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Skiing shutting down in Europe. Already. Can it happen in North America?

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
I don't want to be a wet blanket or scare anyone, but yes, it could happen again here, if people don't behave as they should and if cases continue to soar.

Cases are surging in Europe, so Italy stopped all but competitive skiing until November 24th, and there are travel bans in place for high infection areas across much of the Alps

Photos from Tirol, Austria, and Cervinia, Italy:
Screen Shot 2020-10-26 at 3.35.35 PM.png

See any social distancing? Me, neither.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
On one hand, North Americans are better at queueing politely than the French or Italians. And given that it's October 26th, everyone is likely crowded into a small area.

But I agree, it's possible.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Are these people in line for tickets or at a lift?? I hope we are smarter than this and that states and/or resorts will follow capacity rules to avoid closures. I’m kind of worried about people who have no idea what’s going on in the industry just pouring into resorts only to find they can’t even get a ticket. They really really need to broadcast the message to stay away if you don’t have tickets secured online ahead of time in many places.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
Val d’Isere in France just announced they’re postponing their opening. They were originally scheduled to open November 28. No new date has been announced.
 
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altagirl

Moderator
Staff member
Are these people in line for tickets or at a lift?? I hope we are smarter than this and that states and/or resorts will follow capacity rules to avoid closures. I’m kind of worried about people who have no idea what’s going on in the industry just pouring into resorts only to find they can’t even get a ticket. They really really need to broadcast the message to stay away if you don’t have tickets secured online ahead of time in many places.

I want to hope the ones that were open for bike season learned a few things. I know when Deer Valley opened for biking this summer, DH went, and I ended up writing them a letter asking them to actually enforce the rules they had shown on their website, because from what I was hearing, it was kind of a free for all, hoping people would just maintain distancing on their own and wear masks and all of that. To their credit, they did. It did sound like they improved over the summer, created lift mazes with separation and asked people to wear masks in lift line. But to my knowledge they never limited attendance and there was still a lot of social pressure from impatient folks in the lift lines to fill up the chairs and quad up. You shouldn't have to feel like you're risking an altercation by following the rules. But I get that's a difficult issue for resorts to manage.

You would HOPE that all the resorts learned from the ones that were open during the summer on how to best implement safety policies and this winter goes smoother.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
And now France and Germany have announced a four week lockdown, forcing ski resorts to close.

More info here.

There were no ski areas open in Germany, although those that were planning to open in November will be forced to postpone.
 

SkiGAP

Angel Diva
And now France and Germany have announced a four week lockdown

Yup, we are locked down again starting at midnight tonight. Though some differences - in terms of what remains open this time (schools, administrative services, etc). But we'll see how it evolves. Supposed to end just in time for Grandvalira's season opening - but who knows.
 

ilovepugs

Angel Diva
Yup, we are locked down again starting at midnight tonight. Though some differences - in terms of what remains open this time (schools, administrative services, etc). But we'll see how it evolves. Supposed to end just in time for Grandvalira's season opening - but who knows.

I hope you pass the time pleasantly and with ease, @SkiGAP! What unsettling times we live in.
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I want to hope the ones that were open for bike season learned a few things. I know when Deer Valley opened for biking this summer, DH went, and I ended up writing them a letter asking them to actually enforce the rules they had shown on their website, because from what I was hearing, it was kind of a free for all, hoping people would just maintain distancing on their own and wear masks and all of that. To their credit, they did. It did sound like they improved over the summer, created lift mazes with separation and asked people to wear masks in lift line. But to my knowledge they never limited attendance and there was still a lot of social pressure from impatient folks in the lift lines to fill up the chairs and quad up. You shouldn't have to feel like you're risking an altercation by following the rules. But I get that's a difficult issue for resorts to manage.

You would HOPE that all the resorts learned from the ones that were open during the summer on how to best implement safety policies and this winter goes smoother.
This is a big fear of mine, especially with the attitude of the "bully pulpit" here in Utah. Or, getting on the gondola car with someone who has a mask on (a good mask, not just a thin gator) and having them take if off in the gondola, then leaving me there wondering how the heck to confront them. My husband wouldn't hesitate for a minute, but I'd be scared of being pummeled or harassed later on the mountain.

With the way things are going in Utah, I do wonder how ski season is going to go. I also canNOT wrap my head around the ski industry/travel industry here not being all over the governor's task force to keep COVID under control. It's a JOKE. 18+% positivity rate today, 10 deaths two days in a row. I give it two weeks until we have 20 deaths to follow the nearly 2000 daily cases. Those numbers might sound low to those who live elsewhere, but Utah is not that densely populated, and some of the most sparsely populated counties have a 30% positivity rate!

I just hope that we get a LOT of snow early season so that the mountain can spread people out effectively. Otherwise, I'll not be on the hill much until we have 100% open. We'll see if the ski areas can even stay open...
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
Holy moly, 18+% positivity rate? That's awful! In Vermont we're at 0.5%, but cases are going up. It really is scary. I was feeling pretty confident about ski season a few weeks ago; now I'm not that sure.
 

Tvan

Angel Diva
Holy moly, 18+% positivity rate? That's awful! In Vermont we're at 0.5%, but cases are going up. It really is scary. I was feeling pretty confident about ski season a few weeks ago; now I'm not that sure.

The case count in our tiny town of 4000 has gone from 14 cases (where it has been for the past 4 months) to 22 cases within 6 days. I’m holding firm in my belief that this is a good season to stay home and work on building core, strength and balance.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
All this as I ponder (with the aid of multiple calculators and several erasers with my pencil) whether to get the Empire card (reduced price tickets) or the ORDA season pass to ski in NY state. Clearly my opportunity to travel to Vermont is quite restricted, but will there be skiing in New York? It's hard for me to make sense of the NY numbers; they sound horrific but comparing them to Vermont is certainly apples and verbs.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
This is a big fear of mine, especially with the attitude of the "bully pulpit" here in Utah. Or, getting on the gondola car with someone who has a mask on (a good mask, not just a thin gator) and having them take if off in the gondola, then leaving me there wondering how the heck to confront them. My husband wouldn't hesitate for a minute, but I'd be scared of being pummeled or harassed later on the mountain.

With the way things are going in Utah, I do wonder how ski season is going to go. I also canNOT wrap my head around the ski industry/travel industry here not being all over the governor's task force to keep COVID under control. It's a JOKE. 18+% positivity rate today, 10 deaths two days in a row. I give it two weeks until we have 20 deaths to follow the nearly 2000 daily cases. Those numbers might sound low to those who live elsewhere, but Utah is not that densely populated, and some of the most sparsely populated counties have a 30% positivity rate!

I just hope that we get a LOT of snow early season so that the mountain can spread people out effectively. Otherwise, I'll not be on the hill much until we have 100% open. We'll see if the ski areas can even stay open...

Yikes, no those numbers are pretty bad. One of the worst parts to me is that Utah isn’t testing anywhere near enough people with your percentages so high. I look at the following link to compare state data just because it’s what MA uses for our travel restriction data etc. According to this you are testing at only 16% of what you should be. The extrapolation of new infections per day per 1 million people is quite high too..

https://www.covidexitstrategy.org

I’m with @ski diva, I’ve been pretty optimistic about the season getting going but the past few weeks have really turned in another direction that we need to fix. Otherwise I’m not sure how long the lifts keep spinning.
 

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