Wow! It was a busy weekend at the Killington World Cup! The local favorite may not have made the podium, but the event was still a success! On Saturday Killington found out that its new K-1 Base Lodge couldn’t handle 21,000 people – at least not all at once! Sunday’s crowd was significantly less, but still very enthusiastic.

As I’ve said before, Killington does an impressive job pulling this event off. I can add one more tale of their attention to detail. I was there with the Museum in their new logoed 10×10’ event tent in the “Festival Village.” That “Village” is a collection of those typical event tents. Sometime Saturday night while most people were asleep, the wind intensified and created havoc in the tent “Village!” Several tents blew away, but Killington staff got to our tent in time to secure it and add additional weight to hold it down. They also retrieved the blown away tents and got them back up as best they could. One tent near us had its frame badly damaged, but from somewhere Killington staff produced another frame! When the vendor arrived in the morning , they could put their logoed tent canopy on the new frame! As I said, impressive!!

OK, so now let’s talk about parking. Right after the close of last season, Stowe announced that it would be charging for parking this season. Well that guaranteed a consistent topic of discussion throughout the summer and fall!

First, let’s get the facts straight! I’ve heard misinformation even from locals. The parking charges are only on Friday through Sunday. There will still be free parking on those days in the Toll House and Cross Country lots serviced by resort shuttles. Yes, I know that may not be your favorite personal parking spot, but it is free! Also, cars with four or more people are free. Will this alleviate the parking and traffic problems, only time will tell.

Now let’s look at some history. Mount Mansfield, the ski area, is part of the Mount Mansfield State Forest. When the single chair was built in 1940, the state of Vermont expanded what was then known as the Nose Dive parking lot and enhanced the State Shelter which now forms part of the Mansfield Base Lodge. (An historical accuracy note: the state agency that actually managed the state’s interests on Mount Mansfield was the Vermont Department of Forest and Parks. I’ve simplified it to just say the “state of Vermont!”)

Claude Adams at Parking Booth
Photo Courtesy Brian Lindner

However the demand created by the new chairlift meant the state had to enlarge the parking lot the following year! To help defray the cost, the state instituted a parking charge of 25 cents per car for what is now the Mansfield lot.

Photo Courtesy of Brian Lindner

Local historian and Mount Mansfield Ski Patrol member, Brian Lindner had inside knowledge about this since his grandfather, Claude Adams, staffed the toll booth and collected the quarters from 1945-1960!

Norma Stancliffe also weighed in with the correct answer again. Her family was close friends with the Lindners so she spent a lot of time in the base lodge. She remembers as a kid in the 1950s helping Brian’s grandfather count the quarters at the end of the day.

So when did they take away the parking fee? Mount Mansfield Ski Club historian Mike Leach routed me to some of the old MMSC newsletters that indicated the toll booth had been removed and the state would no longer charge the fee for the 1965-66 season. The state had been receiving as much as $15,000 a year from parking! In lieu of that, the Mount Mansfield Company agreed to pay the state a percentage of the gross revenue from ticket sales.

I was curious about that deal so reached out to Parker Riehle who is the former President of Ski Vermont. Parker was the right person to ask. He says, “Since the inception of all of the state land leases with the 7 ski areas on state land, the rate for all of them is 5% of all revenue sources occurring on state land.” For Stowe resort that’s the Mansfield side of the road. The revenue producing entities on the Spruce side are on private land. All the paid parking on the Mansfield side would be subject to the 5% – the lease payment covers any and all commerce on state land – lift tickets, food & beverage, retail, lessons, etc.

Parker says this is still one of his “close to the nerve” topics. The Vermont legislature has periodically questioned the 5% cut that the state gets as a figure that should be higher. But the counter argument is that it is not a fixed amount, but rather a percentage, so the more the resorts grow and increase volume, the more the state gets in return. And indeed as it turns out with the 5%, tiny Bromley pays twice as much as some of the biggest ski areas in the world built on federal land out west!

But back to parking. I don’t know if this will make you feel better or worse? But in Vail Village, the “mother ship” of Vail Resorts, parking is managed by the Village of Vail. The Premier Parking Pass provides guaranteed access to the two primary parking structures in Vail Village and Lionshead for $5500!

For the last word on parking we turn to Magic Mountain which issued the following statement in response to the announced parking charges at other resorts”

 “Announcing New Premiere Parking in Lot A. It will be a parking experience of a lifetime for our valued guests. The price is a bit steep: it will cost you sleep. Get your ass out of bed early to grab one of these premium spots, baby. That’s all.”