Park City Mountain Breaks Ground on Gondola, Expanded Parking Structure at Canyons Village

The Cabriolet made its last run Sunday, ending 26 years of hauling skiers in open-air gondola buckets from the lower Canyons Village parking lots to the base area. By Monday, the lot it served was fenced off and construction had begun on two projects that will remake the Canyons Village arrival experience before next winter: the final three levels of a five-story parking structure and the Canyons Village Skyway, a 10-person enclosed gondola that replaces the Cabriolet entirely.

Anyone driving to Canyons Village while construction is underway should expect a different parking routine. The Cabriolet Lot is closed for the season. Skiers and riders can still access lifts by parking in Lots 2 through 4, and carpoolers with four or more occupants qualify for free parking in Lot 4 on the upper lot, marked with a light blue flag. Parking attendants are stationed to direct traffic as the construction zone takes over the lower village.

The Skyway gondola will connect the new parking structure to the Canyons Village Forum and surrounding base area, with enclosed 10-person cabins featuring floor-to-ceiling windows. Like the Cabriolet before it, the ride will be free. A mid-station will offer direct access for homeowners and lodging guests in the mid-village area, something the open-air lift never provided.

The parking structure, developed by TCFC, the Canyons Village master developer, will grow from two completed levels to five. When finished in December 2026, the garage will hold approximately 1,840 spaces, consolidating what is currently a sprawl of surface lots across the lower village. The design includes three separate entrances, internal escalators, and pedestrian pathways, with a connected plaza and public gathering space planned as a second phase.

That garage footprint is partly what made the Cabriolet's retirement unavoidable. With all public day parking eventually flowing through the lower village to a single arrival point, a limited-capacity open-air lift could not have served as the primary connection to the slopes. Vail Resorts, which owns Park City Mountain, framed both projects as necessary to support regional visitation levels and long-term operations.

Community input on the gondola was solicited at an open house at the Grand Summit Hotel last July. Some neighbors raised concerns about construction noise, visual changes to the base area, and whether a larger-capacity arrival hub would accelerate housing demand and deepen congestion through Kimball Junction. Park City Mountain has committed to coordinating with Summit County and UDOT on traffic management throughout the build.

Both the Skyway and the completed garage are targeting delivery before the 2026-27 winter season.