Is coronavirus changing your ski plans?

[marzNC]

I found the graphic!

I found the original source. No idea the best way to share Twitter links though. She has the exponential growth graphic pinned at the top of her Twitter feed.

https://twitter.com/SiouxsieW

Dr Siouxsie Wiles is a microbiologist. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Doesn't look like the typical scientist though. Check out this interview from March 22. NZ had just gone to Level 2 (of 4) because of the increasing number of cases. They are still hoping that containment will work now that travel is highly restricted.

 

[Like2Ski]

Just received a very nice letter from Jon Schaefer:


Dear Seasons Pass Holders and Friends,

As I am sure that many of you have seen, on March 12, 2020 we made the decision to close Catamount and Berkshire East Resorts for winter operations due to the Coronavirus.

On that day we chose to lead the ski industry into its early close. Believe me when I tell you that decision was one of the hardest decisions we have ever made.

Why? We believe skiing is the greatest sport. Skiing is freedom. It is a way of life. The sport of skiing provides all users a sense of adventure that is irreplaceable elsewhere in their lives. This sense of freedom and adventure is what we have built our business on.

But, as we have all learned, it is not appropriate in this crisis.

While external forces made us hit stop on our winter operations as well as pause on getting ready for summer operations, we want you to know that we are leaning into this disaster.

We are currently working hard to not only preserve our business, but to grow it for our communities, for our employees and our guests. We will work safely and responsibly, by following the rules set forth by government, but trust me when I say that we will keep working and we will do our best to keep our communities at work.

We promise you that in the way we led the industry into its voluntary shutdown that we will lead it back out.

We move fast and aggressively because we are passionate people running two independent mountains who are committed to great experiences. That is why we built the wind turbine, the solar field, the bike park, all the crazy renovations at Catamount, the acquisition of Zoar and the other cool things that we keep finding ourselves getting into.

Seasons Pass Information: Click here to see our Pass Information Page
We know many of you are looking forward to getting back to normal life and hitting the slopes with us next year, but we understand that it may be hard to commit to pass purchases at this time.

In an attempt to be sensitive to your budgets we are offering a nine-month payment plan through March 31st for Unlimited and 6-Day (Locals) season passes.

The down payment to this plan will be $10.

The remaining payments will be spread out over the following months through Nov. 15th. April purchases would have an 8-month payment plan and so on.

We are also extending our first-tier pricing to May 31st.

Our prices will increase on June 1, Sept. 1 and Dec. 1.
College passes will be offered for $315 beginning Sept. 1st.

Please call us at 518-325-3200 for Catamount or at 413-339-6618 for Berkshire East if you have any questions.

Our relationship with our customers is the rock upon which we stand. The moment that this current crisis settles we will be available to you with zip lines, rafting, biking, skiing, mountain coaster and more. Ready to be your outlet and to give you that sense of adventure once again.

Jon Schaefer
Catamount Ski Area
Berkshire East Mountain Resort
Zoar Outdoor

 

[StayWarm]

Just received a very nice letter from Jon Schaefer:


Dear Seasons Pass Holders and Friends,

As I am sure that many of you have seen, on March 12, 2020 we made the decision to close Catamount and Berkshire East Resorts for winter operations due to the Coronavirus.

On that day we chose to lead the ski industry into its early close. Believe me when I tell you that decision was one of the hardest decisions we have ever made.

Why? We believe skiing is the greatest sport. Skiing is freedom. It is a way of life. The sport of skiing provides all users a sense of adventure that is irreplaceable elsewhere in their lives. This sense of freedom and adventure is what we have built our business on.

But, as we have all learned, it is not appropriate in this crisis.

While external forces made us hit stop on our winter operations as well as pause on getting ready for summer operations, we want you to know that we are leaning into this disaster.

We are currently working hard to not only preserve our business, but to grow it for our communities, for our employees and our guests. We will work safely and responsibly, by following the rules set forth by government, but trust me when I say that we will keep working and we will do our best to keep our communities at work.

We promise you that in the way we led the industry into its voluntary shutdown that we will lead it back out.

We move fast and aggressively because we are passionate people running two independent mountains who are committed to great experiences. That is why we built the wind turbine, the solar field, the bike park, all the crazy renovations at Catamount, the acquisition of Zoar and the other cool things that we keep finding ourselves getting into.

Seasons Pass Information: Click here to see our Pass Information Page
We know many of you are looking forward to getting back to normal life and hitting the slopes with us next year, but we understand that it may be hard to commit to pass purchases at this time.

