big Cottonwood Canyon are uncommon. If SR-190 does close, reservations will be canceled and refunded for those that did not arrive before the closure.

For the 24/25 Full season and Midweek parking passes will be available for purchase. Season parking passes allow you to pay for parking for the entire season. It’s important to note that during weekends and holiday periods, season parking pass holders are still required to make a parking reservation if they wish to arrive before 11:00 a.m.

• Full season parking pass holders will be able to hold five reserved days at a time.

• Single-day users and Midweek season parking pass holders will be able to hold three reserved days at a time.

• Reservations can be canceled any time before 6:00 a.m. on the day of arrival without penalty.

• Some parking inventory for all dates will be made available before the beginning of the season.

• Additional parking inventory will become available at 6:00 p.m. each Sunday for the following weekend.

• A small number of spaces will become available on the day of at 6:00 a.m. based on cancelations and snow removal.

ADA parking spaces will be available through the same reservation process at the ADA/carpool rate. ADA reservations do not need to stop for verification but must have ADA plates or hangtag to qualify upon arrival.

Yes, you will need a reservation to park at Solitude on the day(s) that your child is with Team Solitude or Cruisers. To ensure families in these programs can secure a parking spot, we will provide a code to access a pool of spaces that we’ve set aside for these programs. Those codes will be delivered by email before the start of the 23/24 season.

Parking at the Nordic & Snowshoe Center will operate in the same manner as the other Solitude parking lots.

This season, vehicles with four or more occupants can park free every day but will still need to make reservations for Saturdays, Sundays, and holiday periods. When making reservations, guests who plan to have four or more occupants in their car will not be charged upfront and will check in with Solitude parking staff at the entry to confirm vehicle occupancy.

Guests who planned to carpool when they made their reservation but arrive with fewer than four occupants will simply pay the standard fare onsite; there is no additional penalty, and your reservation is still valid. We know that plans sometimes shift. If you find yourself down a rider, we suggest using the Solitude Carpool app to find another rider and park for free.

A credit or debit card is required to make parking reservations online. All transactions will be processed at the time of booking. With a paid parking reservation, you can go straight from your car to the lifts. The exception is vehicles that have four or more occupants — if you plan on having a full car, you’ll indicate that choice when making your reservation.

If you don’t know what your vehicle’s license plate information will be, enter your personal vehicle's license plate number to make your reservation. Upon picking up your rental car, please log into your account and update your license plate number on your reservation to match your rental car's. If in doubt, check with our parking ambassadors. The parking system operates off of license plate numbers.