Coronavirus and Skiing

[MarzNC]

As expected the PR for the opening of the Epic Reservation system started yesterday. I gather the Queue-It online Waiting Room is stuffed this morning. But VR is undoubtedly not surprised after the experience in June when the system opened up for Perisher, Hotham, and Falls Creek. The volume overwhelmed Queue-It pretty quickly. The hour-by-hour postings on the Aussie ski forum were interesting to see. We'll see how things go the next 24-48 hours for N. America.

Weekends, holidays at Park City ski area up for grabs to pass holders starting Friday

The run on coveted weekend and holiday access to the peaks around Park City begins Friday.

www.sltrib.com

People interested in skiing at Keystone this weekend were able to get in yesterday to pick up a reservation.

Online reservations for opening weekend at Keystone fill up in first hour | OutThere Colorado

Epic Pass Holders can no longer make reservations to hit the slopes on opening weekend at Keystone Resort. All available spots for Saturday and Sunday were fully booked within the

www.outtherecolorado.com

 

[The UNHOLY]

It will be interesting to see if ORDA can even open the ski resorts this year. Agree or disagree but Cuomo is locking stuff down...remote learning for SUNY Colleges after Thanksgiving, negative results if you travel to NY (being enforced by more police and now the National Guard). It would be very odd to have all these state restrictions but then allow state ski areas to open. There is less than a month to return your ORDA Season Pass for a full refund, as it looks at this moment, a refund might not be a bad thing. Damn.

 

[MarzNC]

Are employees for ORDA resorts mostly NY residents? Put another way, can the resorts find enough NY residents for the bulk of their staffing?

Since there are no travel restrictions for PA, NJ, and CT, I know there are people there who plan to drive up to ski in NY. Either in the Catskills or even long weekends up at Gore or Whiteface. Keeping things open at the resorts would bring in money for not only ORDA but also local businesses that depend on tourists during the winter. Based on the summer experience by the resorts in New England, little reason to think that having them open during the winter would cause increases in community spread. Certainly not in the way that college students might if they go home for Thanksgiving, attend social gatherings, and then returned to campus.

The UNC colleges all decided back in the summer to finish the fall semester the week before Thanksgiving. Won't open for the spring semester until after MLK Day, Jan. 18. That gives students two weeks after New Year's, hopefully mainly staying at home.

 

[JTG]

It will be interesting to see if ORDA can even open the ski resorts this year. Agree or disagree but Cuomo is locking stuff down...remote learning for SUNY Colleges after Thanksgiving, negative results if you travel to NY (being enforced by more police and now the National Guard). It would be very odd to have all these state restrictions but then allow state ski areas to open. There is less than a month to return your ORDA Season Pass for a full refund, as it looks at this moment, a refund might not be a bad thing. Damn.

Well....

Remote learning for SUNY Colleges after Thanksgiving is somewhat true....but that headline is misleading.

For the couple of weeks left of the semester after Thanksgiving most students won’t return to campuses. However, some can, and then students will be back on campuses when the Spring semester starts. Sure, that could change if COVID explodes, but right now the plan isn’t to abandon campus learning. It just doesn’t make sense to have students travel home for Thanksgiving, potentially pick up the virus, then return to campus for a couple of weeks when they can take finals online.

Right now there is no enforcement at the airports, as my daughter just flew into Newark and she was never required to produce evidence of any testing. Looks like that could be changing.

 

[Cork]

Are employees for ORDA resorts mostly NY residents? Put another way, can the resorts find enough NY residents for the bulk of their staffing?

Gore has all of their employees from local areas. WF (Centerplate the food vendor) on the other hand, has been using foreign labor in the lodges for a few years now.

 

[MarzNC]

Right now there is no enforcement at the airports, as my daughter just flew into Newark and she was never required to produce evidence of any testing. Looks like that could be changing.

NJ was never set up like NY. Same general guidelines but more clearly only "recommendations" the last time I looked.

My friend who is in the real estate business has had clients fly into Albany (Sept? Oct?). In one case the couple forgot to fill out the back of the NY Travel Form so didn't provide a contact phone number. A contact tracer found a way to call any way to check and see if they were doing the right thing.

 

[MarzNC]

Those who got reservations for Keystone Opening Day, Friday, Nov. 6, had a good time. The Epic Reservation system was opened the morning of Nov. 5 just for Keystone Nov. 6-13. So before the long queue this morning when all Epic resorts could be reserved for Priority 7-Day reservations. Sold out Nov. 6-8 before lunch time, but only 60 acres open so pretty limited numbers available.

One guy known as Nat Doggggg has been flying from MN for years just to be there for Opening Day. Took the first gondola instead of first chair, but still got to be first through a banner at the top.

The Know – The Denver Post

theknow.denverpost.com

 

[Harvey]

Here we go, from Vermont...

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CROSS STATE TRAVEL INFORMATION

The State of Vermont has suspended its leisure travel map and implemented a mandatory quarantine for anyone returning or traveling to Vermont.

Leisure Travel

Due to raising COVID-19 case counts across the Northeast, effective on November 10, 2020, the State of Vermont has suspended its leisure travel map and implemented a mandatory quarantine for anyone returning or traveling to Vermont.

A regional map will continue to be maintained on the Agency of Commerce and Community Development and the Department of Financial Regulation websites for informational purposes only. The regional map will continue to be updated weekly on Tuesdays.

The regional map is populated with raw data from Johns Hopkins University and uses multiple factors to determine how many active cases are in each county. Read the complete methodology for how active cases per million residents is being calculated. The aggregated data by county is also available.

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So the shit is hitting the fan, or more accurately people are realizing that the shit has hit the fan. The consequences are starting to dawn on skiers.

The thing that surprises me is that people are surprised.

I don't see how VT has a ski season. And there will be a ripple effect in NY and NH especially.

 

[Harvey]

I saw a lot of feedback over the last day, from my post on the front page. I'm not saying I know this or that regulation is too strong or too weak (time will tell). The sense of entitlement from some skiers astounds me.

 

[Benny Profane]

"The sense of entitlement from some skiers astounds me."

Oh, yeah, I hear you. But, it's a bit beyond that. It's a general detachment and cluelessness of the upper middle class that is kind of astounding at times. A former co-worker of mine introduced me to a phrase when I complained about the ill manners of some people - "I'm the only person in the world." Its why America has botched this pandemic response and will continue to. This winter is not going to be good, and no skiing is the least of our problems.