In an attempt to be sensitive to your budgets we are offering a nine-month payment plan through March 31st for Unlimited and 6-Day (Locals) season passes.

The down payment to this plan will be $10.

The remaining payments will be spread out over the following months through Nov. 15th. April purchases would have an 8-month payment plan and so on.

We are also extending our first-tier pricing to May 31st.

Our prices will increase on June 1, Sept. 1 and Dec. 1.
College passes will be offered for $315 beginning Sept. 1st.

Please call us at 518-325-3200 for Catamount or at 413-339-6618 for Berkshire East if you have any questions.

Our relationship with our customers is the rock upon which we stand. The moment that this current crisis settles we will be available to you with zip lines, rafting, biking, skiing, mountain coaster and more. Ready to be your outlet and to give you that sense of adventure once again.

Jon Schaefer
Catamount Ski Area
Berkshire East Mountain Resort
Zoar Outdoor

This is so well done.

Here in Colorado, I was relieved to see that Loveland was providing its employees with boxes of food and other supplies over the last couple of days. It's a hopeful feeling to see businesses doing right by their communities.

 

[ski diva]

Wow, $10. down! Nice!

This guy is a class act. I wish other resort owners were as sensitive as he seems to be. He's winning a lot of good will through his actions.

 

[marzNC]

First hand reports from four ski towns from N. America and Europe. Good reading! Learned that a source for Sweden were people who were skiing in the Alps and took COVID-19 home with them.

March 27, Mountain Watch
Life In A Ski Town Under Lock Down – What’s It Like?
https://www.mountainwatch.com/Snow-news/living-in-a-ski-town-under-lock-down/

 

[marzNC]

The NY Times has been tracking cases at the county level as much as possible for quite a while. Looking at the map, seems pretty clear that ski resorts were probably also hot spots for COVID-19 spread, perhaps by early February. Having run into many people from the midwest on ski club trips at destination resorts in the Rockies, it wouldn't surprise me if a few of them unknowingly brought it back to their home states.

Past pandemics like H1N1 or SARS didn't impact most people in those regions. H1N1 (flu) was first detected the U.S. in April 2009 and SARS (coronavirus) didn't start spreading until November 2002 and never caused a death in the U.S.. So for those pandemics the N. American ski season wasn't a factor.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

 

[StayWarm]

The NY Times has been tracking cases at the county level as much as possible for quite a while. Looking at the map, seems pretty clear that ski resorts were probably also hot spots for COVID-19 spread, perhaps by early February. Having run into many people from the midwest on ski club trips at destination resorts in the Rockies, it wouldn't surprise me if a few of them unknowingly brought it back to their home states.

Past pandemics like H1N1 or SARS didn't impact most people in those regions. H1N1 (flu) was first detected the U.S. in April 2009 and SARS (coronavirus) didn't start spreading until November 2002 and never caused a death in the U.S.. So for those pandemics the N. American ski season wasn't a factor.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

View attachment 12698

The Denver Post has an article out today wondering if the resorts should have been closed sooner: https://www.denverpost.com/2020/03/31/coronavirus-colorado-ski-resorts/. It echoes something my dad told me about a month ago; in essence, "Every step you take to be careful right now will look obvious in retrospect." Sometimes I think he's a bit alarmist, but in this case, he was absolutely right.

More than 370 of the state’s cases, or 1 in 7, were reported in eight mountain counties with ski resorts, all far from the state’s major population centers. In fact, the four counties with the most cases per capita — Gunnison, Eagle, Pitkin and Chaffee — all have ski resorts and other draws for winter adventurers. The hardest hit, Gunnison and Eagle, have case rates more than eight times the state average.

It’s also possible that some Front Range residents were exposed to the virus during trips to the slopes.

Mays thinks of Vail, Aspen, Gunnison and other resort towns as “special nodes” that serve as a bridge between Colorado’s local communities and far-flung populations around the country and the world.

Often that’s a good thing — but not in a pandemic.

 

[marzNC]

It’s also possible that some Front Range residents were exposed to the virus during trips to the slopes.

Mays thinks of Vail, Aspen, Gunnison and other resort towns as “special nodes” that serve as a bridge between Colorado’s local communities and far-flung populations around the country and the world.

Not only the skiers/boarders but also the employees of the ski resorts.

The article notes a case on March 5 of an American who was at Keystone. The case of the Australian doctor who tested postive after returning home happened in late February. He was at Vail in mid-February for almost two weeks. Lack of communication and/or coordiation between countries is another issue that's very, very complicated these days.

