Winter Park Resort, CO Does U-Turn, Announces They Will Be Requiring Reservations

SnowBrains |
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Socially distanced gondola line at Winter Park, CO. Credit: Winter Park Resort

As with the majority of all other Ikon resorts, Winter Park in Colorado began the season not requiring passholders to make reservations. But having been open less than two weeks, it has become clear from lift-lines and crowds that due to the lack of terrain caused by poor early season snow, the resort cannot cope with demand from eager skiers and riders.

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Liftlines at Winter Park. Credit: Reddit

With this in mind, the resort announced today that to control visitation, ‘a pass holder reservation system is necessary to prioritize the health, well-being, and enjoyment of our guests, employees, and community.’ Winter Park Resort has seen over 18″ of fresh snow in the last 5-days and invested $4-million in snowmaking infrastructure two years ago to enable them to “start operations earlier in the year.”

Aspen, CO, also on the Ikon Pass, announced over the weekend that they would not require reservations over the holiday period.

See the full email sent out to guests today:

Reservations Starting This Saturday, Dec. 19

Almost two weeks ago on Dec. 3, we opened without pass holder reservations in the hopes that we could control visitation through limiting lift ticket sales and eliminating walk up lift tickets. As we’ve started to navigate this season, we’ve learned and continued to make changes to our operations that have improved the guest experience, but this has not been enough on our peak days.

With poor early season snowfall, limited lifts and terrain available, and high demand to ski and ride, it has become apparent a pass holder reservation system is necessary to prioritize the health, well-being, and enjoyment of our guests, employees, and community.

Starting this Saturday, Dec. 19, all pass holders will need a reservation to ski at Winter Park Resort. Pass holders can make reservations through their online account starting Thursday, Dec. 17 at 9 am MT and can make up to 10 reservations at Winter Park Resort at one time.

We opened this season with the shared goal to Shred Another Day. We understand this season’s operations have been challenging, but this is a necessary change to continue prioritizing everyone’s health and well-being so we can all keep skiing this season. If you are able to ski on off peak days, we anticipate that you will get all the days you request.

For more information on reservations, please visit www.winterparkresort.com/Reservations

@juiceisloose1100What happens when you can only ride the lift with your own group #colorado #winterpark #howbizarre♬ How Bizarre – OMC


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