The thinking of people Colorado was probably no different than the reaction of the people in Austria where a ski town was clearly a source for multiple countries (detected by testing on return home). Like SARS or MERS, which they may not even have heard of. A coronavirus that was a problem for Asia didn't seem like anything to worry about for people a continent away. It's not unreasonable to assume that you aren't going to infect someone else if you don't have any symptoms, and that you can't catch anything infectious from someone who doesn't have any symptoms. But the human body apparently reacts quite differently to how coronaviruses operate than the usual cold or flu.

March 29, The Age (AUS)
The perfect virus: two gene tweaks that turned COVID-19 into a killer
https://www.theage.com.au/national/...d-covid-19-into-a-killer-20200327-p54elo.html

 

[DeeSki]

Spiegel has now published the Ischgl story in English https://www.spiegel.de/internationa...europe-a-32b17b76-14df-4f37-bfcf-39d2ceee92ec

 

[santacruz skier]

Spiegel has now published the Ischgl story in English https://www.spiegel.de/internationa...europe-a-32b17b76-14df-4f37-bfcf-39d2ceee92ec

Can't get it in English...

 

[DeeSki]

Baffled. Had to double check that I read it in English! Does this work? https://www.spiegel.de/international/

I’m seeing it as the top story there at the moment. Otherwise if you click on the contents box on the top left and scroll down, you should find a line called “English” which should get you there.

 

[marzNC]

Baffled. Had to double check that I read it in English! Does this work? https://www.spiegel.de/international/

I’m seeing it as the top story there at the moment. Otherwise if you click on the contents box on the top left and scroll down, you should find a line called “English” which should get you there.

Looked like a paywall to me.

Can't get it in English...

In any case, more than enough info in these articles about Ischgl, the Austrian ski town that clearly contributed to the spread of COVID-19 in Europe. And potentially to N. America but that would be purely speculation since American travelers from Austria were not being tested, or tracked in any meaningful way. Iceland has one of the highest testing rates per capita in the world. As I remember, Iceland not only told Austrian authorities, they also informed WHO.

March 20, Euractiv (translated from German)
https://www.euractiv.com/section/co...erreichisches-skiparadies-als-corona-hotspot/
" . . .
Warnings from Iceland ignored

Icelandic authorities had already declared Ischgl a risk area on 5 March, on a par with Wuhan or Iran. However, it took nine days for the Austrian government to take measures to isolate the area.

The Icelandic warning was issued after returning Ischgl vacationers tested positive for the coronavirus.

Franz Katzgraber, Director of the Tyrolean Regional Health Service, responded by stating that “from a medical point of view, it is unlikely that infections have occurred in Tyrol.” Instead, he put forward the thesis that the Icelanders contracted the disease from another air passenger, a person returning from Italy.

This sick fellow passenger actually existed. Nevertheless, Icelandic authorities decided to take this step on 5 March, and Tyrol decided to continue the lively skiing. But more and more corona cases with Ischgl-Konnex followed. Alarmed by the Icelandic decision, Norway began testing returnees from Tyrol. The result was available on 8 March: out of 1,198 infected, 491 had the virus from Austria, mainly from Tyrol.
. . ."

March 24, CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/europe/austria-ski-resort-ischgl-coronavirus-intl/index.html

March 26, Independent in UK
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...a-ski-resort-daren-bland-ischgl-a9427811.html

 

[DeeSki]

Maybe they have different content available in different countries? It’s the only explanation I can come up with.

 

[Jenny]

The NY Times has been tracking cases at the county level as much as possible for quite a while. Looking at the map, seems pretty clear that ski resorts were probably also hot spots for COVID-19 spread, perhaps by early February. Having run into many people from the midwest on ski club trips at destination resorts in the Rockies, it wouldn't surprise me if a few of them unknowingly brought it back to their home states.

Past pandemics like H1N1 or SARS didn't impact most people in those regions. H1N1 (flu) was first detected the U.S. in April 2009 and SARS (coronavirus) didn't start spreading until November 2002 and never caused a death in the U.S.. So for those pandemics the N. American ski season wasn't a factor.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

View attachment 12698

I'm thinking if you were running into them at the ski resorts that maybe you unknowingly brought it back to your home state, too?

 

[marzNC]

I'm thinking if you were running into them at the ski resorts that maybe you unknowingly brought it back to your home state, too?

Makes sense to me. Although I think the concern in New England was more that people driving up from Boston or NYC/NJ would bring COVID-19 with them. Large cities with international airports were more likely to start community spread in Jan or early Feb, based on travelers from either from Asia or Europe. There were no recommendations that travelers self-isolate for any length of time if they had no symptoms.

As for the destination resorts in the Rockies or Canada, certainly possible that ski vacationers picked up COVID-19 before mid-March and brought it home with them without knowing it. I have little doubt that's what happened to the Australian doctor in late Feb.

 

[marzNC]

In case someone is reading this thread but missed the one about using ski goggles to protect health care workers in hospitals, read on. Turns out that Jon Schaefer of Berkshire East and Catamount was involved in getting the website started. Schaefer closed BEast and Catamount early on because he understood that every effort to encourage social distancing would be important.

March 30, VT Ski and Ride
How Goggles For Docs Was Born
https://vtskiandride.com/goggles-for-docs/
". . .
The site [Goggles For Docs] went online at 2 pm on Sunday.” All the while the word was spreading at the hospital level. “Even as we were on the phone building this, three more hospitals signed up,” Schaefer said.

As of Monday evening, almost 2,000 used and new goggles were being sent to hospitals in seven states and requests to organize have come in from hospitals as far away as New Zealand and Spain. On Monday night, 10 more hospitals signed up, with a stated need of nearly 1,000 more goggles.

“I’m not sure how it works on their end, but doctors have told me two things: first, that they need goggles as COVID-19 can be transmitted with, say a direct cough to the eyeball, and second, that they can take care of disinfecting and distributing them,” Schaefer said.

While Schaefer’s wife is not currently wearing goggles as her hospital has adequate supplies of eyewear, Schaefer says that Berkshire Medical Center has put in an order for 300 and their need was met by the public by 2:00pm Eastern – with a large contribution, 217, coming from Uvex.

“I didn’t wake up this week thinking I was going to be the COVID Goggle Guy — we have a lot to take care of at our businesses now too,” says Schaefer. “It was just one thing that we as a ski industry could do to help.”"

 

[marzNC]

Haven't listened to it yet, but just came across an interview with Stephen Kircher, CEO of Boyne Resorts. Recently Boyne announced that two major lift replacements at Big Sky and Loon will be delayed until 2021. The reason is that major work would need to start ASAP in order to be done by the start of the 2020-21 season. That's clearly not possible. If an existing lift were removed, then could end up with a situation with no lift because there isn't enough time to complete a new lift.

https://skiing.substack.com/p/covid-19-and-skiing-podcast-2-boyne

 

[marzNC]

Learned of sad news from Vermont today. Cleon Boyd, 64, a long time groomer at Mt. Snow died last week of COVID-19. Other members of the Boyd clan have tested positive. His younger brother is on a ventilator.

April 5, Brattleboro Reformer
Community mourns loss of 'local legend'
https://www.reformer.com/stories/community-mourns-loss-of-local-legend,601732

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

So sad. Thanks for sharing.

 

[marzNC]

As the free blood testing for COVID-19 continues in Telluride, the local paper is looking into what happened there during the 1918 flu pandemic.

April 3 (updated April 6), Telluride News
The 1918 flu epidemic
100 years ago, officials and residents navigated similar waters, despite medical and technological differences
https://www.telluridenews.com/news/article_b175d670-7607-11ea-b667-b39cfbfb4873.html
" . . .
They say history repeats itself, and it’s easy to feel déjà vu when poring through records of the time. In the Telluride Town Council minutes from October 1918, attorney E.B. Adams recommended the closure of schools, churches and picture shows, and gatherings be limited to outdoor spaces to curtail the flu’s spread throughout the population. Residents and officials alike recognized that the illness spread easily through person-to-person contact, especially through coughing and sneezing. Advertisements ran in the Norwood Post imploring people to cover their noses and mouths, as “coughs and sneezes spread diseases.”
. . .
Between October and the end of the year, it’s estimated that hundreds in Telluride died of the disease, according to records from the time, overrunning the hospital and spurring both bars and private residences to be converted into makeshift wards for the sick. The Roma, a popular bar of the time, was filled with 60 beds to care for sick miners whose lungs were compromised from mining conditions, which often made them more susceptible to succumbing to the disease. The county health officer, Dr. Anna Brown, issued a legally enforceable quarantine, banning dances, card parties and public entertainment, as well as funerals. While much of the town followed the mandate, often posting “Keep out” signs on doors, there were also reports of citations issued for those flaunting the orders by having private card parties or gatherings. In Montrose, one city commissioner was fined $6.75 for violating quarantine, and Telluride eccentric businessman and owner of the Bridal Veil Falls power plant Bulkeley Wells was rumored to have ignored the ban by hosting parties. By the end of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, approximately one in 10 Telluride residents had succumbed to the disease.
. . ."